II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3572 

To provide for disaster assistance for power transmission and distribution 

facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. VITTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for disaster assistance for power transmission 

and distribution facilities, 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 ‘‘Ratepayer Recovery 

5 Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR POWER TRANSMISSION 

7 AND DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 102 of the Robert T. 

9 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 


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1 (42 U.S.C. 5122) is amended by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(11) PRIVATE OR INVESTOR-OWNED POWER

4 FACILITY.—The term ‘private or investor-owned 

5 power facility’— 

6 ‘‘(A) means a privately-owned or investor7 owned transmission or distribution facility that 

8 provides electric or natural gas service to retail 

9 customers under State or local jurisdiction; and 

10 ‘‘(B) includes leased facilities.’’. 

11 (b) CONDITIONS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 

12 406(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

13 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(a)) is amend14 ed— 

15 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

16 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

17 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

18 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

19 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

21 ‘‘(C) subject to paragraph (4), to a person 

22 that owns a private or investor-owned power fa23 cility damaged or destroyed by a major disaster 

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1 placement of the facility and for associated ex2 penses incurred by the person.’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para4 graph (5); and 

5 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(4) CONDITIONS FOR ASSISTANCE TO PRIVATE

8 OR INVESTOR-OWNED POWER FACILITIES.— 

9 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

10 term ‘previous major disaster’ means a major 

11 disaster— 

12 ‘‘(i) occurring before the date of the 

13 major disaster for which Federal assist14 ance is sought under this subsection; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) that was declared by the Presi16 dent not more than 10 years before the 

17 date on which the President declared the 

18 major disaster for which Federal assist19 ance is sought under this subsection. 

20 ‘‘(B) CONDITIONED ON PREVIOUS

21 EVENT.—The President may make contribu22 tions to the owner of a private or investor23 owned power facility under paragraph (1)(C) 

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1 placement of any facility damaged or destroyed 

2 as a result of a major disaster, only if— 

3 ‘‘(i) the facility damaged or destroyed 

4 as a result of the major disaster was dam5 aged or destroyed by a previous major dis6 aster; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the cost of repairing, restoring, 

8 reconstructing, or replacing the private or 

9 investor-owned power facility damaged or 

10 destroyed by the previous major disaster 

11 exceeded $2,500 for each retail customer 

12 receiving electrical or natural gas service 

13 from the owner on the day before the date 

14 of the previous major disaster; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the total costs of repair, restora16 tion, reconstruction, or replacement of all 

17 private or investor-owned power facilities 

18 owned by such person and associated ex19 penses incurred by the person as a result 

20 of the previous major disaster exceeded 

21 $500,000,000; and 

22 ‘‘(iv) 20 percent or more of the popu23 lation, based on the most recent census 

24 data, of each geographic area in which the 

25 private or investor-owned power facility is 


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1 located, had income that did not exceed the 

2 poverty line (as defined in section 

3 2110(c)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 1397jj(c)(5)) during the year be5 fore the previous major disaster. 

6 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION FOR FUNDS.—A person 

7 that owns a private or investor-owned power fa8 cility that meets the requirements under sub9 paragraph (B) may apply for Federal assistance 

10 on or before the earlier of— 

11 ‘‘(i) 30 days after the date on which 

12 the President declares the major disaster 

13 for which the person requests Federal as14 sistance; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) the date upon which person has 

16 incurred costs of more than the greater of 

$10,000,000 and 2 17 ⁄3 of the average annual 

18 net income of the person for the previous 

19 3 fiscal years relating to the repair, res20 toration, reconstruction, or replacement of 

21 all private or investor-owned power facili22 ties owned by the person that were dam23 aged or destroyed as a result of the major 

24 disaster for which the person requests Fed25 eral assistance. 


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1 ‘‘(D) AMOUNT OF FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

2 FOR DISASTER RELIEF.—The owner of a pri3 vate or investor-owned power facility may re4 ceive assistance under paragraph (1)(C) for the 

5 costs of repair, restoration, reconstruction, or 

6 replacement of the facility and associated ex7 penses incurred by the person that exceed the 

8 greater of $10,000,000 and the amount equal 

to 2 9 ⁄3 of the average annual net income of the 

10 person for the previous 3 fiscal years. 

11 ‘‘(E) AGGREGATION FOR PURPOSES OF DE12 TERMINING COSTS.—For purposes of deter13 mining the costs of a previous major disaster 

14 under this paragraph, the owner of the private 

15 or investor-owned power facility may aggregate 

16 the costs of all previous major disasters de17 clared during any 12-month period. 

18 ‘‘(F) APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF AP19 PLICATIONS.—The President shall approve or 

20 disapprove an application for assistance sub21 mitted by a person under paragraph (1)(C) for 

22 a private or investor-owned power facility not 

23 later than 30 days after the date of receipt of 

24 the application.’’. 


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1 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 406(b)(2) of the Rob2 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

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

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

5 facility, private nonprofit facility, or private or investor6 owned power facility’’. 

7 (d) LARGE IN-LIEU CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 

8 406(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

9 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(c)) is amend10 ed by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(3) FOR PRIVATE OR INVESTOR-OWNED

12 POWER FACILITIES.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a person that owns 

14 a private or investor-owned power facility deter15 mines that the public welfare would not best be 

16 served by repairing, restoring, reconstructing, 

17 or replacing the facility, the person may elect to 

18 receive, in lieu of a contribution under sub19 section (a)(1)(C), a contribution in an amount 

20 equal to 75 percent of the Federal share of the 

21 Federal estimate of the cost of repairing, re22 storing, reconstructing, or replacing the facility 

23 and of associated expenses, under the condi24 tions described in subsection (a)(4). 


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

2 to a person under this paragraph may be used 

3 only within the area affected as a result of the 

4 major disaster for which the person requests 

5 Federal assistance to— 

6 ‘‘(i) repair, restore, or expand other 

7 private or investor-owned power facilities 

8 owned by the person; 

9 ‘‘(ii) construct a new private or inves10 tor-owned power facility owned by the per11 son; or 

12 ‘‘(iii) fund hazard mitigation meas13 ures that the person determines to be nec14 essary to meet a need for the services and 

15 functions of the person in the area affected 

16 by the major disaster.’’. 

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

18 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist19 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(1)(A)) is amended by strik20 ing ‘‘public facility or private nonprofit facility’’ and in21 serting ‘‘public facility, private nonprofit facility, or pri22 vate or investor-owned power facility’’. 

23 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

24 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 


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1 Management Agency shall promulgate regulations nec2 essary to implement this Act and the amendments made 

3 by this Act. 

Æ 


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