Modifies provisions for eminent domain for utility purposes

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 2169
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE POLLITT .
5370H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
T o repeal section 523.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to
eminent domain for utility purposes.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 523.010, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu
2 thereof, to be known as section 523.010, to read as follows:
523.010. 1. In case land, or other property , is sought to be appropriated by any road,
2 railroad, street railway , telephone, telegraph or any electrical corporation or ganized for the
3 manufacture or transmission of electric current for light, heat or power , including the
4 construction, when that is the case, of necessary dams and appurtenant canals, flumes, tunnels
5 and tailraces and including the erection, when that is the case, of necessary electric steam
6 powerhouses, hydroelectric powerhouses and electric substations or any oil, pipeline or gas
7 corporation engaged in the business of transporting or carrying oil, liquid fertilizer solutions,
8 or gas by means of pipes or pipelines laid underneath the surface of the ground, or other
9 corporation created under the laws of this state for public use, and such corporation and the
10 owners cannot agree upon the proper compensation to be paid, or in the case the owner is
11 incapable of contracting, be unknown, or be a nonresident of the state, such corporation may
12 apply to the circuit court of the county of this state where such land or any part thereof lies by
13 petition setting forth the general directions in which it is desired to construct its road, railroad,
14 street railway , telephone, or telegraph line or electric line, including, when that is the case, the
15 construction and maintenance of necessary dams and appurtenant canals, tunnels, flumes and
16 tailraces and, when that is the case, the appropriation of land submer ged by the construction
17 of such dam, and including the erection and maintenance, when that is the case, of necessary
EXPLANA TION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law . Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
18 electric steam powerhouses, hydroelectric powerhouses and electric substations, or oil,
19 pipeline, liquid fertilizer solution pipeline, or gas line over or underneath the surface of such
20 lands, a description of the real estate, or other property , which the company seeks to acquire;
21 the names of the owners thereof, if known; or if unknown, a pertinent description of the
22 property whose owners are unknown and praying the appointment of three disinterested
23 residents of the county , as commissioners, or a jury , to assess the damages which such owners
24 may severally sustain in consequence of the establishment, erection and maintenance of such
25 road, railroad, street railway , telephone, telegraph line, or electrical line including damages
26 from the construction and maintenance of necessary dams and the condemnation of land
27 submer ged thereby , and the construction and maintenance of appurtenant canals, flumes,
28 tunnels and tailraces and the erection and maintenance of necessary electric steam
29 powerhouses, hydroelectric powerhouses and electric substations, or oil, pipeline, or gas
30 line over or underneath the surface of such lands; to which petition the owners of any or all as
31 the plaintif f may elect of such parcels as lie within the county or circuit may be made parties
32 defendant by names if the names are known, and by the description of the unknown owners of
33 the land therein described if their names are unknown.
34 2. If the proceedings seek to af fect the lands of persons under conservatorship, the
35 conservators must be made parties defendant. If the present owner of any land to be af fected
36 has less estate than a fee, the person having the next vested estate in remainder may at the
37 option of the petitioners be made party defendant; but if such remaindermen are not made
38 parties, their interest shall not be bound by the proceedings.
39 3. It shall not be necessary to make any persons party defendants in respect to their
40 ownership unless they are either in actual possession of the premises to be af fected claiming
41 title or having a title of the premises appearing of record upon the proper records of the
42 county .
43 4. Except as provided in subsection 5 of this section, nothing in this chapter shall be
44 construed to give a public utility , as defined in section 386.020, or a rural electric cooperative,
45 as provided in chapter 394, the power to condemn property which is currently used by another
46 provider of public utility service, including a municipality or a special purpose district, when
47 such property is used or useful in providing utility services, if the public utility or cooperative
48 seeking to condemn such property , directly or indirectly , will use or proposes to use the
49 property for the same purpose, or a purpose substantially similar to the purpose for which the
50 property is being used by the provider of the public utility service.
51 5. A public utility or a rural electric cooperative may only condemn the property of
52 another provider of public utility service, even if the property is used or useful in providing
53 utility services by such provider , if the condemnation is necessary for the public purpose of
54 acquiring a nonexclusive easement or right-of-way across the property of such provider and
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55 only if the acquisition will not materially impair or interfere with the current use of such
56 property by the utility or cooperative and will not prevent or materially impair such provider
57 of public utility service from any future expansion of its facilities on such property .
58 6. If a public utility or rural electric cooperative seeks to condemn the property of
59 another provider of public utility service, and the conditions in subsection 4 of this section do
60 not apply , this section does not limit the condemnation powers otherwise possessed by such
61 public utility or rural electric cooperative.
62 7. Suits in inverse condemnation or involving dangerous conditions of public
63 property against a municipal corporation established under Article VI, Section 30(a) of the
64 Missouri Constitution shall be brought only in the county where such land or any part thereof
65 lies.
66 8. For purposes of this chapter , the authority for an electrical corporation as defined in
67 section 386.020, except for an electrical corporation operating under a cooperative business
68 plan as described in section 393.1 10, to condemn property for purposes of constructing an
69 electric plant subject to a certificate of public convenience and necessity under subsection 1
70 of section 393.170 shall not extend to the construction of a merchant transmission line with
71 Federal Ener gy Regulatory Commission negotiated rate authority unless such line has a
72 substation or converter station located in Missouri which is capable of delivering an amount
73 of its electrical capacity to electrical customers in this state that is greater than or equal to the
74 proportionate number of miles of the line that passes through the state. The provisions of this
75 subsection shall not apply to applications filed pursuant to section 393.170 prior to August 28,
76 2022.
77 9. For the purposes of this chapter , the authority of any corporation set forth in
78 subsection 1 of this section to condemn prop erty shall not extend to:
79 (1) The construction or er ection of any plant, tower , panel, or facility that
80 utilizes, capture s, or converts wind or air curren ts to generate or manufactur e
81 electricity; or
82 (2) The construction or er ection of any plant, tower , panel, or facility that
83 utilizes, captur es, or converts the light or heat generated by the sun to generate or
84 manufactur e electricity .
85 10. Subject to subsection 8 of this section, but notwithstanding subsection 9 of
86 this section, the authority of any corporation set forth in subsection 1 of this section to
87 condemn pr operty shall extend to acquisition of rights needed to construct, operate, and
88 maintain collection lines, distribution lines, transmission lines, communications lines,
89 substations, switchyards, and other facilities needed to collect and deliver energy
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90 generated or manufactur ed by the facilities described in subsection 9 of this section to
91 the distribution or transmission grid.
✔
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