I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6963 
To amend the Federal Power Act with respect to the rehearing process, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 22, 2020 
Mr. CASTEN of Illinois (for himself, Mr. MALINOWSKI, and Mr. KENNEDY) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Power Act with respect to the 
rehearing process, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Right to Timely Re-
hearings at FERC Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FEDERAL POWER ACT REHEARINGS. 
Section 313(a) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 
825l(a)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) REHEARINGS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person, electric utility, 
State, municipality, or State commission aggrieved 
by an order issued by the Commission in a pro-
ceeding under this Act to which such person, electric 
utility, State, municipality, or State commission is a 
party may apply for a rehearing within 30 days after 
the issuance of such order. The application for re-
hearing shall set forth specifically the ground or 
grounds upon which such application is based. Upon 
such application the Commission shall have power to 
grant or deny rehearing or to abrogate or modify its 
order without further hearing. No proceeding to re-
view any orders of the Commission shall be brought 
by any entity unless such entity shall have made ap-
plication to the Commission for a rehearing thereon. 
Until the record in a proceeding shall have been filed 
in a court of appeals, as provided in subsection (b), 
the Commission may at any time, upon reasonable 
notice and in such manner as it shall deem proper, 
modify or set aside, in whole or in part, any finding 
or order made or issued by it under the provisions 
of this act. 
‘‘(2) DEADLINE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), the Commission shall act on 
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the merits of an application filed under para-
graph (1) by the date that is 120 days after the 
date on which the applicable order is issued. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) FINDING.—If, by the date that is 
120 days after the date on which the appli-
cable order is issued, the Commission 
issues a finding that additional time for 
consideration of an application filed under 
paragraph (1) is necessary, the Commis-
sion shall act on the merits of the applica-
tion by the date that is 210 days after the 
date on which the applicable order is 
issued. The Commission may not delegate 
the authority to issue a finding under this 
clause. 
‘‘(ii) LACK OF QUORUM.—If the Com-
mission fails to act on the merits of an ap-
plication filed under paragraph (1) by the 
applicable deadline under clause (i) or sub-
paragraph (A) because the Commission 
lacks a quorum on such date, the Commis-
sion shall act on the merits of the applica-
tion by the date that is 30 days after the 
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date on which the Commission establishes 
a quorum. 
‘‘(C) FAILURE TO ACT.—If the Commis-
sion fails to act on the merits of an application 
filed under paragraph (1) by the applicable 
deadline under subparagraph (A) or (B), the 
application shall be deemed to be denied.’’. 
Æ 
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