Bill Text: IL HB0002 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Engrossed

---

Bill Title: Amends the Public Utilities Act to require that the Attorney General, upon request, must be given the opportunity to present oral arguments on the propriety of any proposed rate or other charge, classification, contract, practice, rule, or regulation at a hearing on the matter. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-04-03 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB0002 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB0002-Engrossed.html

---

HB0002 Engrossed LRB096 02908 MJR 12922 b
AN ACT concerning regulation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing
Section 9-201 as follows:
(220 ILCS 5/9-201) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 9-201)
Sec. 9-201. (a) Unless the Commission otherwise orders, and
except as otherwise provided in this Section, no change shall
be made by any public utility in any rate or other charge or
classification, or in any rule, regulation, practice or
contract relating to or affecting any rate or other charge,
classification or service, or in any privilege or facility,
except after 45 days' notice to the Commission and to the
public as herein provided. Such notice shall be given by filing
with the Commission and keeping open for public inspection new
schedules or supplements stating plainly the change or changes
to be made in the schedule or schedules then in force, and the
time when the change or changes will go into effect, and by
publication in a newspaper of general circulation or such other
notice to persons affected by such change as may be prescribed
by rule of the Commission. The Commission, for good cause
shown, may allow changes without requiring the 45 days' notice
herein provided for, by an order specifying the changes so to

HB0002 Engrossed - 2 - LRB096 02908 MJR 12922 b
be made and the time when they shall take effect and the manner
in which they shall be filed and published.
When any change is proposed in any rate or other charge, or
classification, or in any rule, regulation, practice, or
contract relating to or affecting any rate or other charge,
classification or service, or in any privilege or facility,
such proposed change shall be plainly indicated on the new
schedule filed with the Commission, by some character to be
designated by the Commission, immediately preceding or
following the item.
When any public utility providing water or sewer service
proposes any change in any rate or other charge, or
classification, or in any rule, regulation, practice, or
contract relating to or affecting any rate or other charge,
classification or service, or in any privilege or facility,
such utility shall, in addition to the other notice
requirements of this Act, provide notice of such change to all
customers potentially affected by including a notice and
description of such change, and of Commission procedures for
intervention, in the first bill sent to each such customer
after the filing of the proposed change.
(b) Whenever there shall be filed with the Commission any
schedule stating an individual or joint rate or other charge,
classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation, the
Commission shall have power, and it is hereby given authority,
either upon complaint or upon its own initiative without

HB0002 Engrossed - 3 - LRB096 02908 MJR 12922 b
complaint, at once, and if it so orders, without answer or
other formal pleadings by the interested public utility or
utilities, but upon reasonable notice, to enter upon a hearing
concerning the propriety of such rate or other charge,
classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation, and
pending the hearing and decision thereon, such rate or other
charge, classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation
shall not go into effect. The period of suspension of such rate
or other charge, classification, contract, practice, rule or
regulation shall not extend more than 105 days beyond the time
when such rate or other charge, classification, contract,
practice, rule or regulation would otherwise go into effect
unless the Commission, in its discretion, extends the period of
suspension for a further period not exceeding 6 months.
All rates or other charges, classifications, contracts,
practices, rules or regulations not so suspended shall, on the
expiration of 45 days from the time of filing the same with the
Commission, or of such lesser time as the Commission may grant,
go into effect and be the established and effective rates or
other charges, classifications, contracts, practices, rules
and regulations, subject to the power of the Commission, after
a hearing had on its own motion or upon complaint, as herein
provided, to alter or modify the same.
Within 30 days after such changes have been authorized by
the Commission, copies of the new or revised schedules shall be
posted or filed in accordance with the terms of Section 9-103

HB0002 Engrossed - 4 - LRB096 02908 MJR 12922 b
of this Act, in such a manner that all changes shall be plainly
indicated.
(c) If the Commission enters upon a hearing concerning the
propriety of any proposed rate or other charge, classification,
contract, practice, rule or regulation, the Commission shall
establish the rates or other charges, classifications,
contracts, practices, rules or regulations proposed, in whole
or in part, or others in lieu thereof, which it shall find to
be just and reasonable. In such hearing, the burden of proof to
establish the justness and reasonableness of the proposed rates
or other charges, classifications, contracts, practices, rules
or regulations, in whole and in part, shall be upon the
utility. No rate or other charge, classification, contract,
practice, rule or regulation shall be found just and reasonable
unless it is consistent with Sections of this Article.
(d) The Commission shall hold oral argument prior to
issuing a final order in a proceeding conducted pursuant to
this Section, if any party that files a post-hearing brief in
the proceeding so requests.
(Source: P.A. 84-617.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.