Changing the phase-out of utility aid payments for decommissioned power plants. (FE)

What it does

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

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.

Who's behind it

6 senators are its authors⁠. 5 are Republicans and 1 is a Democrat.

9 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.

What it would cost

State agencies filed a cost estimate. Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

• Fiscal Estimate From DOR