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4506S.02C
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SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 954
AN ACT
To repeal section 523.010, RSMo, and to enact in lieu
thereof one new section relating to condemnation of
land by certain utilities.
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Section A. Section 523.010, RSMo, is repealed and one new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 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, 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
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,
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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; the names of the owners
thereof, if known; or if unknown, a pertinent description of
the property whose owners are unknown and praying the
appointment of three disinterested residents of the county,
as commissioners, or a jury, to assess the damages which
such owners may severally sustain in consequence of the
establishment, erection and maintenance of such road,
railroad, street railway, telephone, telegraph line, or
electrical line including damages from the construction and
maintenance of necessary dams and the condemnation of land
submerged thereby, and the construction and maintenance of
appurtenant canals, flumes, tunnels and tailraces and the
erection and maintenance of necessary electric steam
powerhouses, hydroelectric powerhouses and electric
substations, or oil, pipeline, or gas line over or
underneath the surface of such lands; to which petition the
owners of any or all as the plaintiff may elect of such
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.
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2. If the proceedings seek to affect the lands of
persons under conservatorship, the conservators must be made
parties defendant. If the present owner of any land to be
affected has less estate than a fee, the person having the
next vested estate in remainder may at the option of the
petitioners be made party defendant; but if such
remaindermen are not made parties, their interest shall not
be bound by the proceedings.
3. It shall not be necessary to make any persons party
defendants in respect to their ownership unless they are
either in actual possession of the premises to be affected
claiming title or having a title of the premises appearing
of record upon the proper records of the county.
4. Except as provided in subsection 5 of this section,
nothing in this chapter shall be construed to give a public
utility, as defined in section 386.020, or a rural electric
cooperative, as provided in chapter 394, the power to
condemn property which is currently used by another provider
of public utility service, including a municipality or a
special purpose district, when such property is used or
useful in providing utility services, if the public utility
or cooperative seeking to condemn such property, directly or
indirectly, will use or proposes to use the property for the
same purpose, or a purpose substantially similar to the
purpose for which the property is being used by the provider
of the public utility service.
5. A public utility or a rural electric cooperative
may only condemn the property of another provider of public
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
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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.
6. If a public utility or rural electric cooperative
seeks to condemn the property of another provider of public
utility service, and the conditions in subsection 4 of this
section do not apply, this section does not limit the
condemnation powers otherwise possessed by such public
utility or rural electric cooperative.
7. Suits in inverse condemnation or involving
dangerous conditions of public property against a municipal
corporation established under Article VI, Section 30(a) of
the Missouri Constitution shall be brought only in the
county where such land or any part thereof lies.
8. 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
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. The provisions of this subsection shall
not apply to applications filed pursuant to section 393.170
prior to August 28, 2022.
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9. For the purposes of this chapter, the authority of
any corporation set forth in subsection 1 of this section to
condemn property shall not extend to:
(1) The construction or erection of any plant, tower,
panel, or facility that utilizes, captures, or converts wind
or air currents to generate or manufacture electricity; or
(2) The construction or erection of any plant, tower,
panel, or facility that utilizes, captures, or converts the
light or heat generated by the sun to generate or
manufacture electricity.
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.