I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4847

To provide for the reconstitution of outstanding repayment obligations of

the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration for the appropriated capital investments in the Federal Columbia River Power System.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 28, 1994

Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. SWIFT, Mr. DICKS, Mr. KOPETSKI, Ms.

FURSE, Mr. KREIDLER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. CANTWELL, Mrs.

UNSOELD, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. INSLEE) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide for the reconstitution of outstanding repayment

obligations of the Administrator of the Bonneville Power

Administration for the appropriated capital investments

in the Federal Columbia River Power System.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bonneville Power Ad5 ministration Appropriations Refinancing Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 For the purpose of this Act—
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1 (1) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator

2 of the Bonneville Power Administration;

3 (2) ‘‘capital investment’’ means a capitalized

4 cost funded by Federal appropriations that—

5 (A) is for a project, facility, or separable

6 unit or feature of a project or facility;

7 (B) is a cost for which the Administrator

8 is required by law to establish rates to repay to

9 the United States Treasury through the sale of

10 electric power, transmission, or other services;

11 (C) excludes a Federal irrigation invest12 ment; and

13 (D) excludes an investment financed by the

14 current revenues of the Administrator or by

15 bonds issued and sold, or authorized to be is16 sued and sold, by the Administrator under sec17 tion 13 of the Federal Columbia River Trans18 mission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838(k));

19 (3) ‘‘old capital investment’’ means a capital in20 vestment whose capitalized cost—

21 (A) was incurred, but not repaid, before

22 October 1, 1995, and

23 (B) was for a project, facility, or separable

24 unit or feature of a project or facility, placed in

25 service before October 1, 1995;
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1 (4) ‘‘repayment date’’ means the end of the pe2 riod within which the Administrator’s rates are to

3 assure the repayment of the principal amount of a

4 capital investment; and

5 (5) ‘‘Treasury rate’’ for a fiscal year means a

6 rate that the Secretary of the Treasury determines

7 as soon as practicable after the beginning of the fis8 cal year and that is equal to the average prevailing

9 market yield during the preceding fiscal year on in10 terest-bearing marketable securities of the United

11 States which, at the time the computation is made,

12 have terms of 15 years or more remaining to matu13 rity. The average yield is computed as the average

14 during the preceding fiscal year using the daily bid

15 prices. When the average yield so computed is not

16 a multiple of one-eighth of one percent, the rate is

17 the multiple of one-eighth of one percent nearest to

18 the average yield.

19 SEC. 3. NEW PRINCIPAL AMOUNTS.

20 (a) Effective October 1, 1995, an old capital invest21 ment has a new principal amount that is the sum of—

22 (1) the present value, calculated using a dis23 count rate equal to the Treasury rate for fiscal year

24 1996, of the old payment amounts for the old capital

25 investment; and
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1 (2) an amount equal to $100,000,000 multi2 plied by a fraction whose numerator is the principal

3 amount of the old payment amounts for the old cap4 ital investment and whose denominator is the sum of

5 the principal amounts of the old payment amounts

6 for all old capital investments.

7 (b) The Administrator shall determine the new prin8 cipal; amounts for old capital investments. The Adminis9 trator shall obtain approval by the Secretary of the Treas10 ury of the Administrator’s determination of the new prin11 cipal amounts and the Administrator’s assignment of the

12 interest rate to the new principal amounts, on the basis

13 of consistency with the provisions of this Act.

14 (c) For the purposes of this section, ‘‘old payment

15 amounts’’ means, for an old capital investment, the annual

16 interest and principal that the Administrator would have

17 paid to the United States Treasury from October 1, 1995,

18 if this Act were not enacted, assuming that—

19 (1) the principal were repaid—

20 (A) on the repayment date the Adminis21 trator assigned before October 1, 1993, to the

22 old capital investment, or

23 (B) with respect to an old capital invest24 ment for which the Administrator has not as25 signed a repayment date before October 1,
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1 1993, on a repayment date the Administrator

2 shall assign to the old capital investment in ac3 cordance with paragraph 10(d)(1) of the ver4 sion of Department of Energy Order RA

5 6120.2 in effect on October 1, 1993; and

6 (2) interest were paid—

7 (A) at the interest rate the Administrator

8 assigned before October 1, 1993, to the old cap9 ital investment, or

10 (B) with respect to an old capital invest11 ment for which the Administrator has not as12 signed an interest rate before October 1, 1993,

13 at the Treasury rate for the fiscal year in which

14 construction is initiated on the project, facility,

15 or separable unit or feature the old capital in16 vestment concerns.

17 SEC. 4. INTEREST RATE FOR NEW PRINCIPAL AMOUNTS.

18 As of October 1, 1995, the unpaid balance on the

19 new principal amount established for an old capital invest20 ment under section 3 bears interest annually at the Treas21 ury rate for fiscal year 1996 until the earlier of the date

22 that the new principal amount is repaid or the repayment

23 date for the new principal amount.
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1 SEC. 5. REPAYMENT DATES.

2 As of October 1, 1995, the repayment date for the

3 new principal amount established for an old capital invest4 ment under section 3 is no earlier than the repayment date

5 for the old capital investment assumed in section 3(c)(1).

6 SEC. 6. PREPAYMENT LIMITATIONS.

7 During the period October 1, 1995, through Septem8 ber 30, 2000, the total new principal amounts of old cap9 ital investments, as established under section 3, that the

10 Administrator may pay before their respective repayment

11 dates shall not exceed $100,000,000.

12 SEC. 7. INTEREST RATES FOR NEW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS

13 DURING CONSTRUCTION.

14 (a) The principal amount of a capital investment for

15 a project, facility, or separable unit or feature of a project

16 or facility, placed in service after September 30, 1995, in17 cludes interest in each fiscal year of construction at a rate

18 equal to the one-year rate for the fiscal year on the sum

19 of—

20 (1) construction expenditures that were made

21 from the date construction commenced through the

22 end of the fiscal year, and

23 (2) accrued interest during construction.

24 (b) The Administrator is not required to pay, during

25 construction of the project, facility, or separable unit or
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1 feature, the interest calculated, accrued, and capitalized

2 under subsection (a).

3 (c) For the purposes of this section, ‘‘one-year rate’’

4 for a fiscal year means the one-year Treasury agency bor5 rowing rate as determined by the Secretary of the Treas6 ury for use during the first month of the fiscal year taking

7 into consideration the average of market yields on out8 standing marketable interest-bearing obligations of the

9 United States with approximate periods to maturity of one

10 year.

11 SEC. 8. INTEREST RATES FOR NEW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS.

12 The unpaid balance on the principal amount of a cap13 ital investment for a project, facility, or separable unit or

14 feature of a project or facility, placed in service after Sep15 tember 30, 1995, bears interest—

16 (1) from the date it is placed in service until

17 the earlier of the date the capital investment is re18 paid or the end of the repayment period for the cap19 ital investment,

20 (2) at a rate determined by the Secretary of the

21 Treasury for use in assigning interest rates to new

22 capital investments during the month that includes

23 the date the new capital investment is placed in

24 service, taking into consideration the average of

25 market yields on outstanding marketable interest-
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1 bearing obligations of the United States with periods

2 to maturity comparable to the repayment period of

3 the capital investment.

4 SEC. 9. CREDITS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR’S PAYMENTS TO

5 THE UNITED STATES TREASURY.

6 (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Administrator

7 shall apply against amounts payable by the Administrator

8 to the United States Treasury a credit in the amount of

9 $15.25 million in fiscal year 1996, $15.86 million in fiscal

10 year 1997, $16.49 million in fiscal year 1998, $17.15 mil11 lion in fiscal year 1999, $17.84 million in fiscal year 2000,

12 and $4.10 million in each succeeding fiscal year so long

13 as the Administrator makes annual payments to the

14 Tribes under the settlement agreement.

15 (b) For the purposes of this section, ‘‘settlement

16 agreement’’ means that settlement agreement between the

17 United States of America and the Confederated Tribes of

18 the Colville Reservation signed by the Tribes on April 16,

19 1994, and by the United States of America on April 21,

20 1994, which settlement agreement resolves claims of the

21 Tribes in Docket 181–D of the Indian Claims Commis22 sion, which docket has been transferred to the United

23 States Court of Federal Claims; and, ‘‘Tribes’’ means the

24 Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a feder25 ally-recognized Indian Tribe.
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1 SEC. 10. CONTRACT PROVISIONS.

2 In each contract of the Administrator that provides

3 for the Administrator to sell electric power, transmission,

4 or related services, and that is in effect after September

5 30, 1995, the Administrator shall offer to include, or as

6 the case may be, shall offer to amend to include, provisions

7 specifying that after September 30, 1995—

8 (1) the Administrator shall establish rates and

9 charges on the basis that—

10 (A) the principal amount of an old capital

11 investment shall be no greater than the new

12 principal amount established under section 3 of

13 this Act;

14 (B) the interest rate applicable to the un15 paid balance of the new principal amount of an

16 old capital investment shall be no greater than

17 the interest rate established under section 4 of

18 this Act;

19 (C) any payment of principal of an old

20 capital investment shall reduce the outstanding

21 principal balance of the old capital investment

22 in the amount of the payment at the time the

23 payment is tendered; and,

24 (D) any payment of interest on the unpaid

25 balance of the new principal amount of an old

26 capital investment shall be a credit against the
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1 appropriate interest account in the amount of

2 the payment at the time the payment is ten3 dered;

4 (2) apart from charges necessary to repay the

5 new principal amount of an old capital investment as

6 established under section 3 of this Act and to pay

7 the interest on the principal amount under section 4

8 of this Act, no amount may be charged for return

9 to the United States Treasury as repayment for or

10 return on an old capital investment, whether by way

11 of rate, rent, lease payment, assessment, user

12 charge, or any other fee;

13 (3) amounts provided under section 1304 of

14 title 31, United States Code, shall be available to

15 pay, and shall be the sole source for payment of, a

16 judgment against or settlement by the Administrator

17 or the United States on a claim for a breach of the

18 contract provisions required by this Act; and

19 (4) the contract provisions specified in this Act

20 do not—

21 (A) preclude the Administrator from recov22 ering, through rates or other means, any tax

23 that is generally imposed on electric utilities in

24 the United States, or
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1 (B) affect the Administrator’s authority

2 under applicable law, including section 7(g) of

3 the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning

4 and Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 839e(g)), to—

5 (i) allocate costs and benefits, includ6 ing but not limited to fish and wildlife

7 costs, to rates or resources; or

8 (ii) design rates.

9 SEC. 11. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.

10 (a) This Act does not affect the obligation of the Ad11 ministrator to repay the principal associated with each

12 capital investment, and to pay interest on the principal,

13 only from the ‘‘Administrator’s net proceeds,’’ as defined

14 in section 13 of the Federal Columbia River Transmission

15 System Act (16 U.S.C. 838k(b)).

16 (b) Except as provided in section 6 of this Act, this

17 Act does not affect the authority of the Administrator to

18 pay all or a portion of the principal amount associated

19 with a capital investment before the repayment date for

20 the principal amount.

Æ