[Regulatory and Neighborhood Affairs Committee on November 14, 2023. ]
[00:00:12]
FIRST COUNCIL COMMITTEE, I WILL BE SERVING AS PRESIDING OFFICER AND WOULD LIKE TO CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 5 5 1 1 2 7 OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE APPLICABLE TO A GOVERNMENTAL BODY THAT EXTENDS INTO THREE OR MORE COUNTIES.ALL OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAVE THE OPTION TO PARTICIPATE IN PERSON OR VIRTUALLY VIA MICROSOFT TEAMS. I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME MY VICE CHAIR, AMY PECK, WHO IS IN THE CHAMBER.
WE ALSO HAVE WITH US IN THE CHAMBER, UM, STAFF FROM DISTRICT C COUNCIL MEMBER ABBY CAYMAN, STAFF FROM DISTRICT G COUNCIL MEMBER MARY NAN HUFFMAN AND STAFF FROM, UH, AT LARGE, PHYSICIAN ONE COUNCIL MEMBER MIKE KNOX.
UM, ONLINE, WE, I BELIEVE WE HAVE COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, DAVID ROBINSON'S STAFF ON AT LARGE POSITION TWO AND STAFF FROM VICE MAYOR PROTE, MARTHA TEX TATUM'S, OFFICE, DISTRICT K AND STAFF FROM COUNCIL MEMBER LETITIA PLUMMER'S OFFICE, UM, AT LARGE POSITION FOUR.
SO WITH THAT, WE JUST HAVE ONE ITEM ON THE AGENDA TODAY.
AND, UM, THIS IS, UH, THE ITEM TO DISCUSS PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 37 RELATED TO PUBLIC UTILITIES.
SO I WILL CALL UP NICHOLAS HATCHA, GEORGE AND HAN CHANG.
UM, NICHOLAS IS FROM THE A RA DEPARTMENT, AND HAN CHANG IS FROM THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT.
AND WELCOME COUNCIL MEMBER DAVID ROBINSON, WHO HAS JOINED US ONLINE.
GOOD MORNING CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE AND STAFF.
MY NAME IS NICHOLAS HODGE, GEORGE THE DE DIVISION DIRECTOR OF UTILITY REGULATION AND A RA UH, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO PRESENT THESE PROPOSED CHANGES TO YOU TODAY.
UH, CHAPTER 37, REGULATES INVESTOR OWNED PUBLIC UTILITIES OPERATING WITHIN THE CITY OF HOUSTON.
THESE INCLUDE UTILITIES LIKE CENTER POINT ELECTRIC AND ENTERGY, WHICH ARE THE ELECTRIC UTILITIES CENTER POINT GAS AND SEA ENERGY, WHICH ARE THE GAS UTILITIES AND AQUA TEXAS AND SOUTHERN WATER COMPANY, WHICH ARE WATER UTILITIES.
THE LAST MAJOR REVISIONS TO THIS ORDINANCE OCCURRED IN 1994 AND 1981.
UH, AND OVER THE YEARS THERE HAVE BEEN MANY CHANGES IN STATE LAW THAT NEED TO BE REFLECTED IN OUR MUNICIPAL ORDINANCE.
UM, THE PROPOSED CHANGES UPDATE OUR CODE TO MATCH STANDARDS IN STATE LAW, ADD NEW LANGUAGE THAT CLARIFIES AMBIGUOUS PROCESSES AND REMOVES LANGUAGE THAT IS OBSOLETE DUE TO PREEMPTION.
SO THE INFORMATION ON THIS SLIDE PROVIDES DETAIL ABOUT THE SPECIFIC CHANGES WE ARE PROPOSING.
THE STATEMENTS ON THE LEFT HIGHLIGHT SOME ISSUES WITH THE CURRENT ORDINANCE AND THE STATEMENTS ON THE RIGHT.
DESCRIBE HOW THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE WILL ADDRESS THOSE ISSUES.
UM, SO WE ARE, YOU KNOW, PROPOSING TO UNIFY THE DEFINITIONS.
WE'RE PROPOSING TO, UM, ELIMINATE REGULATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN PREEMPTED BY THE STATE.
UM, WE'RE STREAMLINING THE PROCESSES FOR RATE FILING PACKAGES.
WE'RE, UH, CLARIFYING THE PROCESSES FOR, UH, HOW THE UTILITIES HOLD HEARINGS AT CITY COUNCIL.
AND WE'RE ALSO UPDATING SERVICE STANDARDS FOR THE UTILITIES.
UM, THE, UH, STANDARDS OF SERVICE THAT WE REFERENCE IN STATE LAW INCLUDE MANY DIFFERENT PROVISIONS SUCH AS RELIABILITY METRICS, TESTING REQUIREMENTS, AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS.
AND OUR PROPOSED LANGUAGE REFERS TO THE STATE STANDARDS AS AMENDED.
SO WE WILL NOW ALWAYS BE UP TO DATE WITH STATE LAW.
WE'RE ALSO PROPOSING NEW LANGUAGE THAT DOESN'T CURRENTLY EXIST IN CHAPTER 37.
WE ARE INCORPORATING LANGUAGE FROM CHAPTER 40 INTO OUR PUBLIC UTILITY IMPROVEMENTS ON CITY PROPERTY SECTION REGARDING UTILITY FACILITY RELOCATION.
AND WE'RE ALSO REQUIRING THE UTILITIES TO SEND US COPIES OF REPORTS THAT THEY SEND TO THE STATE AGENCIES, LIKE THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION, THE RAILROAD COMMISSION, AND TCEQ.
THIS CONCLUDES MY OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES AND I'M HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.
AND I, I'D JUST LIKE TO ASK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE REPORTING.
SO RIGHT NOW, ALL OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE AT, WE'LL BE ASKING OF THE UTILITIES ARE REQUIRED BY THE, THEY, THEY HAVE TO REPORT THEM TO THE STATE.
BUT WE CAN'T GET THEM FROM THE STATE, SO WE'RE GONNA GET 'EM JUST DIRECTLY.
UH, RIGHT NOW THE UTILITIES ARE REQUIRED TO SEND THESE REPORTS SUCH AS THE, YOU KNOW, UM, SERVICE STANDARD REPORTS AND, AND, UH, SERVICE QUALITY REPORTS.
THOSE GO TO THE STATE IF WE WANT THEM.
WE HAVE TO EITHER ASK THE UTILITY OR ASK THE STATE.
NOW OUR ORDINANCE WILL REQUIRE THE UTILITY TO SEND THOSE DIRECTLY TO US.
AND CAN YOU GIVE ME A LITTLE BIT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE UTILITY RELOCATION REQUIREMENTS?
[00:05:01]
SURE.SO THAT LANGUAGE IS FROM, UM, CHAPTER 40 CURRENTLY, AND WE ARE INCORPORATING IT INTO CHAPTER 37 SO THAT IT'S CLEAR THAT THESE REQUIREMENTS APPLY TO THE TYPES OF UTILITIES THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IN CHAPTER 37.
SO, UM, BASICALLY, UH, THE LANGUAGE THAT WE'RE, UH, INCORPORATING WILL, UH, REQUIRE THIS UTILITY TO MOVE THEIR FACILITIES, UH, UPON OUR REQUEST WITHIN A CERTAIN TIMEFRAME.
SO IT'S JUST KIND OF TAKING THE LANGUAGE FROM CHAPTER 40 AND PUTTING IT IN 37? YES.
I DON'T SEE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS IN THE QUEUE OR ONLINE, SO I'M GONNA WIN SHORTEST MEETING.
UM, REALLY, OH, PUBLIC COMMENT.
WE DO HAVE, WE HAVE TWO PEOPLE, TWO PEOPLE WHO SIGNED UP FOR A PUBLIC COMMENT.
REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR PRESENTATION.
UM, EACH SPEAKER WILL HAVE THREE MINUTES.
FIRST, WE'LL HEAR FROM LORIANNE OSKY.
LOUISA RICH, ALSO VIRTUAL, ALSO HAS NOT LOGGED ON.
I HOPE THEY WEREN'T JUST LATE TO THE COMPUTER.
EVERYTHING'S PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD, LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF CLEANUP AND JUST MAKING THINGS MORE CONSISTENT WITH STATE LAW.
SO REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR WORK ON THIS LEGAL AND A RA AND, UM, WITH THAT, OUR MEETING IS ADJOURNED.