I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4847
To provide for the reconstitution of outstanding repayment obligations of
the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration for the appro-
priated capital investments in the Federal Columbia River Power System.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 28, 1994
Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. SWIFT, Mr. DICKS, Mr. KOPETSKI, Ms.
FURSE, Mr. KREIDLER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. CANTWELL, Mrs.
UNSOELD, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. INSLEE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To provide for the reconstitution of outstanding repayment
obligations of the Administrator of the Bonneville Power
Administration for the appropriated capital investments
in the Federal Columbia River Power System.
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 ‘‘Bonneville Power Ad-
ministration Appropriations Refinancing Act’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For the purpose of this Act—
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(1) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator
of the Bonneville Power Administration;
(2) ‘‘capital investment’’ means a capitalized
cost funded by Federal appropriations that—
(A) is for a project, facility, or separable
unit or feature of a project or facility;
(B) is a cost for which the Administrator
is required by law to establish rates to repay to
the United States Treasury through the sale of
electric power, transmission, or other services;
(C) excludes a Federal irrigation invest-
ment; and
(D) excludes an investment financed by the
current revenues of the Administrator or by
bonds issued and sold, or authorized to be is-
sued and sold, by the Administrator under sec-
tion 13 of the Federal Columbia River Trans-
mission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838(k));
(3) ‘‘old capital investment’’ means a capital in-
vestment whose capitalized cost—
(A) was incurred, but not repaid, before
October 1, 1995, and
(B) was for a project, facility, or separable
unit or feature of a project or facility, placed in
service before October 1, 1995;
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(4) ‘‘repayment date’’ means the end of the pe-
riod within which the Administrator’s rates are to
assure the repayment of the principal amount of a
capital investment; and
(5) ‘‘Treasury rate’’ for a fiscal year means a
rate that the Secretary of the Treasury determines
as soon as practicable after the beginning of the fis-
cal year and that is equal to the average prevailing
market yield during the preceding fiscal year on in-
terest-bearing marketable securities of the United
States which, at the time the computation is made,
have terms of 15 years or more remaining to matu-
rity. The average yield is computed as the average
during the preceding fiscal year using the daily bid
prices. When the average yield so computed is not
a multiple of one-eighth of one percent, the rate is
the multiple of one-eighth of one percent nearest to
the average yield.
SEC. 3. NEW PRINCIPAL AMOUNTS.
(a) Effective October 1, 1995, an old capital invest-
ment has a new principal amount that is the sum of—
(1) the present value, calculated using a dis-
count rate equal to the Treasury rate for fiscal year
1996, of the old payment amounts for the old capital
investment; and
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(2) an amount equal to $100,000,000 multi-
plied by a fraction whose numerator is the principal
amount of the old payment amounts for the old cap-
ital investment and whose denominator is the sum of
the principal amounts of the old payment amounts
for all old capital investments.
(b) The Administrator shall determine the new prin-
cipal; amounts for old capital investments. The Adminis-
trator shall obtain approval by the Secretary of the Treas-
ury of the Administrator’s determination of the new prin-
cipal amounts and the Administrator’s assignment of the
interest rate to the new principal amounts, on the basis
of consistency with the provisions of this Act.
(c) For the purposes of this section, ‘‘old payment
amounts’’ means, for an old capital investment, the annual
interest and principal that the Administrator would have
paid to the United States Treasury from October 1, 1995,
if this Act were not enacted, assuming that—
(1) the principal were repaid—
(A) on the repayment date the Adminis-
trator assigned before October 1, 1993, to the
old capital investment, or
(B) with respect to an old capital invest-
ment for which the Administrator has not as-
signed a repayment date before October 1,
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SEC. 5. REPAYMENT DATES.
As of October 1, 1995, the repayment date for the
new principal amount established for an old capital invest-
ment under section 3 is no earlier than the repayment date
for the old capital investment assumed in section 3(c)(1).
SEC. 6. PREPAYMENT LIMITATIONS.
During the period October 1, 1995, through Septem-
ber 30, 2000, the total new principal amounts of old cap-
ital investments, as established under section 3, that the
Administrator may pay before their respective repayment
dates shall not exceed $100,000,000.
SEC. 7. INTEREST RATES FOR NEW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS
DURING CONSTRUCTION.
(a) The principal amount of a capital investment for
a project, facility, or separable unit or feature of a project
or facility, placed in service after September 30, 1995, in-
cludes interest in each fiscal year of construction at a rate
equal to the one-year rate for the fiscal year on the sum
of—
(1) construction expenditures that were made
from the date construction commenced through the
end of the fiscal year, and
(2) accrued interest during construction.
(b) The Administrator is not required to pay, during
construction of the project, facility, or separable unit or
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feature, the interest calculated, accrued, and capitalized
under subsection (a).
(c) For the purposes of this section, ‘‘one-year rate’’
for a fiscal year means the one-year Treasury agency bor-
rowing rate as determined by the Secretary of the Treas-
ury for use during the first month of the fiscal year taking
into consideration the average of market yields on out-
standing marketable interest-bearing obligations of the
United States with approximate periods to maturity of one
year.
SEC. 8. INTEREST RATES FOR NEW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS.
The unpaid balance on the principal amount of a cap-
ital investment for a project, facility, or separable unit or
feature of a project or facility, placed in service after Sep-
tember 30, 1995, bears interest—
(1) from the date it is placed in service until
the earlier of the date the capital investment is re-
paid or the end of the repayment period for the cap-
ital investment,
(2) at a rate determined by the Secretary of the
Treasury for use in assigning interest rates to new
capital investments during the month that includes
the date the new capital investment is placed in
service, taking into consideration the average of
market yields on outstanding marketable interest-
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bearing obligations of the United States with periods
to maturity comparable to the repayment period of
the capital investment.
SEC. 9. CREDITS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR’S PAYMENTS TO
THE UNITED STATES TREASURY.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Administrator
shall apply against amounts payable by the Administrator
to the United States Treasury a credit in the amount of
$15.25 million in fiscal year 1996, $15.86 million in fiscal
year 1997, $16.49 million in fiscal year 1998, $17.15 mil-
lion in fiscal year 1999, $17.84 million in fiscal year 2000,
and $4.10 million in each succeeding fiscal year so long
as the Administrator makes annual payments to the
Tribes under the settlement agreement.
(b) For the purposes of this section, ‘‘settlement
agreement’’ means that settlement agreement between the
United States of America and the Confederated Tribes of
the Colville Reservation signed by the Tribes on April 16,
1994, and by the United States of America on April 21,
1994, which settlement agreement resolves claims of the
Tribes in Docket 181–D of the Indian Claims Commis-
sion, which docket has been transferred to the United
States Court of Federal Claims; and, ‘‘Tribes’’ means the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a feder-
ally-recognized Indian Tribe.
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SEC. 10. CONTRACT PROVISIONS.
In each contract of the Administrator that provides
for the Administrator to sell electric power, transmission,
or related services, and that is in effect after September
30, 1995, the Administrator shall offer to include, or as
the case may be, shall offer to amend to include, provisions
specifying that after September 30, 1995—
(1) the Administrator shall establish rates and
charges on the basis that—
(A) the principal amount of an old capital
investment shall be no greater than the new
principal amount established under section 3 of
this Act;
(B) the interest rate applicable to the un-
paid balance of the new principal amount of an
old capital investment shall be no greater than
the interest rate established under section 4 of
this Act;
(C) any payment of principal of an old
capital investment shall reduce the outstanding
principal balance of the old capital investment
in the amount of the payment at the time the
payment is tendered; and,
(D) any payment of interest on the unpaid
balance of the new principal amount of an old
capital investment shall be a credit against the
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appropriate interest account in the amount of
the payment at the time the payment is ten-
dered;
(2) apart from charges necessary to repay the
new principal amount of an old capital investment as
established under section 3 of this Act and to pay
the interest on the principal amount under section 4
of this Act, no amount may be charged for return
to the United States Treasury as repayment for or
return on an old capital investment, whether by way
of rate, rent, lease payment, assessment, user
charge, or any other fee;
(3) amounts provided under section 1304 of
title 31, United States Code, shall be available to
pay, and shall be the sole source for payment of, a
judgment against or settlement by the Administrator
or the United States on a claim for a breach of the
contract provisions required by this Act; and
(4) the contract provisions specified in this Act
do not—
(A) preclude the Administrator from recov-
ering, through rates or other means, any tax
that is generally imposed on electric utilities in
the United States, or
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(B) affect the Administrator’s authority
under applicable law, including section 7(g) of
the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning
and Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 839e(g)), to—
(i) allocate costs and benefits, includ-
ing but not limited to fish and wildlife
costs, to rates or resources; or
(ii) design rates.
SEC. 11. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.
(a) This Act does not affect the obligation of the Ad-
ministrator to repay the principal associated with each
capital investment, and to pay interest on the principal,
only from the ‘‘Administrator’s net proceeds,’’ as defined
in section 13 of the Federal Columbia River Transmission
System Act (16 U.S.C. 838k(b)).
(b) Except as provided in section 6 of this Act, this
Act does not affect the authority of the Administrator to
pay all or a portion of the principal amount associated
with a capital investment before the repayment date for
the principal amount.
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