Missouri HB 3437: Prohibits certain transactions involving public utilities unless the Public Service Commission finds them to be in the public interest

Bill Text

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 3437
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE BOYKO.
7389H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 393.190, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to
certain transactions involving public utilities.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 393.190, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu
2 thereof, to be known as section 393.190, to read as follows:
393.190. 1. No gas corporation, electrical corporation, water corporation or sewer
2 corporation shall hereafter sell, assign, lease, transfer, mortgage or otherwise dispose of or
3 encumber the whole or any part of its franchise, works or system, necessary or useful in the
4 performance of its duties to the public, nor by any means, direct or indirect, merge or
5 consolidate such works or system, or franchises, or any part thereof, with any other
6 corporation, person or public utility, without having first secured from the commission an
7 order authorizing it so to do. Every such sale, assignment, lease, transfer, mortgage,
8 disposition, encumbrance, merger or consolidation made other than in accordance with the
9 order of the commission authorizing same shall be void. The permission and approval of the
10 commission to the exercise of a franchise or permit under this chapter, or the sale, assignment,
11 lease, transfer, mortgage or other disposition or encumbrance of a franchise or permit under
12 this section shall not be construed to revive or validate any lapsed or invalid franchise or
13 permit, or to enlarge or add to the powers or privileges contained in the grant of any franchise
14 or permit, or to waive any forfeiture. Any person seeking any order under this subsection
15 authorizing the sale, assignment, lease, transfer, merger, consolidation or other disposition,
16 direct or indirect, of any gas corporation, electrical corporation, water corporation, or sewer
17 corporation, shall, at the time of application for any such order, file with the commission a
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.

18 statement, in such form, manner and detail as the commission shall require, as to what, if any,
19 impact such sale, assignment, lease, transfer, merger, consolidation, or other disposition will
20 have on the tax revenues of the political subdivisions in which any structures, facilities or
21 equipment of the corporations involved in such disposition are located. The commission shall
22 send a copy of all information obtained by it as to what, if any, impact such sale, assignment,
23 lease, transfer, merger, consolidation or other disposition will have on the tax revenues of
24 various political subdivisions to the county clerk of each county in which any portion of a
25 political subdivision which will be affected by such disposition is located. Nothing in this
26 subsection contained shall be construed to prevent the sale, assignment, lease or other
27 disposition by any corporation, person or public utility of a class designated in this subsection
28 of property which is not necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, and
29 any sale of its property by such corporation, person or public utility shall be conclusively
30 presumed to have been of property which is not useful or necessary in the performance of its
31 duties to the public, as to any purchaser of such property in good faith for value.
32 2. No such corporation shall directly or indirectly acquire the stock or bonds of any
33 other corporation incorporated for, or engaged in, the same or a similar business, or proposing
34 to operate or operating under a franchise from the same or any other municipality; neither
35 shall any street railroad corporation acquire the stock or bonds of any electrical corporation,
36 unless, in either case, authorized so to do by the commission. Save where stock shall be
37 transferred or held for the purpose of collateral security, no stock corporation of any
38 description, domestic or foreign, other than a gas corporation, electrical corporation, water
39 corporation, sewer corporation or street railroad corporation, shall, without the consent of the
40 commission, purchase or acquire, take or hold, more than ten percent of the total capital stock
41 issued by any gas corporation, electrical corporation, water corporation or sewer corporation
42 organized or existing under or by virtue of the laws of this state, except that a corporation now
43 lawfully holding a majority of the capital stock of any gas corporation, electrical corporation,
44 water corporation or sewer corporation may, with the consent of the commission, acquire and
45 hold the remainder of the capital stock of such gas corporation, electrical corporation, w