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An Act
ENROLLED HOUSE
BILL NO. 2756 By: Caldwell (Trey), Hilbert,
Dobrinski, and Boles of the
House
and
Green of the Senate
An Act relating to electric transmission facilities;
creating the High Voltage Electric Transmission
Facility Act; providing short title; defining terms;
providing for certain exemptions; creating
applications for specific certificates; requiring
certain information for applications; determining
when certain updated information is to be filed;
requiring certain actions before certain hearings;
requiring different types of notice; requiring public
meetings; determining insurance requirements;
requiring a public safety plan; requiring notice of
public benefit; determining decommission plans;
authorizing requests for additional information;
providing for approval of certificates; determining
alternative approval of certificates; authorizing
assessment of filing fees; requiring the promulgation
of rules; providing for noncodification; providing
for codification; and declaring an emergency.
SUBJECT: Electric transmission facilities
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of a new law not to be
codified in the Oklahoma Statutes reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the “High Voltage
Electric Transmission Facility Act”.
ENR. H. B. NO. 2756 Page 2
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 850 of Title 17, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
As used in this act:
1. “Certificate of authority” means authorization for a
transmission developer to comply with the provisions of this act by
an order of the Corporation Commission through filing a case with an
application, notice, and hearing. The Commission shall establish a
unique and identifiable designation for the filing of such cases;
2. “Electric transmission facility” means a high-voltage
transmission line or high-voltage associated transmission facility
with a rating of greater than three hundred (300) kilovolts;
3. “FERC” means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
4. “Transfer” means any sale, assignment, or change in
ownership of the electric transmission facility by a transmission
developer; and
5. “Transmission developer” means any person, firm,
corporation, or entity that develops, owns, operates, controls,
manages, or maintains an electric transmission facility within this
state and is licensed to do business in Oklahoma.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 851 of Title 17, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. This section shall not be construed to require any Oklahoma
retail electric supplier or rural electric cooperative to secure a
certificate of authority for any extension, rebuild, or upgrade to
an electric transmission facility.
B. A transmission developer shall file an application to obtain
a certificate of authority from the Corporation Commission for each
electric transmission facility. No electric transmission facility
shall be commenced without obtaining a certificate of authority.
Such application shall include, but shall not be limited to, the
following:
1. The name, address, and contact information of a named
representative or representatives of the transmission developer and
ENR. H. B. NO. 2756 Page 3
a telephone number and electronic email address for each such
representative or representatives;
2. A description and a map or plat of the proposed route or
routes or alternative route or routes for any electric transmission
facility regardless of whether or not a transmission developer has
made a submission or received approval from the Southwest Power Pool
or any other applicable regional planning process or other federal
authority;
3. Identification of any and all such counties within the
electric transmission facility’s route or routes or alternative
route or routes;
4. Identification of any energy resource or resources to which
the electric transmission facility is to be directly connected or,
to the extent known, resources to which the electric transmission
facility could be connected to integrate existing natural gas or
other resource generation; and
5. An estimate of the costs, including potential costs or
savings impacts, to any Oklahoma electric customers and the
estimated time frame for the electric transmission facility being
developed.
C. If the transmission developer is required to file subsequent
forms with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) or any
other agency or organization due to changing the route or height of
individual structures from the locations or heights originally
proposed, the transmission developer shall, within ten (10) days of
filing with the FERC or other agency or organization, file such
subsequent forms with the Corporation Commission. A transmission
developer shall not be required to start the notification process
over unless the subsequent FERC or other agency or organization
application expands the project beyond the original boundaries in
the application filed with the Corporation Commission.
D. Prior to or at the time of the hearing on the certificate of
authority, the transmission developer shall provide:
1. Within thirty (30) days after filing an application with the
Commission as provided for in subsection B of this section, proof of
publication that the transmission developer published notice of the
application in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or
ENR. H. B. NO. 2756 Page 4
counties in which all or a portion of the electric transmission
facility is to be located;
2. Within sixty (60) days after filing an application with the
Commission as provided in subsection B of this section, proof of
service that the transmission developer published notice to be sent
by certified mail to:
a. the board of county commissioners of every county in
which all or a portion of the electric transmission
facility is to be located and, if all or a portion of
the electric transmission facility is to be located
within the incorporated area of a municipality, the
governing body of the municipality,
b. all surface landowners, as reflected in the public
land records of the county clerk’s office, upon which
all or any part of the surface estate is located
within the electric transmission facility route or
routes or alternative route or routes,
c. any operator, as reflected in the records of the
Commission, who is conducting oil and gas operations
upon all or any part of the surface estate as to which
the transmission developer intends the construction of
the electric transmission facility, and
d. any operator, as reflected in the records of the
Commission, of an unspaced unit, or a unit created by
order of the Commission, who is conducting oil and gas
operations for the unit where all or any part of the
unit area is within the geographical boundaries of the
surface estate as to which the transmission developer
intends the construction of the electric transmission
facility.
If the transmission developer makes a search with reasonable
diligence and the whereabouts of any party entitled to any notice
described in this paragraph cannot be ascertained or such notice
cannot be delivered, then an affidavit attesting to such diligent
search for the parties shall be filed with the Commission;
3. Within ninety (90) days of publishing the notice in a
newspaper as provided for in paragraph 1 of subsection D of this
section, a public meeting in the county or counties in which all or
ENR. H. B. NO. 2756 Page 5
a portion of the electric transmission facility is to be located.
Notice of the public meeting shall be published in a newspaper of
general circulation and submitted to the board of county
commissioners in the county or counties in which all or a portion of
the electric transmission facility is to be located. The notice
shall contain the place, date, and time of the public meeting.
Proof of the publication of the notice shall be submitted to the
Commission;
4. An attestation that the transmission developer has or shall
secure or maintain sufficient insurance coverage to cover any and
all aspects of the electric transmission facility from construction
through operation and maintenance, or any transfer of ownership;
5. Evidence that impacts to the environment and public safety
will be addressed by the transmission developer;
6. A safety plan that will be in place and will be updated for
the electric transmission facility and will be provided to the
Commission upon request;
7. That the electric transmission facility is beneficial and in
the public interest;
8. A decommission plan that identifies the methodology used to
mitigate potential impacts resulting from the cessation of operation
at the end of the electric transmission facility’s useful life,
which includes, but is not limited to:
a. identification of specific project components that
will be removed,
b. a description of the decommission process in the event
of abandonment during construction and abandonment
during operation,
c. a description of the process used for land and road
restoration, and
d. the financial capability of a transmission developer,
including a financial surety guarantee, if required by
the Commission prior to commencing construction or
upon any transfer of ownership, in a form and amount
to be determined by the Commission, which shall remain
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in effect until release is authorized by the
Commission; and
9. Any additional information required by the Commission from
the transmission developer prior to or during the hearing,
including, but not limited to, information related to potential
impacts to ad valorem taxes to surface owners.
E. Approval through an order of the Commission is required
prior to the effectiveness of any transfer.
F. Within two hundred (200) days of filing the original
application or any amended application with the Commission, if the
transmission developer has met the aforementioned requirements, the
Commission shall issue an order granting a certificate of authority.
Failure to issue an order on a completed application by the
Commission shall result in the certificate of authority being deemed
granted.
G. The Commission is authorized to assess a filing fee for any
certificate of authority, not to exceed One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00). The Commission shall promulgate rules to implement
this act. Nothing in this act will be deemed to authorize any
transmission developer the power to exercise eminent domain,
condemnation, siting, or project-specific approval not already
provided in the Oklahoma Statutes.
SECTION 4. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
ENR. H. B. NO. 2756 Page 7
Passed the House of Representatives the 21st day of May, 2025.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the 7th day of May, 2025.
Presiding Officer of the Senate
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Received by the Office of the Governor this ____________________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________
Approved by the Governor of the State of Oklahoma this _________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
_________________________________
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Received by the Office of the Secretary of State this __________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________