SB2238 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 17205 AWJ 22663 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB2238

Introduced 2/26/2021, by Sen. Laura M. Murphy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

65 ILCS 5/Art. 11 Div. 15.5 heading new
65 ILCS 5/11-15.5-5 new
65 ILCS 5/11-15.5-10 new

Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Creates the Undergrounding Utility Facilities Division. Defines "underground" and "undergrounding". Provides that public utilities shall underground 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission lines under certain conditions. Provides that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall allow a public utility to recover from all retail customers in its service territory all reasonable and prudent costs that it incurs related to the undergrounding of a 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission line. Provides that a public utility shall record and defer costs that it incurs related to the undergrounding of transmission lines as a regulatory asset to be included in the public utility's total rate base and amortized over a reasonable period that is equal to the expected life of such transmission line. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning local government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by adding Division 15.5 of Article 11 as follows:

(65 ILCS 5/Art. 11 Div. 15.5 heading new)

DIVISION 15.5. UNDERGROUNDING UTILITY FACILITIES

(65 ILCS 5/11-15.5-5 new)

Sec. 11-15.5-5. Definitions. As used in this Division and unless the context requires otherwise, "underground" or "undergrounding" means routing and constructing electric transmission lines and their associated components below ground, consistent with sound engineering and utility practices.

(65 ILCS 5/11-15.5-10 new)

Sec. 11-15.5-10. Undergrounding utility facilities.

(a) In the interest of public health and safety, reliability, and electric grid security, a public utility, as defined by Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act, shall underground any 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission line constructed after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly where:

(1) a 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission line or any portion of a 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission line is to be located within 26,000 feet of an airport that is located in and owned by a municipality with a population greater than 70,000 and less than 80,000 located in or contiguous to a county with a population in excess of 1,000,000 inhabitants;

(2) a 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission line is to be located in 4 or more contiguous municipalities with a population density of 1,000 per square mile or more as of the most recent federal decennial census; or

(3) a 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission line is to be located in close proximity to a public recreational area such that it may pose a danger to the activities conducted there.

(b) The costs for undergrounding a new transmission line shall not be allocated solely to the municipality or municipalities in which it is underground; instead, the Illinois Commerce Commission shall allow a public utility to fully recover from all retail customers in its service territory all reasonable and prudent costs that it incurs related to the undergrounding of transmission lines. The public utility shall record and defer these costs as a regulatory asset to be included in the public utility's total rate base and amortized over a reasonable period that is equal to the expected life of the transmission line. These regulatory assets shall be collected from all ratepayers system-wide, and not only from ratepayers in the corporate limits of the municipality or municipalities within which the transmission line is constructed.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.