PRINTER'S NO. 1457
No. 1167 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY BELL, WHITE, LAVALLE, RHOADES, WOZNIAK, BELAN,
BODACK, KUKOVICH, BOSCOLA, COSTA, STOUT, SCHWARTZ AND WAGNER,
OCTOBER 26, 1999
REFERRED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE,
OCTOBER 26, 1999
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for utility industry
3 restructuring.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 66 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a chapter to read:
8 CHAPTER 20
9 UTILITY INDUSTRY RESTRUCTURING
10 Sec.
11 2001. Applicability.
12 2002. Findings and purposes.
13 2003. Requirements.
14 2004. Requirements related to work force reduction.
15 2005. Displaced employee program.
16 2006. Transfers of ownership.
17 2007. Transfers to certain subsidiaries.
1 2008. Existing sales agreements.
2 § 2001. Applicability.
3 In addition to any other specific requirements contained in
4 this title, the provisions of this chapter shall apply to the
5 restructuring or deregulation of any public utility industry.
6 § 2002. Findings and purposes.
7 (1) The reliability and safety of the public utility
8 industries subject to this title have depended on a work
9 force of skilled and dedicated employees equipped with
10 technical training and experience.
11 (2) The integrity and reliability of their systems also
12 have depended on each industry's commitment to invest in
13 regular inspection and maintenance, to assure that they can
14 withstand the demands of heavy service requirements and
15 emergency situations.
16 (3) It is in the Commonwealth's interest to protect the
17 interests of public utility employees who have dedicated
18 themselves to assuring reliable service to the citizens of
19 this Commonwealth and who otherwise might be economically
20 displaced in a restructured industry.
21 § 2003. Requirements.
22 The General Assembly further finds that it is necessary to
23 assure that employees operating in a restructured or deregulated
24 public utility industry have the requisite skills, knowledge and
25 competence to provide safe, adequate and reliable service and,
26 therefore, all public utilities and all other persons providing
27 services to consumers using the facilities of a public utility
28 shall be required to demonstrate the competence of their
29 employees to work in the public utility industry. The knowledge,
30 skills and competence levels to be demonstrated shall be
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1 consistent with those generally required of or by comparable
2 public utilities in this Commonwealth with respect to their
3 employees. Adequate demonstration of requisite knowledge, skills
4 and competence shall include such factors as completion by the
5 employee of an accredited or otherwise recognized apprenticeship
6 program for the particular craft, trade or skill, or specified
7 years of employment with a public utility or similar business
8 performing the particular work function. To implement this
9 requirement, the commission, in determining that a person or
10 public utility meets the standards required by this chapter,
11 shall require the person or public utility to demonstrate that
12 the person or public utility is licensed to do business in this
13 Commonwealth and that the employees of the person or public
14 utility that will be installing, operating and maintaining
15 facilities and services within this Commonwealth, or any other
16 entity which the person or public utility has contracted to
17 perform those functions within this Commonwealth, have the
18 requisite knowledge, skills and competence to perform those
19 functions in a safe and responsible manner in order to provide
20 safe, adequate and reliable service in accordance with the
21 criteria stated herein.
22 § 2004. Requirements related to work force reduction.
23 (a) Work force reduction plan.--The General Assembly finds,
24 based on experience in industries that have undergone
25 deregulation, restructuring and transition, that the
26 introduction of competition into this Commonwealth's regulated
27 industries may result in work force reductions by public
28 utilities which may adversely affect persons who have been
29 employed in this Commonwealth's regulated industries in
30 functions important to the public convenience and necessity. The
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1 General Assembly further finds that the impacts on employees and
2 their communities of any necessary reductions in the industry's
3 work force directly caused by the restructuring or deregulation
4 of an industry subject to this title shall be mitigated to the
5 extent practicable through such means as offers of voluntary
6 severance, retraining, early retirement, outplacement,
7 continuation of medical benefits and related benefits.
8 Therefore, before any such reduction in the work force, a public
9 utility shall present to its employees or their representatives
10 a work force reduction plan outlining the means by which the
11 public utility intends to reasonably mitigate the impact of such
12 work force reduction on its employees.
13 (b) Employee termination.--Beginning May 1, 1999, if a
14 public utility lays off or terminates any of its employees,
15 except for just cause, the public utility shall provide the
16 commission with sufficient information to show that with the
17 reduction of employees the public utility will still be able to
18 ensure the safety, adequacy and reliability of service to all
19 customers and provide at least 60 days' written notice of such
20 layoff or termination to the public utility's employees or the
21 employees' authorized bargaining representative.
22 § 2005. Displaced employee program.
23 The Department of Labor and Industry shall establish and
24 implement a program to assist the employees of a public utility
25 who are displaced by restructuring or deregulation. The program
26 shall be designed to assist employees in obtaining employment
27 and shall consist of utilizing the Federal funds available for
28 the purpose of retraining and outplacement services for such
29 employees.
30 § 2006. Transfers of ownership.
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1 In the event of a sale, purchase, or any other transfer of
2 ownership of a public utility, or of one or more Pennsylvania
3 divisions or business units of a public utility, the existing
4 public utility's contracts and/or agreements with the acquiring
5 person shall require that the acquiring person shall hire a
6 sufficient number of nonsupervisory employees to operate and
7 maintain the facilities and services of the public utility by
8 initially making offers of employment to the nonsupervisory work
9 force of the public utility, or the division or business unit of
10 the public utility being transferred, at no less than the wage
11 rates and substantially equivalent fringe benefits and terms and
12 conditions of employment that are in effect at the time of
13 transfer of ownership of said division or business unit and said
14 wage rates and substantially equivalent fringe benefits and
15 terms of and conditions of employment shall continue for at
16 least 30 months from the time of said transfer of ownership
17 unless the public utility, the acquiring person and the affected
18 employees mutually agree to different terms and conditions of
19 employment within that 30-month period. The public utility shall
20 offer a transition plan to those employees who are not offered
21 jobs by the acquiring person because that person has a need for
22 fewer workers. If there is litigation concerning the sale or
23 other transfer of ownership of the public utility, or the
24 division or business unit of the public utility, the 30-month
25 period will begin on the date the acquiring person takes control
26 or management of the public utility or the division or business
27 unit of the public utility.
28 § 2007. Transfers to certain subsidiaries.
29 If a public utility transfers ownership of one or more
30 Pennsylvania divisions or business units to a majority-owned
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1 subsidiary of the public utility or to any affiliated interest
2 of the public utility as defined in section 2101 (relating to
3 definition of affiliated interest), that subsidiary or
4 affiliated interest shall continue to employ the public
5 utility's employees who were employed by the public utility at
6 such division or business unit at the time of the transfer under
7 the same terms and conditions of employment as those employees
8 enjoyed at the time of the transfer. If ownership of the
9 subsidiary or affiliated interest is subsequently sold or
10 transferred to a third party, these provisions shall continue to
11 apply.
12 § 2008. Existing sales agreements.
13 The provisions of sections 2006 (relating to transfers of
14 ownership) and 2007 (relating to transfers to certain
15 subsidiaries) shall not apply to the transfer of any division or
16 business unit of a public utility which was the subject of an
17 executed sales agreement entered into before January 1, 1999.
18 Section 2. The addition of 66 Pa.C.S. § 2004(b) shall apply
19 retroactively to May 1, 1999.
20 Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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