SB 954 — Creates provisions relating to condemnation of land by certain utilities

SECOND4506S.02C REGULARSENATE SESSIONCOMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILLNO.BILL NO.

954 103RDAN GENERALASSEMBLYACT INTRODUCEDTo BYrepeal SENATORsection BEAN.523.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to condemnation of land by certain utilities.

4506S.01I KRISTINAMARTIN, Secretary ANACT To repeal section 523.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to condemnation of land by certain utilities.

In case land, or other property, is sought to be appropriated by any road, railroad, street railway, telephone, telegraph or any electrical corporation organized for the manufacture or transmission of electric current for light, heat or power, including the construction, when that is the case, of necessary dams and appurtenant canals, flumes, tunnels and tailraces and including the erection, when that is the case, of necessary electric steam powerhouses, hydroelectric powerhouses and electric substations or any oil, pipeline or gas corporation engaged in the business of transporting or carrying oil, liquid fertilizer solutions, or gas by means of pipes or pipelines laid underneath the surface of the ground, or other corporation created under the laws of this state for public use, and such corporation and the owners cannot agree upon the proper compensation to be paid, or in the case the owner is incapable of contracting, be unknown, or be a SB 954 2 nonresident of the state, such corporation may apply to the circuit court of the county of this state where such land or any part thereof lies by petition setting forth the general directions in which it is desired to construct its road, railroad, street railway, telephone, or telegraph line or electric line, including, when that is the case, the construction and maintenance of necessary dams and appurtenant canals, tunnels, flumes and tailraces and, when that is the case, the appropriation of land submerged by the construction of such dam, and including the erection and maintenance, when that is the case, of necessary electric steam powerhouses, hydroelectric powerhouses and electric substations, or oil, pipeline, liquid fertilizer solution pipeline, or gas line over or underneath the surface of such lands, a description of the real estate, or other property, which the company seeks to acquire;

to which petition the owners of any or all as the plaintiff may elect of such SB 954 3 parcels as lie within the county or circuit may be made parties defendant by names if the names are known, and by the description of the unknown owners of the land therein described if their names are unknown.

A public utility or a rural electric cooperative may only condemn the property of another provider of public SB 954 4 utility service, even if the property is used or useful in providing utility services by such provider, if the condemnation is necessary for the public purpose of acquiring a nonexclusive easement or right-of-way across the property of such provider and only if the acquisition will not materially impair or interfere with the current use of such property by the utility or cooperative and will not prevent or materially impair such provider of public utility service from any future expansion of its facilities on such property.

For purposes of this chapter, the authority for an electrical corporation as defined in section 386.020, except for an electrical corporation operating under a cooperative business plan as described in section 393.110, to condemn property for purposes of constructing an electric plant subject to a certificate of public convenience and necessity under subsection 1 of section 393.170 shall not extend to the construction of a merchant transmission line with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission negotiated rate authority unless such line has a substation or converter station located in Missouri which is capable of delivering SB 954 5 an amount of its electrical capacity to electrical customers in this state that is greater than or equal to the proportionate number of miles of the line that passes through the state.

10.

Subject to the provisions of subsection 8 of this section, but notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 9 of this section to the contrary, the authority of any corporation set forth in subsection 1 of this section to condemn property shall extend to acquisition of rights needed to construct, operate, and maintain collection lines, distribution lines, transmission lines, communications lines, substations, switchyards, and other facilities needed to collect and deliver energy generated or manufactured by the facilities described in subsection 9 of this section to the distribution or transmission grid.