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12  AN ACT concerning the state corporation commission; relating to powers
13    and duties; [prohibiting certain conflicts of interest for commis-
14    sion members and employees and providing penalties for vio-
15    lations;] amending K.S.A. 66-104, 66-118k, 66-137, 66-1216 and 66-
16    1502 and repealing the existing sections; also repealing K.S.A. 66-1218.
17
18  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
19    Section 1.  K.S.A. 66-104 is hereby amended to read as follows: 66-
20  104. The term ``public utility,'' as used in this act, shall be construed to
21  mean every corporation, company, individual, association of persons, their
22  trustees, lessees or receivers, that now or hereafter may own, control,
23  operate or manage, except for private use, any equipment, plant or gen-
24  erating machinery, or any part thereof, for the transmission of telephone
25  messages or for the transmission of telegraph messages in or through any
26  part of the state, or the conveyance of oil and gas through pipelines in or
27  through any part of the state, except pipelines less than 15 miles in length
28  and not operated in connection with or for the general commercial supply
29  of gas or oil, or for the operation of any trolley lines, street, electrical or
30  motor railway doing business in any county in the state; also all dining
31  car companies doing business within the state, and all companies for the
32  production, transmission, delivery or furnishing of heat, light, water or
33  power. No cooperative, cooperative society, nonprofit or mutual corpo-
34  ration or association which is engaged solely in furnishing telephone serv-
35  ice to subscribers from one telephone line without owning or operating
36  its own separate central office facilities, shall be subject to the jurisdiction
37  and control of the commission as provided herein, except that it shall not
38  construct or extend its facilities across or beyond the territorial boundaries
39  of any telephone company or cooperative without first obtaining approval
40  of the commission. As used herein, the term ``transmission of telephone
41  messages'' shall include the transmission by wire or other means of any
42  voice, data, signals or facsimile communications, including all such com-
43  munications now in existence or as may be developed in the future.
HB 2074--Am. by HCW
                                     

 1    The term ``public utility'' shall also include that portion of every mu-
 2  nicipally owned or operated electric or gas utility located outside of and
 3  more than three miles from the corporate limits of such municipality, but
 4  nothing in this act shall apply to a municipally owned or operated utility,
 5  or portion thereof, located within the corporate limits of such municipality
 6  or located outside of such corporate limits but within three miles thereof
 7  except as provided in K.S.A. 66-131a, and amendments thereto.
 8    Except as herein provided, the power and authority to control and
 9  regulate all public utilities and common carriers situated and operated
10  wholly or principally within any city or principally operated for the benefit
11  of such city or its people, shall be vested exclusively in such city, subject
12  only to the right to apply for relief to the corporation commission as
13  provided in K.S.A. 66-133, and amendments thereto, and to the provi-
14  sions of K.S.A. 66-131a, and amendments thereto. A transit system prin-
15  cipally engaged in rendering local transportation service in and between
16  contiguous cities in this and another state by means of street railway,
17  trolley bus and motor bus lines, or any combination thereof, shall be
18  deemed to be a public utility as that term is used in this act and, as such,
19  shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the commission.
20    The term ``public utility'' shall not include any activity of an otherwise
21  jurisdictional corporation, company, individual, association of persons,
22  their trustees, lessees or receivers as to the marketing or sale of com-
23  pressed natural gas for end use as motor vehicle fuel.
24    Sec. 2.  K.S.A. 66-118k is hereby amended to read as follows: 66-
25  118k. If the court upon review does not uphold the action of the com-
26  mission, the court shall transmit to the commission three certified copies
27  of the judgment of the court and the findings of fact and conclusions of
28  law. Thereupon, if any charge, classification or or practice is set aside in
29  whole or in part by the court, it shall be the duty of the public utility, or
30  common carrier or petitioner affected by the judgment of the court, to
31  initiate and file a new rate, fare, toll, rental, charge or classification, and
32  the commission may investigate and approve or set aside such proposed
33  rate, charge, fare, toll, rental or classification under the provisions of the
34  law applying to the state corporation commission.
35    Sec. 3.  K.S.A. 66-137 is hereby amended to read as follows: 66-137.
36  (a) Any person who shall willfully make any false entry in the accounts,
37  books of account, records, or memoranda kept by any common carrier or
38  any public utility governed by the provisions of this act, or who, except as
39  authorized pursuant to subsection (b), shall willfully destroy, mutilate,
40  alter or by any other means or device falsify the record of any such ac-
41  count, book of accounts, record or memorandum, or who shall willfully
42  neglect or fail to make full, true and correct entries of such account, book
43  of accounts, record or memorandum of all facts and transactions apper-
HB 2074--Am. by HCW
                                     

 1  taining to such common carriers or public utilities business, or who shall
 2  falsely make any statement required to be made to the corporation com-
 3  mission, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon the conviction shall
 4  be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars $1,000 nor
 5  more than five thousand dollars $5,000, or by imprisonment of not less
 6  than one year nor more than three years, or by both such fine and im-
 7  prisonment: Provided, That.
 8    (b)  The commission may in its discretion issue orders specifying such
 9  operating, accounting or financial papers, records, books, blanks, tickets,
10  stubs or documents, of carriers which may after a reasonable time be
11  destroyed, and prescribing a length of time such books, papers or docu-
12  ments shall be preserved: And provided further, That such orders shall
13  be in harmony with those of the interstate commerce commission.
14    Sec. 4.  K.S.A. 66-1216 is hereby amended to read as follows: 66-
15  1216. For the purpose of this act, the term ``affiliated interest'' shall in-
16  clude the interest so designated and defined in K.S.A. 74-602a 66-1404
17  66-1401 and amendments thereto.
18    Sec. 5.  K.S.A. 66-1502 is hereby amended to read as follows: 66-
19  1502. Whenever, in order to carry out the duties imposed upon it by law,
20  the state corporation commission, in a proceeding upon its own motion,
21  on complaint, or upon an application to it, shall deem it necessary to
22  investigate any public utility or common carrier or make appraisals of the
23  property of any public utility, such public utility or common carrier, in
24  case the expenses reasonably attributable to such investigation or ap-
25  praisal exceed the sum of $100, including both direct and indirect ex-
26  penses incurred by the commission or its staff or by the citizens' utility
27  ratepayer board, shall pay such expenses which shall be assessed against
28  such public utility or common carrier by the commission, except that no
29  such public utility or common carrier shall be assessed for payment of
30  such expenses, unless prior to the incurring of any such expense the state
31  corporation commission shall give such public utility or common carrier
32  notice and opportunity for a hearing in accordance with the provisions of
33  the Kansas administrative procedure act. At such hearing, the public util-
34  ity or common carrier may be heard as to the necessity of such investi-
35  gation or appraisal and may show cause, if any, why such investigation or
36  appraisal should not be made or why the costs thereof should not be
37  assessed against such public utility or common carrier. The finding of the
38  commission as to the necessity of the investigation or appraisal and the
39  assessment of the expenses thereof shall be conclusive, except that no
40  such public utility or common carrier shall be liable for payment of any
41  such expenses incurred by such state corporation commission or citizens'
42  utility ratepayer board in connection with any proceeding before or within
43  the jurisdiction of the interstate commerce commission or other any fed-
HB 2074--Am. by HCW
                                     

 1  eral regulatory body.
 2    The commission shall ascertain the expenses of any such investigation
 3  or appraisal and by order assess such expenses against the public utility
 4  or common carrier investigated or whose property is appraised in such
 5  proceeding, and shall render a bill therefor, by registered mail, to the
 6  public utility or common carrier, either at the conclusion of the investi-
 7  gation or appraisal, or from time to time during such investigation or
 8  appraisal. Such bill shall constitute notice of such assessment and demand
 9  of payment thereof. Upon a bill rendered to such public utility or common
10  carrier, within 15 days after the mailing thereof, such public utility or
11  common carrier shall pay to the commission the amount of the assessment
12  for which it is billed. Such payment when made shall be transmitted by
13  the commission to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the
14  appropriations made for the use of such commission or for the use of the
15  citizens' utility ratepayer board. The total amount, in any one state fiscal
16  year for which any public utility or common carrier shall be assessed
17   under the provisions of this section shall not exceed 3/5 of 1% 0.6% of its
18  gross operating revenues derived from intrastate operations as reflected
19  in the last annual report filed with the commission pursuant to K.S.A. 66-
20  123, and amendments thereto, prior to the beginning of the commission's
21  fiscal year. The commission may render bills in one fiscal year for costs
22  incurred within a previous fiscal year.
23    [New Sec. 6.  (a) No member or employee of the state corpo-
24  ration commission shall, within two years after termination of the
25  member's or employee's position with the commission, accept em-
26  ployment or enter into any contract to provide goods or services
27  to any utility under the jurisdiction of the commission.
28    [(b)  No employee of the state corporation commission shall
29  participate directly in regulation of a utility if the employee, within
30  12 months before employment by the commission, was employed
31  by or contracted to provide goods or services to such utility.
32    [(c)  Violation of any provision of this section is a class B mis-
33  demeanor.]
34    Sec. 6 [7].  K.S.A. 66-104, 66-118k, 66-137, 66-1216, 66-1218 and 66-
35  1502 are hereby repealed.
36    Sec. 7 [8].  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after
37  its publication in the statute book.