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Union Calendar No. 533 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4444 

[Report No. 116–649] 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 

Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. COX of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, 

Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. LAMALFA, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. MCADAMS, Mr. 

MCCLINTOCK, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. 

O’HALLERAN, and Mr. BUCK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

DECEMBER 15, 2020 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be 

printed 


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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. 


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•HR 4444 RH

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 ‘‘Western Area Power 

5 Administration Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION PILOT 

7 PROJECT. 

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

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

10 Western Area Power Administration (referred to in this 

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

12 project, as part of the continuous process improvement 

13 program and to provide increased transparency for cus14 tomers, to publish on a publicly available website of the 

15 Western Area Power Administration, a database of the fol16 lowing information, beginning with fiscal year 2008, relat17 ing to the Western Area Power Administration: 

18 (1) By power system and in a consistent for19 mat, rates charged to customers for power and 

20 transmission service. 

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

22 energy sold. 

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

24 functional level and the budget activity level, of all 


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1 expenditures, capital costs, and staffing costs, in2 cluding— 

3 (A) indirect costs, including overhead 

4 costs; 

5 (B) direct charges and direct allocations; 

6 (C) the number of contract staff; 

7 (D) costs related to independent consult8 ants; 

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

10 and 

11 (F) charges to the region from the head12 quarters office of the Western Area Power Ad13 ministration for all annual and capital costs. 

14 (4) For the headquarters office of the Western 

15 Area Power Administration, a detailed accounting at 

16 the functional level and the budget activity level, of 

17 all expenditures and capital costs, including— 

18 (A) indirect costs, including overhead 

19 costs; 

20 (B) direct charges and direct allocations; 

21 (C) the number of contract staff; 

22 (D) costs related to independent consult23 ants; 

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


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1 (F) a summary of any expenditures de2 scribed in this paragraph, with the total 

3 amount paid by each region and power system; 

4 and 

5 (G) expenses incurred on behalf of other 

6 Federal agencies or programs or third parties 

7 for the administration of programs not related 

8 to the marketing, transmission, or wheeling of 

9 Federal hydropower resources, including— 

10 (i) indirect costs, including overhead 

11 costs; 

12 (ii) direct charges and allocations; 

13 (iii) the number of contract staff; and 

14 (iv) the number of full-time equiva15 lents. 

16 (5) Capital expenditures, including— 

17 (A) capital investments delineated by the 

18 year in which each investment is placed into 

19 service; and 

20 (B) the sources of capital for each invest21 ment. 

22 (b) ANNUAL SUMMARY.— 

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

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

25 project is being carried out under this section, the 


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1 Administrator shall make available on a publicly 

2 available website— 

3 (A) updates to documents made available 

4 on the date of the initial publication of the in5 formation on the website under subsection (a); 

6 (B) an identification of the magnitude of 

7 annual changes in the information published on 

8 the website under subsection (a); 

9 (C) a description of the reasons for the 

10 changes identified under subparagraph (B); 

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

12 amount of the unobligated balances retained by 

13 the Western Area Power Administration at the 

14 end of the prior fiscal year within each mar15 keting area and headquarters by— 

16 (i) purpose or function; 

17 (ii) source of funding; 

18 (iii) anticipated program allotment; 

19 and 

20 (iv) underlying authority for each 

21 source of funding; and 

22 (E) the anticipated level of unobligated 

23 balances that the Western Area Power Adminis24 tration expects to retain at the end of the fiscal 

25 year in which the annual summary is published, 


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1 as delineated by each of the categories de2 scribed in clauses (i) through (iv) of subpara3 graph (D). 

4 (2) LIMITATION.—Amounts in the Upper Colo5 rado River Basin Fund established by section 5(a) 

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

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

8 U.S.C. 620d(a)), shall not considered to be an unob9 ligated balance retained by the Western Area Power 

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

11 (c) TERMINATION.—The pilot project under this sec12 tion shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 533 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4444 

[Report No. 116–649] 

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 

DECEMBER 15, 2020 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS