Bill Text: MS HB1117 | 2024 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Public Utilities Staff; remove from the provisions of the MS Budget Transparency and Simplification Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-04-02 - Died In Committee [HB1117 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-HB1117-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Public Utilities
By: Representative Bounds
House Bill 1117
(As Passed the House)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 77-3-87, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE CERTAIN TAXES COLLECTED FROM UTILITIES TO BE CREDITED TO THE PUBLIC UTILITIES STAFF REGULATION FUND TO COVER THE EXPENSES OF THE PUBLIC UTILITIES STAFF; TO AMEND SECTION 27-104-205, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THAT THE PUBLIC UTILITIES STAFF IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF STATE AGENCIES FUNDED BY APPROPRIATION FROM THE STATE GENERAL FUND UNDER THE MISSISSIPPI BUDGET TRANSPARENCY AND SIMPLIFICATION ACT OF 2016; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 77-3-87, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
77-3-87. All reasonable and
necessary expenses of the administration of the duties imposed on the Public Utilities
Staff and on the commission by Title 77, Mississippi Code of 1972, excluding
the reasonable and necessary expenses of the administration and enforcement by
the commission of the laws of this state pursuant to Chapters 7 and 9, Title
77, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be provided as follows: There is * * * levied a tax upon (a) all utilities, the
rates of which are subject to regulation by the provisions of this chapter and
upon (b) all utilities not subject to such rate regulation which furnish to the
ultimate consumer utility services of the type described by subparagraph (i) of
paragraph (d) of Section 77-3-3 and otherwise subject to regulation by the
provisions of this chapter, such levy to be effective on the first day of each
year and to be calculated as follows: The rate of the tax shall be one hundred
sixty-four thousandths of one percent (164/1000 of 1%) per year, of the gross
revenues from the intrastate operations of the utilities taxed under this
section. The rate of the tax for electric power associations and rural
electrification authorities shall be ninety thousandths of one percent (90/1000
of 1%) per year of the gross revenues from the intrastate operations of
electric power associations and rural electrification authorities taxed under
this section. Effective July 1, 2017, the sum of all taxes levied by this
section shall not exceed the total legislative appropriation of monies for the
Public Utilities Staff and the Public Service Commission for the ensuing fiscal
year. The commission and the executive director of the Public Utilities Staff
shall certify to the Department of Revenue the amount of legislative
appropriations of monies for the regulation of utilities. The Department of
Revenue shall adjust the tax rates on a pro rata basis to generate the
necessary revenues established by such legislative appropriations. Each
utility which is subject to the tax levied by this section shall file a
statement of its gross revenue by April 1 of each year showing the gross revenue
for the preceding year's operation. These statements of gross revenue shall be
filed with the Department of Revenue on forms prescribed and furnished by the
Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue shall file a copy of these
statements of gross revenue with the Public Utilities Staff and the
commission. The Department of Revenue shall calculate the amount of tax to be
paid by each of the utilities and shall submit a statement thereof to the
respective utilities, and the amount shown due in the statements to the utilities
shall be paid by them within thirty (30) days thereafter to the Department of
Revenue. The Department of Revenue shall furnish the Public Utilities Staff
and the commission with an itemized list showing gross and net revenues,
assessments, tax collections and other related information for the respective
utilities. The Department of Revenue shall deposit funds into the State Treasury
to the credit of the Public Utilities Staff Regulation Fund
for the expenses of the Public Utilities Staff in the same proportion that the total
legislative appropriation of monies to the Public Utilities Staff from the Public
Utilities Staff Regulation Fund bears to the total legislative appropriation of
monies from the Public Service Commission Regulation Fund to the Public Service
Commission for the ensuing fiscal year. The Department of Revenue shall
deposit these funds * * * on the same day collected.
All administrative
provisions of the Mississippi Sales Tax Law, including those which fix damages,
penalties and interest for nonpayment of taxes and for noncompliance with the
provisions of such chapter, and all other duties and requirements imposed upon
taxpayers, shall apply to all persons liable for taxes under the provisions of
this chapter, and the Commissioner of Revenue shall exercise all the power and
authority and perform all the duties with respect to taxpayers under this
chapter as are provided in the Mississippi Sales Tax Law except where there is
a conflict, then the provisions of this chapter shall control. The term
"gross revenue" as used in this section is the total amount of all revenue
derived by each of the utilities from its intrastate operations, which are
subject to rate regulation under the provisions of this chapter or which
constitute utility services of the type described by subparagraph (i) of paragraph
(d) of Section 77-3-3 and which are regulated by this chapter and furnished to
ultimate consumers. The Department of Revenue is * * * authorized to use all tax returns of any
utilities available to it and to make audits as may be deemed necessary of all
records of utilities in order to correctly determine the amount of such gross
revenue.
All proceeds of the above-mentioned
tax are * * *
to be allocated to the Public Utilities Staff and to the commission in
the manner provided in this section for the purpose of this chapter.
Each utility subject to the provisions of this section shall be allowed to recover, through the use of a rate adjustment clause or rider, the total amount of taxes paid by the utility pursuant to this section for the reasonable and necessary expenses of the commission and the Public Utilities Staff.
* * * The expenses of * * * the Public Service Commission
shall be defrayed by appropriation from the State General Fund, and all
user charges and fees authorized under this section which are not credited to
the Public Utilities Staff Regulation Fund shall be deposited into the State
General Fund as authorized by law.
* * * The
Public Service Commission shall not charge another state agency a
fee, assessment, rent or other charge for services or resources received by authority
of this section.
SECTION 2. Section 27-104-205, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-104-205. (1) From and after July 1, 2016, the expenses of the following enumerated state agencies shall be defrayed by appropriation of the Legislature from the State General Fund: the State Fire Marshal, the State Fire Academy (not including the State Fire Academy Workforce Program Fund), the Office of Secretary of State (not including the Preneed Contracts Loss Recovery Fund), the Mississippi Public Service Commission (not including the Public Utilities Staff Regulation Fund, from which the expenses of the Public Utilities Staff are paid), the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services, (not including the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services Revolving Fund), the State Personnel Board, the Mississippi Department of Insurance (not including the Municipal Fire Protection Fund, Section 83-1-37, the County Volunteer Fire Department Fund, Section 83-1-39, and the Mississippi Propane Education and Research Fund, Section 75-57-119), the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers' Minimum Standards Board, the Mississippi Gaming Commission, the Office of the State Public Defender, the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission (not including the Second Injury Trust Fund) and the Office of Attorney General. Beginning July 1, 2016, any fees, assessments or other revenues charged for the support of the above-named state agencies shall be deposited into the State General Fund, and any special fund or depository established within the State Treasury for the deposit of such fees, assessments or revenues shall be abolished and the balance transferred to the State General Fund. Expenses heretofore drawn from such special funds or other depositories shall be drawn from the agencies' General Fund Account.
(2) Beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, the amount to be appropriated annually from the State General Fund for the support of each of the above-named state agencies shall not exceed the amount appropriated for such purpose in the preceding fiscal year, plus any increases in or additional fees, assessments or other charges authorized by act of the Legislature for the succeeding fiscal year.
(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any trust fund account that is maintained by any above-named agency.
(4) The provisions of this section shall not prohibit any of the above-named agencies from maintaining clearing accounts in approved depositories.
(5) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any trust fund accounts maintained by the Public Employees' Retirement System and protected under Section 272A of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
