AB 73

Under current law, if a power production plant that is exempt from property

taxes is decommissioned or closed, and therefore becomes taxable, the county and

municipality where the plant is located each receive a utility aid payment for the first

five years in which the plant is subject to the property tax, in an amount equal to a

percentage of the utility aid payment received for the last year in which the plant was

exempt. Under the bill, these post-exemption utility aid payments are made only

for a production plant that is decommissioned. Under the bill, “decommissioned”

means, with regard to a production plant, the earliest of the following: 1) the

production plant is no longer recovered through the utility's rates; or 2) the

production plant is transferred to a person who is not subject to the annual license

fees imposed by the state.

The bill also provides that, with regard to a power production plant that has

multiple power generation units, the utility aid payment received by a county or

municipality will not be reduced on the basis that one or more, but not all, of the

power generation units permanently ceased generating electricity, and the amount

of the payment will be the same as the payment received in the year before the year

the first power generation unit permanently ceased generating electricity. In

addition, the phase out of utility aid payments under the bill does not begin until the

production plant is decommissioned, and the amounts of the phase-out payments

are determined on the basis of the amount of the payment received in the year before

the year the first power generation unit permanently ceased generating electricity.