Sen. Antonio Muñoz
Filed: 2/25/2010
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| 1 | AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 692
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| 2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 692 by replacing | ||||||
| 3 | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| 4 | "Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding | ||||||
| 5 | Section 8-515 as follows: | ||||||
| 6 | (220 ILCS 5/8-515 new) | ||||||
| 7 | Sec. 8-515. Gas public utility employees; staffing. | ||||||
| 8 | (a) The General Assembly finds that: | ||||||
| 9 | (1) the reliability and safety of the gas system has | ||||||
| 10 | depended on a workforce of skilled and dedicated employees | ||||||
| 11 | equipped with technical training and experience; | ||||||
| 12 | (2) the integrity and reliability of the system has | ||||||
| 13 | also depended on the industry's commitment to invest in | ||||||
| 14 | regular inspection and maintenance and to assure that it | ||||||
| 15 | can withstand the demands of heavy service requirements and | ||||||
| 16 | emergency situations; | ||||||
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| 1 | (3) it is in the State's interest to protect the | ||||||
| 2 | interests of gas public utility employees who have | ||||||
| 3 | dedicated themselves to assuring reliable service to the | ||||||
| 4 | citizens of this State; | ||||||
| 5 | (4) the Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company's workforce | ||||||
| 6 | quality is insufficient, does not assure safe and reliable | ||||||
| 7 | service to its customers, and does not adequately maintain | ||||||
| 8 | its system; this is evident by the nature of outages, the | ||||||
| 9 | delay in restoring service to customers, and the number of | ||||||
| 10 | complaints received by legislators; and | ||||||
| 11 | (5) the General Assembly finds that it is necessary to | ||||||
| 12 | assure that employees have the requisite skills, | ||||||
| 13 | knowledge, and competence to provide reliable and safe | ||||||
| 14 | natural gas service. | ||||||
| 15 | (b) The Commission shall establish appropriate workforce | ||||||
| 16 | levels for gas public utilities. The knowledge, skill, and | ||||||
| 17 | competence levels to be demonstrated shall be consistent with | ||||||
| 18 | those generally required of or by the gas public utilities in | ||||||
| 19 | this State with respect to their employees. | ||||||
| 20 | (c) Gas public utilities shall restore service for a | ||||||
| 21 | customer within 24 hours after receiving notice that a customer | ||||||
| 22 | is out of service. | ||||||
| 23 | (d) A gas public utility that violates or fails to obey, | ||||||
| 24 | observe, or comply with any order, decision, rule, regulation, | ||||||
| 25 | direction, or requirement, or any part or provision thereof of | ||||||
| 26 | the Commission, made or issued under authority of subsections | ||||||
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| 1 | (b) or (c) of this Section shall be subject to a civil penalty | ||||||
| 2 | of no more than $30,000 for each offense. | ||||||
| 3 | (e) A gas public utility shall keep all repair appointments | ||||||
| 4 | when a customer premises visit requires a customer to be | ||||||
| 5 | present and inform a customer when a repair appointment | ||||||
| 6 | requires the customer to be present. If a gas public utility | ||||||
| 7 | fails to satisfy the requirements of this subsection (e), then | ||||||
| 8 | the gas public utility shall credit the customer $50 per missed | ||||||
| 9 | appointment. A credit required by this subsection (e) does not | ||||||
| 10 | apply when the gas public utility provides the customer with | ||||||
| 11 | 24-hour notice of its inability to keep the appointment.
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| 12 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
| 13 | becoming law.".
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