Bill Text: TX HB3737 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to facilities included in the electricity supply chain.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-05 - Left pending in committee [HB3737 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB3737-Introduced.html

---

88R11574 ANG-F
By: Metcalf H.B. No. 3737

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to facilities included in the electricity supply chain.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.157, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 37.157. MAPS. (a) An electric utility shall file with
the commission one or more maps that show each utility facility and
that separately illustrate each utility facility for the
generation, transmission, or distribution of the utility's
services on a date the commission orders.
(b) Each electric utility and municipally owned utility
shall provide the utility's service area boundary map in a
geographic information system format to the commission. The service
area boundary map may be provided to the commission in a geodatabase
feature class or shapefile.
SECTION 2. Section 38.201, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsection (a-1)
to read as follows:
(a) In this subchapter, "electricity supply chain" means:
(1) facilities and methods used for producing,
treating, processing, pressurizing, storing, or transporting
natural gas for delivery to electric generation facilities; [and]
(2) critical infrastructure necessary to maintain
electricity service; and
(3) roads necessary to access facilities in the
electricity supply chain.
(a-1) A reference in this subchapter to the "electricity
supply chain" includes water and wastewater treatment plants.
(b) The Texas Electricity Supply Chain Security and Mapping
Committee is established to:
(1) map this state's electricity supply chain;
(2) identify critical infrastructure sources in the
electricity supply chain;
(3) establish best practices to prepare facilities
[that provide electric service and natural gas service] in the
electricity supply chain to maintain service in an extreme weather
event and recommend oversight and compliance standards for those
facilities; and
(4) designate priority service needs to prepare for,
respond to, and recover from an extreme weather event.
(c) The committee is composed of:
(1) the executive director of the commission;
(2) the executive director of the Railroad Commission
of Texas;
(3) the president and the chief executive officer of
the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the
ERCOT power region; [and]
(4) the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency
Management; and
(5) the executive director of the Texas Department of
Transportation.
SECTION 3. Section 38.202(c), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) The commission, the Railroad Commission of Texas, [and]
the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and the Texas
Department of Transportation shall provide staff as necessary to
assist the committee in carrying out the committee's duties and
responsibilities.
SECTION 4. Section 38.203, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (f), (g), (h), and
(i) to read as follows:
(a) The committee shall:
(1) map the state's electricity supply chain in order
to designate priority electricity service needs during extreme
weather events;
(2) identify and designate the sources in the
electricity supply chain necessary to operate critical
infrastructure, as defined by Section 421.001, Government Code;
(3) develop a communication system between critical
infrastructure sources, the commission, and the independent
organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power
region to ensure that electricity and natural gas supplies in the
electricity supply chain are prioritized to those sources during an
extreme weather event; and
(4) establish best practices to prepare facilities
[that provide electric service and natural gas service] in the
electricity supply chain to maintain service in an extreme weather
event and recommend oversight and compliance standards for those
facilities.
(f) On request, the committee shall provide view-only
access to the electricity supply chain map to:
(1) an electric utility, a transmission and
distribution utility, an electric cooperative, or a municipally
owned utility;
(2) an operator of a gas supply chain facility, as
defined by Section 86.044, Natural Resources Code; or
(3) an operator of a gas pipeline facility described
by Section 121.2015.
(g) Access to the electricity supply chain map by an entity
described by Subsection (f)(1) is limited to the critical natural
gas facilities on the map that are located in the requesting
entity's service area.
(h) The committee may not provide an entity described by
Subsection (f)(1) with access to the electricity supply chain map
unless the entity has complied with Section 37.157.
(i) Access to the electricity supply chain map by an
operator described by Subsections (f)(2) and (3) is limited to the
critical natural gas facilities owned by the requesting operator.
SECTION 5. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
require each entity to which Section 37.157(b), Utilities Code, as
added by this Act, applies to comply with that section not later
than September 30, 2023.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.