SUMMARY--Revises provisions that require assessment of costs for underground electric facilities against specially benefited lots. (BDR 58-706)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to electric facilities; revising the provisions that require the establishment of a service district to assess the cost of underground electric facilities against the specially benefited lots; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 NRS 704A.140 is hereby amended to read as follows:
704A.140"Service district" means a new underground electric and communication service district as defined by NRS 704A.080, or an underground [conversion] service district as defined by NRS 704A.150, as the case may be.
Sec. 2 NRS 704A.150 is hereby amended to read as follows:
704A.150 "Underground [conversion] service district" means an area in which [existing] electric and communication facilities are to be placed underground, exclusive of:
1. Any lines or facilities used or intended to be used for the transmission of electric energy at nominal voltages in excess of [25,000] 300,000 volts or having a circuit capacity in excess of 12,000 kilovolt amperes.
2. Facilities used or intended to be used for the transmission of intelligence by microwave or radio.
3. Facilities such as transformers, pull boxes, service terminals, pedestal terminals, splice closures, apparatus cabinets and similar facilities which normally are above the surface in areas where service lines are underground in accordance with standard underground practices.
4. On-the-ground facilities attached to overhead facilities which are used to connect an underground system to overhead facilities.
Sec. 3. NRS 704A.180 is hereby amended to read as follows:
704A.180 1. Within 15 days after the receipt of [the petition,] a petition to establish a service district, each public utility corporation other than the municipality shall notify the municipality of the [petition's] receipt of the petition and shall request the municipality to notify the public utility corporation of the basis to be used by the municipality in the apportionment of the costs related to the installation of the facility underground to be defrayed by special assessments levied against the specially benefited lots within the proposed service district if the facilities of the public utility corporation therein are to be placed underground [under] pursuant to this chapter.
2. Within 30 days of the receipt by the municipality of each such request, or, if the public utility corporation is the municipality, the petition, the local governing body shall state, by resolution, the basis for the apportionment of those costs by assessments against the specially benefited lots, subject to the provisions of subsections 5 and 6 of NRS 704A.240, and shall forthwith cause a certified true copy of the resolution pertaining to each public utility corporation requesting the basis of assessments to be furnished thereto.
3. Within 120 days after receipt of the basis for assessments, or, if the public utility corporation is the municipality, after the adoption of the resolution, each public utility corporation serving the area shall:
(a) Make a study of the cost of providing new underground electric and communication facilities or conversion of its facilities in the area to underground service.
(b) Make available in its office to the petitioners and to all owners of real property within the proposed service district a joint report of the results of the study of the public utility corporations affected.
4. If a public utility corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the public service commission of Nevada determines as a result of the study that installation of the proposed service is not economically or technically feasible, it may, with the concurrence of the public service commission of Nevada, so state in the joint report and proceed no further toward installation of the proposed service. [Nothing in this chapter requires] This chapter does not require the public service commission of Nevada to participate in preparation of the joint report referred to in this section.
5. If a public utility corporation is a city or county and if it determines as a result of the study that installation of the proposed service is not economically or technically feasible, it may, with the concurrence of its governing body, as provided by resolution , so state in the joint report and proceed no further toward installation of the proposed service.
6. Except for the facilities of each public utility corporation described in subsection 4 or 5, if any, the joint report must:
(a) Contain an estimate of the costs to be assessed to each lot of real property located within the proposed service district for the construction of new facilities or conversion of facilities within public places.
(b) Indicate the estimated cost to be assessed to each lot of real property for placing underground the facilities of the public utility corporation located within the boundaries of each lot.
(c) Indicate the estimated cost, if any, to be borne by the public utility corporation for any facilities to be provided by it and which remain its property rather than becoming property of owners of individual lots, as provided by regulations of the public service commission of Nevada in the case of a public utility corporation other than a city or county, and, in the case of any public utility corporation, by any other applicable laws, ordinances, rules or regulations.
7. The costs of preparing the joint report must be borne by the public utility corporation or corporations whose electric or communication facilities are to be included in the proposed service district unless the governing body orders the establishment of the service district, in which event the costs must be included in the costs of the service district.
Sec. 4. NRS 704A.240 is hereby amended to read as follows:
704A.240 1. At the place, date and hour specified for the hearing in the notice or at any subsequent time to which the hearing may be adjourned , the governing body shall give full consideration to all written objections which have been filed and shall hear all owners of real property within the proposed service district desiring to be heard.
2. If the governing body determines [at] after the hearing that [:] an existing or a new electric facility must be placed underground and that:
(a) The requirements for the establishment of a service district have been satisfied;
(b) Objections have not been filed in writing by more than 40 percent of the owners of real property within the proposed service district, or by owners of more than 40 percent of the real property on a square foot basis in the proposed service district;
(c) Considering all objections, the cost of construction or conversion as contained in the joint report prepared pursuant to NRS 704A.180 is economically and technically feasible for the public utility corporations involved and the owners of real property affected; and
(d) The proposed service district is a reasonably compact area [of reasonable size,] which encompasses areas that will benefit from the installation of the facility underground,
the governing body shall enact an ordinance establishing the area as a service district.
3. The ordinance [shall:] must:
(a) State the costs to be assessed to each lot in the service district, which [shall] must include the appropriate share of all costs referred to in NRS 704A.180 and 704A.210.
(b) Direct the public utility corporation owning overhead electric or communication facilities within the service district to construct or convert such facilities to underground facilities and, in the case of a public utility corporation other than a city or county, to construct or convert such facilities in accordance with standard underground practices and procedures approved by the public service commission of Nevada.
(c) State the method of levying assessments, the number of installments, and the times when the costs assessed will be payable.
4. Before enacting an ordinance establishing a service district, the governing body shall exclude by resolution or ordinance any territory described in the petition which the governing body finds will not be benefited by inclusion in the service district or for which [territory] underground construction or conversion is not economically or technically feasible.
5. The basis for apportioning the assessments:
(a) [Shall] Must be in proportion to the special benefits derived to each of the several lots comprising the assessable property within the service district; and
(b) [Shall] Must be on a front foot, area, zone or other equitable basis as determined by the governing body.
6. Regardless of the basis used for the apportionment of assessments, in cases of wedge or V or any other irregularly shaped lots, an amount apportioned thereto [shall] must be in proportion to the special benefits thereby derived.
7. The assessable property in the service districts consists of the lots specially benefited by the construction or conversion of service facilities, except:
(a) Any lot owned by the Federal Government in the absence of consent of Congress to its assessment; and
(b) Any lot owned by the municipality.
Sec. 5. NRS 704A.300 is hereby amended to read as follows:
704A.3001. The service facilities within the boundaries of each lot within an underground [conversion] service district must be placed underground at the same time as or after the underground system in private easements and public places is placed underground. The public utility corporation involved, directly or through a contractor, shall, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the public utility corporation, but subject to the regulations of the public service commission of Nevada in the case of a public utility corporation other than a city or county, and, in the case of any public utility corporation, subject to any other applicable laws, ordinances, rules or regulations of the municipality or any other public agency under the police power, convert to underground its facilities on any such lot in the case of:
(a) An electric public utility, up to the service entrance.
(b) A communication public utility, to the connection point within the house or structure.
2. All costs or expenses of conversion must be included in the costs on which the underground conversion cost for such property is calculated, as provided in this chapter.
Sec. 6. NRS 704A.160 is hereby repealed.
TEXT OF REPEALED SECTION
704A.160Provisions of chapter inapplicable to subdivisions.The provisions of this chapter do not apply to any land which is a subdivision within the meaning of NRS 278.320 as long as the title to such land remains in the subdivider.