Introduced Version
House Bill 2154 History
| 
Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2154
(By Delegates Williams and Hartman)
[Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13DD-1; and
amending said code by adding thereto a new article, designated
§24-2G-1, §24-2G-2, §24-2G-3 and §24-2G-4, all relating to
authorizing a corporation net income tax credit for reducing
charges for home heating fuel and propane gas provided to
low-income residents; defining terms; determining the amount
of credit that may be taken; providing the Public Service
Commission with the authority to set special rates;
determining the recovery of revenue deficiencies; limiting and
exempting those utilities from certain municipal taxes; and
granting the
Department of Health Human Services
and the
Public Service Commission with rule-making authority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13DD-1; and that
said code be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated
§24-2G-1, §24-2G-2, §24-2G-3 and §24-2G-4, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 13DD. BUSINESS AND OCCUPATION TAX CREDIT FOR REDUCING
_HEATING FUEL AND PROPANE GAS CHARGES FOR
_LOW-INCOME RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS.
§11-13DD-1. Credit for reducing heating fuel and propane gas
charges for low-income residential customers.
_(a) General. -- A credit shall be allowed against the primary
tax liability of an eligible taxpayer under this article for the
cost of providing heating fuel or propane gas service at special
reduced rates to qualified low-income residential customers that
have not been reimbursed by any other means.
_(b) Definitions. -- For purposes of this section, the term:
_(1) "Eligible taxpayer" means a utility or other corporate
entity subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission
that provides heating fuel or propane gas
service to qualified
low-income residential customers at special reduced rates.
_(2) "Cost of providing heating fuel or propane gas
service at
special reduced rates" means the amount certified by the Public
Service Commission to qualifying low-income consumers pursuant to
subsection (a), section one, article two-g, chapter twenty-four of this code, as the revenue deficiency incurred by a utility or other
corporate entity in providing heating fuel or propane gas service
at special reduced rates, as provided by that section.
_(3) "Special reduced rates" means the rates ordered by the
Public Service Commission.
_(4) "Qualified low-income residential customers" means
customers eligible to receive heating fuel or propane gas service
at special reduced rates as set forth in subsection (a), section
one, article two-g, chapter twenty-four of this code.
_(c) Amount of credit. -- The amount of the credit available to
any eligible taxpayer shall be equal to its costs of providing
heating fuel or propane gas
service at special reduced rates to
qualified low-income residential customers less any reimbursement
of the cost which the taxpayer has received through any other
means.
_(d) When credit may be taken. -- (1) An eligible taxpayer may
claim a credit allowed under this section on its annual return for
the taxable year for which it receives certification of the amount
of its revenue deficiency from the Public Service Commission.
_(2) Notwithstanding any provision of
this code to the
contrary, no credit may be claimed on any declaration of estimated
tax filed for such taxable year prior to July 1 of that taxable
year. The credit may be claimed on a declaration or amended
declaration filed on or after that date. The eligible taxpayer may not recover more than one hundred percent of its revenue deficiency
as certified by the Public Service Commission.
_(e) Application of credit. -- The credit allowable by this
section for a taxable year is not subject to the fifty percent
limitation specified in section nine, article twenty-four of this
chapter. Notwithstanding section four, article thirteen-g of this
chapter, any unused credit may be carried over and applied against
the eligible taxpayer's tax liability in the manner specified in
section five, article thirteen-g of this chapter.
_(f) Copy of certification order. -- A copy of the
certification order from the Public Service Commission shall be
attached to any annual return on which a credit allowed by this
section is taken.
CHAPTER 24. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
ARTICLE 2G. REDUCED RATES FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS OF
ELECTRICITY AND GAS.
§24-2G-1. Special rates for
home heating fuel and propane gas
utility customers receiving Social Security
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC), Aid to Families with
Dependent Children--Unemployed (AFDC-U) or food
stamps.
_______________(a) The commission shall order each
utility subject to its jurisdiction
that provides home heating fuel and propane gas
,
except municipal or cooperative gas or electric utilities, to offer
special reduced rates applicable to
home heating fuel and propane
gas
service for the billing months of December, January, February,
March and April of each year (beginning with the billing month of
December, 2013), to residential utility customers receiving: (1)
Social security supplemental security income (SSI); (2) aid to
families with dependent children (AFDC); (3) aid to families with
dependent children-- unemployed (AFDC-U); or (4) food stamps, if
such food stamp recipients are sixty years of age or older. The
special reduced rate offered by each
heating fuel and propane gas
utility to its eligible customers shall be twenty percent less than
the rate which would be applicable to such customers if they were
not receiving any of the four forms of assistance that confer
eligibility for the special reduced rates. A customer of a utility
offering special reduced rates shall be eligible to receive such
rates for each of the billing months of December, January,
February, March and April that correlates to a calendar month
during which that customer is eligible to participate in one or
more of the qualifying programs specified in this section, except
as otherwise provided in this section. The correlation of billing
months to calendar months of eligibility to participate in a
qualifying program is as follows: (1) A December billing month
correlates to the calendar month of November; (2) a January billing month correlates to the calendar month of December; (3) a February
billing month correlates to the calendar month of January; (4) a
March billing month correlates to the calendar month of February;
and (5) an April billing month correlates to the calendar month of
March. After the billing month of April, 2013, no customer shall be
eligible to receive the special reduced rates until the billing
month in which that customer applies for such rates. For the
billing months of December, 2013, and January, February, March and
April, 2014, a customer shall be eligible to receive a utility's
special reduced rates for any of those billing months that
correlates to a calendar month during which that customer is
eligible to participate in one or more of the qualifying programs
specified in this section, regardless of the date on which that
customer applies for such rates: Provided, That the date of
application falls on or prior to May 15, 2014. No customer who
applies for the special reduced rates after May 15, 2014 shall be
eligible to receive such rates for any of the billing months of
December, 2013 or January, February, March or April, 2014. Before
any individual may qualify to receive the special reduced rates,
the requirements of subsections (b) through (d) of this section
must be met.
_______________(b) The special reduced rates shall apply only to current
customers or to those persons who subsequently become customers in
their own right. If an SSI, AFDC, AFDC- U or food stamp recipient is living in a household which is served under the name of a person
who is not an SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp recipient, that
service may not be changed or have been changed subsequent to April
15, 2013, to the name of the SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp
recipient in order to qualify for service under the special reduced
rates.
_______________(c) The burden of proving eligibility for the special reduced
rates shall be on the customer requesting such rates. The
Department of Health Human Services shall establish by rule
procedures: (1) To inform persons receiving any of the four forms
of assistance which confer eligibility for the special reduced
rates about the availability of the special reduced rates; (2) to
assist applicants for the special reduced rates in proving their
eligibility therefor; and (3) to assist
heating fuel and propane
gas
utilities offering the special reduced rates in determining on
a continuing basis the eligibility of persons receiving or applying
for such rates. The commission shall establish by rule procedures
for the application for and provision of service under the special
reduced rates and for the determination and certification of
revenue deficiencies resulting from the special reduced rates.
Within ten days of the effective date of this article, the
commission and the Department of Health Human Services
shall adopt
temporary rules and regulations, as required by this section, which
rules and regulations shall not be subject to the requirements of chapter twenty-nine-a and section seven, article one of chapter
twenty-four except that they shall be filed with the Secretary of
State and published in the State Register. These temporary rules
shall remain in effect until supplanted by permanent rules and
regulations, which shall be adopted by the commission and the
Department of Health Human Services
within one hundred eighty days
of the effective date of this article.
_______________(d) In order to provide each eligible residential utility
customer the special reduced rates for the billing months of
December, 2013, through April, 2014, (hereinafter referred to as
the first special-reduced-rate season), each utility providing the
special reduced rates shall credit against the amount otherwise
owed by each customer an amount equal to the difference between the
total amount that each such customer was actually billed during the
first special-reduced-rate season and the total amount that each
customer would have been entitled to be billed under the special
reduced rates. Each such credit shall be fully reflected on the
first bill issued to each such customer after approval of each such
customer's application for the special reduced rates, except in
cases where the interval between the approval and the issuance of
the next bill is so short that it is administratively impracticable
to do so, in which cases such credits shall be fully reflected on
the second bill issued to each such customer after approval of that
customer's application. If the interval between the approval and the issuance of the next bill is fifteen days or more, it shall not
be deemed administratively impracticable to reflect such credit on
the customer's first such bill.
§24-2G-2. Recovery of revenue deficiencies.
_In order to provide the special reduced rates authorized by
section one of this article and still maintain the integrity of the
earnings of the utilities offering service under these rates, the
commission shall each year, determine, upon application by any
affected utility, that utility's revenue deficiency resulting from
the special reduced rates. Upon determining any utility's revenue
deficiency, the commission shall issue an order certifying the
amount of that deficiency. Certified revenue deficiencies shall be
recovered by the affected utilities as follows:
_(1) A utility's certified revenue deficiency, if any,
resulting from the special reduced rates shall be allowed as a tax
credit against the liability of the utility pursuant to section
one, article thirteen-dd, chapter eleven of this code.
_(2) After allowance of a tax credit pursuant to section one,
article thirteen-dd, chapter eleven of this code
, a utility's
remaining revenue deficiency, if any, resulting from the special
reduced rates, shall be allowed as a tax credit against the
liability of the utility pursuant to section eleven, article
twenty-four of chapter eleven.
§24-2G-3. Limitation on and exemption from local business and occupation or privilege taxes and local public
utility excise taxes.
_______________(a) Any municipality that presently or hereafter imposes a
business and occupation or privilege tax under section five,
article thirteen, chapter eight of this code or a public utilities
excise tax under section five-a, article thirteen of that chapter
shall be restricted, in the case of utility services rendered to a
customer under the special reduced rates, to levying such taxes on:
(1) In the case of a local business and occupation or privilege
tax, the gross revenues derived under the special reduced rates for
any period during which that customer receives service under the
special reduced rates; and (2) in the case of a local public
utilities excise tax, to the gross amount of that customer's
utility bill as calculated under the special reduced rates.
_______________(b) No recovery of revenue deficiencies provided in section
two of this article shall be subject to tax under sections five or
five-a, article thirteen of chapter eight.
§24-2G-4. Definitions.
_______________As used in this article, the term:
_______________(1) "Billing cycle" shall mean a period of time during the
course of which a utility either bills for or measures, by meter-
reading or any other means, the usage of its utility services by
all of its customers a single time. A utility may elect whether it
wishes to determine its billing cycles by date of measurement or by date of billing. A utility which employs twelve billing cycles per
year shall be deemed to employ monthly billing cycles. A utility
which employs more or fewer than twelve billing cycles per year
shall be deemed to employ nonmonthly billing cycles. For a utility
employing monthly billing cycles, a billing cycle identified by the
name of a particular calendar month must include at least twelve
days of that calendar month.
_______________(2) "Billing month" shall have two meanings:
_______________(A) As applied to a utility employing nonmonthly billing
cycles and to its customers, a particular "billing month" shall
mean the calendar month to which that billing month correlates
under section one of this article.
_______________(B) As applied to a utility employing monthly billing cycles
and to its customers, a particular "billing month" shall mean the
period of customer usage reflected on any bill which, in the case
of a utility with billing-date billing cycles, is issued during
that particular monthly billing cycle, or for which, in the case of
a utility with measurement- date billing cycles, the measurement of
usage is made during that particular monthly billing cycle.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize a corporation
net income tax credit for reducing charges for home heating fuel
and propane gas provided to low-income residents. The bill defines
terms. The bill determines the amount of credit that may be taken.
The bill provides the Public Service Commission with the authority
to set special rates. The bill determines the recovery of revenue
deficiencies. The bill limits and exempts those utilities from
certain municipal taxes. The bill grants the
Department of Health Human Services
and the Public Service Commission with rule-making
authority.
These articles are new; therefore, they have been completely
underscored.
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
