I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 941 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to provide for disaster assistance for electric utility companies serving 

low-income households, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2009 

Mr. ALEXANDER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to provide for disaster assistance 

for electric utility companies serving low-income households, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Low-Income Rate 

5 Payer Disaster Recovery Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPAIR, RESTORATION, AND REPLACEMENT OF 

2 DAMAGED FACILITIES OF ELECTRIC UTILITY 

3 COMPANIES SERVING LOW-INCOME HOUSE4 HOLDS. 

5 (a) CONDITIONS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 

6 406(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

7 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(a)) is amend8 ed— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ 

11 at the end; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking the 

13 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(C) subject to paragraph (4), to an owner 

16 or operator of a private or investor-owned elec17 tric utility company serving low-income house18 holds for the repair, restoration, reconstruction, 

19 or replacement of facilities of the owner or op20 erator damaged or destroyed by a major dis21 aster and for associated expenses incurred by 

22 the owner or operator.’’; 

23 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para24 graph (5); and 

25 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol26 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(4) CONDITIONS FOR ASSISTANCE TO PRIVATE

2 OR INVESTOR-OWNED ELECTRIC UTILITY COMPANIES

3 SERVING LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The President may 

5 make contributions to the owner or operator of 

6 a private or investor-owned electric utility com7 pany serving low-income households under 

8 paragraph (1)(C) only if— 

9 ‘‘(i) the costs of repairing, restoring, 

10 reconstructing, or replacing its facilities 

11 damaged or destroyed by the major dis12 aster; exceed 

13 ‘‘(ii) the amount that is— 

14 ‘‘(I) 10 percent of the facilities’ 

15 total transmission and distribution 

16 rate base; less 

17 ‘‘(II)(aa) in the case of a single 

18 major disaster, accumulated deprecia19 tion on the date of the disaster; or 

20 ‘‘(bb) in the case of an aggrega21 tion under subparagraph (B), accu22 mulated depreciation on the date of 

23 the first major disaster included in 

24 such aggregation. 


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1 ‘‘(B) AGGREGATION FOR PURPOSES OF DE2 TERMINING COSTS.—For purposes of deter3 mining under this paragraph the costs of re4 pairing, restoring, or replacing the facilities of 

5 an owner or operator, the costs of damage from 

6 all previous major disasters during the 12- 

7 month period preceding the date of the declara8 tion of the major disaster for which the owner 

9 or operator is seeking contributions under para10 graph (1)(C) shall be aggregated. 

11 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION DEADLINE.—An owner 

12 or operator may apply for contributions under 

13 paragraph (1)(C)— 

14 ‘‘(i) in the case of a single major dis15 aster, not later than 60 months after the 

16 date of the declaration of the disaster; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an aggregation 

18 under subparagraph (B), not later than 60 

19 months after the date of the most recent 

20 major disaster for which the owner or op21 erator is seeking contributions. 

22 ‘‘(D) AVAILABLE FUNDING.—Subject to 

23 subparagraph (E), an owner or operator may 

24 apply for contributions under paragraph (1)(C) 

25 in the amount determined by multiplying— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the amount by which the costs 

2 described in subparagraph (A)(i) attrib3 utable to the owner or operator exceed the 

4 amount described in subparagraph (A)(ii) 

5 attributable to the owner or operator; by 

6 ‘‘(ii) the percent of retail residential 

7 customers comprised of low-income house8 holds served by the facilities of the owner 

9 or operator. 

10 ‘‘(E) LIMIT ON FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR

11 DISASTER RELIEF.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The total amount 

13 of contributions made to an owner or oper14 ator under paragraph (1)(C) may not ex15 ceed $50,000,000 in any 12-month period. 

16 ‘‘(ii) PRESIDENTIAL WAIVER.—For 

17 any major disaster occurring after the date 

18 of enactment of this clause, the President 

19 may waive the limit established by clause 

20 (i) if the President determines that the 

21 event is of an extraordinary nature; except 

22 that in no case may the total amount of 

23 contributions made to an owner or oper24 ator under paragraph (1)(C) exceed 100 

25 percent of the cost of repair, restoration, 


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1 reconstruction, or replacement of the dam2 aged facilities of the owner or operator. 

3 ‘‘(F) APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF AP4 PLICATIONS.—The President shall approve or 

5 disapprove an application for contributions sub6 mitted by an owner or operator for contribu7 tions under paragraph (1)(C) not later than 30 

8 days after the date of receipt of the applica9 tion.’’. 

10 (b) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 406(b)(2) of the Rob11 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

12 Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(b)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘public 

13 facility or private nonprofit facility’’ and inserting ‘‘public 

14 facility, private nonprofit facility, or private or investor15 owned electric utility company serving low-income house16 holds’’. 

17 (c) LARGE IN-LIEU CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 

18 406(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

19 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(c)) is amend20 ed by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) FOR PRIVATE OR INVESTOR-OWNED ELEC22 TRIC UTILITY COMPANIES SERVING LOW-INCOME

23 HOUSEHOLDS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 

25 the owner or operator of a private or investorVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:46 Feb 11, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H941.IH H941

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1 owned electric utility company serving low-in2 come households determines that the public wel3 fare would not best be served by repairing, re4 storing, reconstructing, or replacing the facility, 

5 the owner or operator may elect to receive, in 

6 lieu of a contribution under subsection 

7 (a)(1)(C), a contribution in an amount equal to 

8 75 percent of the available funding pursuant to 

9 subsection (a)(4)(D) or (a)(4)(E). 

10 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds contributed 

11 to an owner or operator under this paragraph 

12 may be used by the owner or operator to— 

13 ‘‘(i) repair, restore, or improve other 

14 private or investor-owned power facilities; 

15 ‘‘(ii) construct a new private or inves16 tor-owned power facility; or 

17 ‘‘(iii) fund hazard mitigation meas18 ures that the owner or operator determines 

19 to be necessary to meet a need for the 

20 services and functions of the owner or op21 erator in the area affected by the major 

22 disaster.’’. 

23 (d) ELIGIBLE COST.—Section 406(e)(1)(A) of the 

24 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist25 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(1)(A)) is amended by strikVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:46 Feb 11, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H941.IH H941

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1 ing ‘‘public facility or private nonprofit facility’’ and in2 serting ‘‘public facility, private nonprofit facility, or pri3 vate or investor-owned electric utility company serving 

4 low-income households’’. 

5 (e) DEFINITIONS.—Section 406 of the Robert T. 

6 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 5172) is amended by adding at the end the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

10 definitions apply: 

11 ‘‘(1) PRIVATE OR INVESTOR-OWNED ELECTRIC

12 UTILITY COMPANY SERVING LOW-INCOME HOUSE13 HOLDS.—The term ‘private or investor-owned elec14 tric utility company serving low-income households’ 

15 means a privately-owned or investor-owned electric 

16 utility company in which no less than 25 percent of 

17 its retail residential customers are low-income house18 holds. 

19 ‘‘(2) COMPANY.—The term ‘company’ means a 

20 corporation, partnership, association, or joint stock 

21 company. 

22 ‘‘(3) ELECTRIC UTILITY COMPANY.—The term 

23 ‘electric utility company’ means any company that 

24 owns, operates, or leases facilities used for trans25 mission or distribution of electric energy for sale. 


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1 ‘‘(4) LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLD.—The term 

2 ‘low-income household’ means a household with a 

3 total annual household income that does not exceed 

4 the greater of— 

5 ‘‘(A) an amount equal to 150 percent of 

6 the poverty level of a State; or 

7 ‘‘(B) an amount equal to 60 percent of the 

8 State median income. 

9 ‘‘(5) POVERTY LEVEL.—The term ‘poverty 

10 level’ has the meaning given the term in section 

11 2603 of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 

12 Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8622). 

13 ‘‘(6) STATE MEDIAN INCOME.—The term ‘State 

14 median income’ has the meaning given the term in 

15 section 2603 of the Low-Income Home Energy As16 sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8622).’’. 

17 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

18 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security in con20 sultation with the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regu21 latory Commission shall promulgate regulations necessary 

22 to implement this Act and the amendments made by this 

23 Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

3 apply to a major disaster occurring after the date of enact4 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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