Full Text of SB2120 95th General Assembly
SB2120 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 SB2120
Introduced 2/14/2008, by Sen. Carole Pankau SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that after the effective date of the amendatory Act, no person may plant a tree under overhead electric power lines. Provides that the electric utility may remove any tree in violation of the specified provisions.
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A BILL FOR
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SB2120 |
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LRB095 17637 MJR 43711 b |
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| AN ACT concerning regulation.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding | 5 |
| Section 8-505.1 as follows:
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| (220 ILCS 5/8-505.1)
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| Sec. 8-505.1. Non-emergency vegetation management | 8 |
| activities.
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| (a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (d), in | 10 |
| conducting
its non-emergency vegetation management activities, | 11 |
| an electric public utility
shall:
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| (1) Follow the most current tree care and maintenance | 13 |
| standard
practices set forth in ANSI A300 published by the
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| American National Standards Institute and the most current | 15 |
| applicable Occupational Safety
and Health Administration | 16 |
| regulations regarding worker safety.
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| (2) Provide direct notice of vegetation management | 18 |
| activities no less
than 21 days nor more than 90 days | 19 |
| before the activities
begin.
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| (A) If the vegetation management activities will | 21 |
| occur in an
incorporated municipality, the notice must | 22 |
| be given to the mayor or his or
her designee.
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| (B) If the vegetation management activities will |
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| occur in an
unincorporated area, the notice must be | 2 |
| given to the chairman of the county
board or his or her | 3 |
| designee.
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| (C) Affected customers shall be notified directly.
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| (D) Affected property owners shall be notified by a | 6 |
| published notice in
a newspaper or newspapers in | 7 |
| general circulation and widely distributed within
the | 8 |
| entire area in which the vegetation management | 9 |
| activities notice will
occur.
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| (E) Circuit maps or a description by common address | 11 |
| of the area to
be affected by vegetation management | 12 |
| activities must accompany any
notice to a mayor or his | 13 |
| or her designee or to a chairman of a county board
or | 14 |
| his or her designee.
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| (3) The electric public utility giving the direct and
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| published notices required in subsection (a)(2) shall | 17 |
| provide notified
customers and property owners with (i) a | 18 |
| statement of the vegetation
management activities planned, | 19 |
| (ii) the address of a website and a
toll-free telephone | 20 |
| number at which a written disclosure of all dispute
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| resolution opportunities and
processes, rights, and | 22 |
| remedies provided by the electric public utility may be
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| obtained, (iii) a statement that the customer and the | 24 |
| property owner may appeal
the planned vegetation | 25 |
| management activities through the electric public
utility | 26 |
| and the Illinois Commerce Commission, (iv)
a toll-free |
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LRB095 17637 MJR 43711 b |
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| telephone number through which communication may be had | 2 |
| with a
representative of the electric public utility | 3 |
| regarding the
vegetation management activities, and (v) | 4 |
| the telephone number of the
Consumer Affairs Officer of the | 5 |
| Illinois Commerce Commission.
The notice shall also | 6 |
| include a statement that circuit maps and common
addresses | 7 |
| of the area to be affected by the vegetation management | 8 |
| activities
are on file with the office of the mayor of an | 9 |
| affected municipality or his or
her designee and the
office | 10 |
| of the county board
chairman of an affected county or his | 11 |
| or her designee.
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| The Commission shall have sole authority to
investigate, | 13 |
| issue,
and hear complaints against the utility under this | 14 |
| subsection (a).
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| (b) A public utility shall not be required to comply with | 16 |
| the requirements
of subsection (d) or of paragraphs (2) and (3) | 17 |
| of
subsection (a) when it is taking
actions directly related to | 18 |
| an emergency to restore reliable service after
interruptions of
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| service.
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| (c) A public utility shall not be required to comply with | 21 |
| the requirements
of subsection (a) or (d) if there
is a | 22 |
| franchise, contract, or written agreement between the public | 23 |
| utility and
the municipality or county mandating specific | 24 |
| vegetation management
practices. If the franchise, contract, | 25 |
| or written agreement between the
public utility and the | 26 |
| municipality or county establishes requirements for
notice to |
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| the municipality, county, customers, and property owners, | 2 |
| those
notice requirements shall control over the notice | 3 |
| requirements of paragraphs
(2) and (3) of subsection (a). If | 4 |
| the franchise, contract, or written
agreement between the | 5 |
| public utility and the municipality or county does not
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| establish notice
requirements, the notice requirements | 7 |
| contained in paragraphs (2) and (3) of
subsection (a) shall | 8 |
| control.
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| (d) If no franchise, contract, or written agreement
between | 10 |
| a
utility
and a municipality mandates a specific vegetation | 11 |
| management practice and the
municipality enacts
an ordinance | 12 |
| establishing standards for non-emergency vegetation management
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| practices that are contrary to the
standards
established by | 14 |
| this
Section and the vegetation management activities of the | 15 |
| electric public
utility cost substantially more, as a direct | 16 |
| consequence,
then the electric public utility may, before | 17 |
| vegetation management activities
begin, apply to the | 18 |
| municipality for an agreement to pay the additional cost. When | 19 |
| an application for an agreement is made to the
municipality, no | 20 |
| vegetation management activities shall begin until the
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| municipality responds to the application by agreement or | 22 |
| rejection or dispute
resolution proceedings are completed. The | 23 |
| application shall be supported by a
detailed specification of | 24 |
| the difference between the standards established by
this | 25 |
| Section and the contrary standards established by the municipal
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| ordinances and by a good faith bid or proposal obtained from a |
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| utility
contractor or
contractors quantifying the additional | 2 |
| cost for performing the specification.
When the municipality | 3 |
| receives the specification and the utility contractor's
bid or | 4 |
| proposal, the municipality shall agree, reject, or initiate | 5 |
| dispute
resolution proceedings regarding the application | 6 |
| within 90
days after the application's receipt. If the | 7 |
| municipality does not act within
90
days or informs the utility | 8 |
| that it will not agree, the electric public utility
may proceed | 9 |
| and need not comply with the contrary ordinance standard. When
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| there is a dispute regarding (i) the accuracy of the | 11 |
| specification, (ii)
whether there is a conflict with the | 12 |
| standards established by this
Section, or (iii) any aspect of | 13 |
| the bid or proposal process, the Illinois
Commerce Commission | 14 |
| shall hear and resolve the disputed matter or matters, with
the | 15 |
| electric public utility having the burden of proof. A | 16 |
| municipality may
have a person trained in tree care and | 17 |
| maintenance generally monitor and
discuss with the vegetation | 18 |
| management supervisory personnel of the electric
public | 19 |
| utility the
performance of the public utility's vegetation | 20 |
| management activities without
any
claim for costs hereunder by | 21 |
| the public utility arising therefrom.
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| The provisions of this Section shall not in any way | 23 |
| diminish
or replace other civil or administrative remedies | 24 |
| available to a customer or
class of customers or a property | 25 |
| owner or class of property owners under
this Act. This Section | 26 |
| does not alter the jurisdiction of the Illinois
Commerce |
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| Commission in any manner except to obligate the Commission to
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| investigate, issue, and hear complaints against an electric | 3 |
| public utility
as
provided in subsection (a)(3) and to hear and | 4 |
| resolve disputed matters brought
to it as provided in this | 5 |
| subsection. Vegetation management activities by an
electric | 6 |
| public utility shall not alter, trespass upon, or limit the | 7 |
| rights of
any property owner.
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| (e) After the effective date of this amendatory Act of the | 9 |
| 95th General Assembly, no person may plant a tree under | 10 |
| overhead electric power lines. The electric utility may remove | 11 |
| any tree in violation of this subsection (e). | 12 |
| (Source: P.A. 91-902, eff. 7-6-00; 92-214, eff. 8-2-01.)
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