II 

Calendar No. 534 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 930 

To require the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration 

to establish a pilot project to provide increased transparency for customers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2017 

Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mr. KING) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources 

JULY 30, 2018 

Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Western Area Power 

Administration to establish a pilot project to provide 

increased transparency for customers, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 930 RS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Area Power 

3 Administration Transparency Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION PILOT 

5 PROJECT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

8 Western Area Power Administration (referred to in this 

9 section as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall establish a pilot 

10 project, as part of the continuous process improvement 

11 program and to provide increased transparency for cus12 tomers, to publish on a publicly available website of the 

13 Western Area Power Administration, a database of the fol14 lowing information, beginning with fiscal year 2008, relat15 ing to the Western Area Power Administration: 

16 (1) By power system and in a consistent for17 mat, rates charged to customers for power and 

18 transmission service. 

19 (2) By power system, the amount of capacity or 

20 energy sold. 

21 (3) By region, a detailed accounting, at the 

22 functional level and the budget activity level, of all 

23 expenditures, capital costs, and staffing costs, in24 cluding— 

25 (A) indirect costs, including overhead 

26 costs; 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 930 RS

1 (B) direct charges and direct allocations; 

2 (C) the number of contract staff; 

3 (D) costs related to independent consult4 ants; 

5 (E) the number of full-time equivalents; 

6 and 

7 (F) charges to the region from the head8 quarters office of the Western Area Power Ad9 ministration for all annual and capital costs. 

10 (4) For the headquarters office of the Western 

11 Area Power Administration, a detailed accounting at 

12 the functional level and the budget activity level, of 

13 all expenditures and capital costs, including— 

14 (A) indirect costs, including overhead 

15 costs; 

16 (B) direct charges and direct allocations; 

17 (C) the number of contract staff; 

18 (D) costs related to independent consult19 ants; 

20 (E) the number of full-time equivalents; 

21 (F) a summary of any expenditures de22 scribed in this paragraph, with the total 

23 amount paid by each region and power system; 

24 and 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 930 RS

1 (G) expenses incurred on behalf of other 

2 Federal agencies or programs or third parties 

3 for the administration of programs not related 

4 to the marketing, transmission, or wheeling of 

5 Federal hydropower resources, including— 

6 (i) indirect costs, including overhead 

7 costs; 

8 (ii) direct charges and allocations; 

9 (iii) the number of contract staff; and 

10 (iv) the number of full-time equiva11 lents. 

12 (5) Capital expenditures, including— 

13 (A) capital investments delineated by the 

14 year in which each investment is placed into 

15 service; and 

16 (B) the sources of capital for each invest17 ment. 

18 (b) ANNUAL SUMMARY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

20 after the end of each fiscal year in which the pilot 

21 project is being carried out under this section, the 

22 Administrator shall make available on a publicly 

23 available website— 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 930 RS

1 (A) updates to documents made available 

2 on the date of the initial publication of the in3 formation on the website under subsection (a); 

4 (B) an identification of the magnitude of 

5 annual changes in the information published on 

6 the website under subsection (a); 

7 (C) a description of the reasons for the 

8 changes identified under subparagraph (B); 

9 (D) subject to paragraph (2), the total 

10 amount of the unobligated balances retained by 

11 the Western Area Power Administration at the 

12 end of the prior fiscal year within each mar13 keting area and headquarters by— 

14 (i) purpose or function; 

15 (ii) source of funding; 

16 (iii) anticipated program allotment; 

17 and 

18 (iv) underlying authority for each 

19 source of funding; and 

20 (E) the anticipated level of unobligated 

21 balances that the Western Area Power Adminis22 tration expects to retain at the end of the fiscal 

23 year in which the annual summary is published, 

24 as delineated by each of the categories deVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Jul 30, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S930.RS S930

amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 930 RS

1 scribed in clauses (i) through (iv) of subpara2 graph (D). 

3 (2) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Upper Colo4 rado River Basin Fund established by section 5(a) 

5 of the Act of April 11, 1956 (commonly known as 

6 the ‘‘Colorado River Storage Project Act’’) (43 

7 U.S.C. 620d(a)), shall not be considered an unobli8 gated balance retained by the Western Area Power 

9 Administration for purposes of paragraph (1)(D). 

10 (c) TERMINATION.—The pilot project under this sec11 tion shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act. 

13 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

14 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Area Power 

15 Administration Transparency Act’’. 

16 SEC. 2. WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION PILOT 

17 PROJECT. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the West20 ern Area Power Administration (referred to in this section 

21 as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall— 

22 (1) establish a pilot project, as part of the con23 tinuous process improvement program and to provide 

24 increased transparency for customers— 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 930 RS

1 (A) to make available a database of infor2 mation relating to the Western Area Power Ad3 ministration in accordance with paragraph (2); 

4 and 

5 (B) to provide annual updates to the data6 base in accordance with subsection (b); and 

7 (2) publish on a publicly available website of the 

8 Western Area Power Administration, a database of 

9 the following information, beginning with fiscal year 

10 2008, relating to the Western Area Power Adminis11 tration: 

12 (A) By power system and in a consistent 

13 format, rates charged to customers for power and 

14 transmission service. 

15 (B) By power system, the amount of capac16 ity or energy sold. 

17 (C) By region, an accounting, at the task 

18 level, budget activity level, organizational code 

19 level, and object class level, of all expenditures, 

20 including— 

21 (i) indirect costs, including overhead 

22 costs; 

23 (ii) direct charges and direct alloca24 tions; 

25 (iii) costs related to contract staff; 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 930 RS

1 (iv) costs related to independent con2 sultants; 

3 (v) the number of full-time equivalents; 

4 (vi) charges to the region from the 

5 headquarters office of the Western Area 

6 Power Administration for all annual and 

7 capital costs; and 

8 (vii) expenses incurred on behalf of 

9 other Federal agencies or programs or third 

10 parties for the administration of programs 

11 not related to the marketing, transmission, 

12 or wheeling of Federal hydropower resources 

13 within the Western Area Power Administra14 tion marketing area, including— 

15 (I) indirect costs, including over16 head costs; 

17 (II) direct charges and alloca18 tions; 

19 (III) costs related to contract 

20 staff; and 

21 (IV) the number of full-time 

22 equivalents. 

23 (D) For the headquarters office of the West24 ern Area Power Administration, an accounting, 

25 at the task level, budget activity level, organizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Jul 30, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S930.RS S930

amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 930 RS

1 tional code level, and object class level, of all ex2 penditures, including— 

3 (i) indirect costs, including overhead 

4 costs; 

5 (ii) direct charges and direct alloca6 tions; 

7 (iii) costs related to contract staff; 

8 (iv) costs related to independent con9 sultants; 

10 (v) the number of full-time equivalents; 

11 (vi) a summary of any expenditures 

12 described in this paragraph, with the total 

13 amount paid by each region and power sys14 tem; and 

15 (vii) expenses incurred on behalf of 

16 other Federal agencies or programs or third 

17 parties for the administration of programs 

18 not related to the marketing, transmission, 

19 or wheeling of Federal hydropower resources 

20 within the Western Area Power Administra21 tion marketing area, including— 

22 (I) indirect costs, including over23 head costs; 

24 (II) direct charges and alloca25 tions; 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 930 RS

1 (III) costs related to contract 

2 staff; and 

3 (IV) the number of full-time 

4 equivalents. 

5 (E) Capital expenditures for each project, 

6 including— 

7 (i) capital investments delineated by 

8 the year in which each investment is placed 

9 into service; and 

10 (ii) the sources of capital for each in11 vestment. 

12 (b) ANNUAL SUMMARY.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after 

14 the end of each fiscal year in which the pilot project 

15 is being carried out under this section, the Adminis16 trator shall make available on a publicly available 

17 website— 

18 (A) updates to documents made available on 

19 the date of the initial publication of the informa20 tion on the website under subsection (a)(2); 

21 (B) an identification of the annual changes 

22 in the information published on the website 

23 under subsection (a)(2); 

24 (C) the reasons for the changes identified 

25 under subparagraph (B); 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
11 

•S 930 RS

1 (D) subject to paragraph (2), the total 

2 amount of the unobligated balances retained by 

3 the Western Area Power Administration at the 

4 end of the prior fiscal year within each project 

5 and headquarters by— 

6 (i) purpose or function; 

7 (ii) source of funding; 

8 (iii) anticipated program allotment; 

9 and 

10 (iv) underlying authority for each 

11 source of funding; and 

12 (E) the anticipated level of unobligated bal13 ances that the Western Area Power Administra14 tion expects to retain at the end of the fiscal year 

15 in which the annual summary is published, as 

16 delineated by each of the categories described in 

17 clauses (i) through (iv) of subparagraph (D). 

18 (2) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Upper Colo19 rado River Basin Fund established by section 5(a) of 

20 the Act of April 11, 1956 (commonly known as the 

21 ‘‘Colorado River Storage Project Act’’) (43 U.S.C. 

22 620d(a)), shall not considered to be an unobligated 

23 balance retained by the Western Area Power Adminis24 tration for purposes of paragraph (1)(D). 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
12 

•S 930 RS

1 (c) TERMINATION.—The pilot project under this sec2 tion shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act. 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS

amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 534 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 930 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Western Area 

and for other purposes. to provide increased transparency for customers, Power Administration to establish a pilot project 

JULY 30, 2018 

Reported with an amendment 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with BILLS