Indiana House Bill 1468 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: Introduced on January 15 2019 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2019-01-15 - First reading: referred to Committee on Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications
Pending: House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Utility consumer counselor. Amends the statute concerning the office of utility consumer counselor (OUCC) as follows: (1) Requires the OUCC to exercise its powers and perform its duties consistent with the state's declared policy to promote investment in utility infrastructure while protecting the affordability of utility services. (2) Requires that before employing its own staff, the OUCC shall make use of engineers, experts, and accountants employed by the utility regulatory commission, the department of environmental management, or the Indiana department of transportation. Specifies that this requirement does not apply to, or otherwise affect the employment of, a person employed by the OUCC as regular staff before July 1, 2019. (3) Provides that the OUCC may employ, with the approval of the governor and the budget agency: (A) on a full-time or part-time basis before July 1, 2019; or (B) on a part-time only basis after June 30, 2019; additional staff with the appropriate expertise for a particular case or investigation. (Current law does not specify that such staff must be part-time.) Specifies that this requirement does not apply to, or otherwise affect the employment of, a person employed by the OUCC before July 1, 2019, on a full-time basis for work on a particular case or investigation.

Utility consumer counselor. Amends the statute concerning the office of utility consumer counselor (OUCC) as follows: (1) Requires the OUCC to exercise its powers and perform its duties consistent with the state's declared policy to promote investment in utility infrastructure while protecting the affordability of utility services. (2) Requires that before employing its own staff, the OUCC shall make use of engineers, experts, and accountants employed by the utility regulatory commission, the department of environmental management, or the Indiana department of transportation. Specifies that this requirement does not apply to, or otherwise affect the employment of, a person employed by the OUCC as regular staff before July 1, 2019. (3) Provides that the OUCC may employ, with the approval of the governor and the budget agency: (A) on a full-time or part-time basis before July 1, 2019; or (B) on a part-time only basis after June 30, 2019; additional staff with the appropriate expertise for a particular case or investigation. (Current law does not specify that such staff must be part-time.) Specifies that this requirement does not apply to, or otherwise affect the employment of, a person employed by the OUCC before July 1, 2019, on a full-time basis for work on a particular case or investigation.

Rep. Heath VanNatter [R]

Rep. Edmond Soliday [R]

Date	Chamber	Action
2019-01-15	House	First reading: referred to Committee on Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications
2019-01-15	House	Coauthored by Representative Soliday
2019-01-15	House	Authored by Representative VanNatter

Type	Source
Summary	https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2019/bills/house/1468/details
Text	http://iga.in.gov/static-documents/8/9/f/e/89fe530c/HB1468.01.INTR.pdf