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2004 Legal Seminar
Legislative Developments in the 108th Congress and
Prospects for the 109th Congress\Presentation by
Joe Nipper, Senior Vice President, Government Relations
at theAPPA Legal Seminar
November, 2004, San Francisco, CA
•Report on the 108th Congress•Results of the 2004 Election
•Some impacts of election results•Prospects for the 109th Congress
The 108th Congress
Energy/Electricity Legislation• H.R. 6 Conference Report hits
brick wall (Senate) late in 2003• 1st phase: denial – stripped
down bill, S. 2095• 2nd phase: denial – “let my
pieces go”• 3rd phase: denial – holding
reliability provisions hostage
The 108th Congress
Pieces of H.R. 6/S. 2095 moved separately
• Taxes• Alaska natural gas pipeline• Price – Anderson reauthorization• LIHEAP
The 108th Congress
Taxes• Energy tax provisions included in
FSC/ETI– Production tax credit expansion and
extension– No comparable incentive included for
public power– “Transco” provisions granting capital
gains relief for sale of transmission assets to third party transmission company
– “85/15” relief for co-ops– Prohibition on sale in/lease out (SILO)
transactions (House version)
The 108th Congress
Other Issues• VOIP legislation; not enacted• Bankruptcy reform – House version includes
political subdivisions in definition of “forward contract merchant”; conference not completed
• Circular 230; characterization of tax-exempt bonds as tax shelters; still pending
• EPA to issue new, favorable rules on cooling water intake structures (Sec. 316(b))
The 108th Congress
Lame Duck Session• Starts November 16, over by
Thanksgiving• Nine appropriations bills remaining;
likely to adopt omnibus bill• Must approve increase in debt limit by
Nov. 18• Intelligence reform bill (?)• Barton plans to try again on the
comprehensive energy bill
The 109th Congress
New Composition of the CongressSenate
55 Republicans44 Democrats1 Independent
House231 Republicans201 Democrats1 Independent2 Undecided – LA-03 and LA-07
The 109th Congress
Newly Elected SenatorsRepublicans Democrats
Martinez – FL Salazar – CO Vitter – LA Obama – IL Burr – NCDeMint – SCCoburn – OKThune – SD Murkowski – AKIsakson – GA
Cost of Various Senate Races
Obama 14,294,725
Keyes 1,350,281
Bunning 4,864,321
Mongiardo 1,914,979
Daschle 17,256,885Thune 7,251,087
Through October 11Source: Federal Election Commission
Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Domenici Bingaman
(Nickles) Akaka
Craig Dorgan
(Campbell) (Graham)
Thomas Wyden
Alexander Johnson
Murkowski Landrieu
Talent Bayh
Burns Feinstein
Smith Schumer
Bunning Cantwell
Kyl
Other Changes in the Senate
•One member of Environment and Public Works not returning – Graham (D-FL)•Stevens (R-AK) will chair Commerce Committee•Cochran (R-MS) will chair Appropriations Committee•Reid (D-NV) new minority leader
State and Local Results
• Colorado adopts RPS; 10% by 2015; applicable to communities of 40,000 or more
• Columbia, MO adopts RPS; 15% by 2022
• Batavia, St. Charles and Geneva, IL defeated referenda to authorize municipal entry into telecom
State and Local Results (cont’d)
• Rolfe and Wellman, IA approved referenda to explore municipalization
• Auburn, NY approved referendum on municipalization
• Washington County, OR defeated proposal to establish a public utility district
• Moreno Valley, CA referendum (sponsored by SCE) to inhibit the new municipal utility – still counting the ballots
The 109th Congress
House• Most Republican gains were as a
result of re-districted Texas – a net gain of four in that state
• Longest serving Republican, Phil Crane (IL) was defeated
• No changes in leadership or committees of interest to public power
The 109th Congress
HouseVacancies on the Energy and Commerce
Committee
Republican DemocratTauzin – LA Duetsch – FL Greenwood – PA McCarthy –
MO Burr – NC John – LA
The 109th Congress
• 55 Republicans in the Senate gives them a good chance to get to a filibuster-proof 60 votes on some, but not all, controversial issues
• It will also increase the committee ratios, which is potentially significant on EPW
• Chafee (R-RI) may switch
The 109th Congress
Energy Legislation• Domenici prepared to act early on
comprehensive bill• ANWR could be taken up under budget
reconciliation• Barton has other priorities; would break
energy into smaller pieces
Clear Skies Act• Chances of passage improve significantly in
the Senate• Barton’s first priority (along with telecom
and Medicare)
The 109th Congress
Telecom/Broadband• Partial or comprehensive overhaul of the ’96
Act will begin in both chambers• Strong push to exempt IP-enabled services
from federal, state and local regulation• Large incumbents have targeted public
power
Endangered Species Act
The 109th Congress
A top priority for APPA will be tax credit bond legislation
• To be introduced by Sens. Grassley (R-IA) and Baucus (D-MT) early in the session
• Provides public power and co-ops with an incentive for development of renewable energy
• Based on capital requirements, not production
• Taxable bonds that provide the issuer with a no-interest loan, the purchaser with a tax credit (instead of tax-free interest), and the Treasury with a tax payment from the purchaser
The 109th Congress
Budget pressures could make public power benefits vulnerable
• Record deficit• Tax cuts made permanent• Iraq supplemental of at least $70 billion• Potential reinstatement of pay-as-you-go
rules• Republican intra-party debate on fiscal
discipline
Sale of revenue assets such as the PMAs could become more appealing
www.appanet.org
2004 Legal Seminar