# ‘The Attorney General of Texas
October 5, 1979
MARK WHITE Attorney General HonorableGeorge M. Cowden OpinionNo. MW-5 5 Chairman,PublicUtility Commission of Texas Re: Assessments that Public 7800Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 400N Utility Commission may collect Austin, Texas 78757 from water supply corporations removed from itsjurisdiction. Dear Mr. Cow&n: You ask several questions about the payment of assessmentsby water supply or sewer service corporations which were removed from the jurisdicti,on of the Public Utility Commission (PVC) as of April 19, 1979. Section 78 of the Public Utility Regulatory Act, V.T.C.S. article 1448% provides as fallows:

An assessment is hereby imposed upon each public utility within the commission’s jurisdiction serving the ultimate consumer equal to one-sixth of one percent of its grossreceipts from rates charged the ultimate consumers in Texas for the purpose of defraying the costs and expenses incurred in the administration of this Act. Thereafter the commission shall, subject to the approval of the Legislature, adjust this amessment to provide a level of income sufficient to fund commission operation. Assessments are due on August31 of each year, and covered utilities may makequarterly paymentsof their aasemments. In each case, the payment is made after the assessment year or quarter has passed. See Attorney General Opinion H-8ll (1978). Senate Bill 418, effective Apil19, 1979, removed water supplyend sewer service corporations from PUC jurisdiction, except for the purpose of issuingcertificates of convenience and necessity. V.T.C.S. art. 1448c,SS 3(a), (c), (II);49(b); Acts 1979,86th Leg., ch. 57 at 93. You ask whether water supply corporations must pay the assessment for the quarters during which they were subject to the commission’s regulation. The messment imposed by section 78 is an ongoing assessment for the purpose of defraying administrative costs. The legislative intent,as reflected in the language end structure of the statute, is that water supply

p. 201Honorable George M. Cowden - PageTwo (MI+65)

corporations are rewonsible for the portion of the assessment attributable to the time period they remainedunderPUC jurisdiction. You next ask whether the commission may prorate the amessment due and payable for the portion of the aassessment year up to April 19, 1979, and collect the prorated assessments from the water supply corporations. On the basis of our conclusion that the assessment & an cngoing obligation, we believe the commission may do so. You finaIly ask whether the commission may require any additionalassessmentsfor anyquarters after April 19,1979,against the water supplycorporation. As of that date, a water supply corporation ceased to be a “public utility within the commission’s jurisdiction”; hence, section 78 nolonger imposedthe assessmenton it. SUMMARY Water supply corporations, removed from the jurisdiction of the Public Utility Commission as of April 19, 1979, must pay aseessmentsimposed by section 78 of V.T.C.S. article 1446~ for the period duringwhich they were subject to PUC jurisdiction. -v@wtmo~.

MARK WHITE Attorney General of Texas JOHNW. PAINTER,JR. Pimt Assistant Attorney General TED L. HARTLEY Executive Assiitant Attorney General Preparedby SusanGarrison Assistant Attorney General APPROVED: OPINION

COMMlTTRE C. Robert Heath, Chairman DavidB. Brooks SusanGarrison Rick Gilpin WilliamG Reid MarthaV. Terry Bruce Youngblood

p. 202