An Act To Allow Administrative Penalties Imposed by the Public Utilities Commission To Be Applied To Benefit Customers
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §117, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2003, c. 505, §13, is further amended to read:
3. Administrative penalties. All Except as provided in this subsection, all administrative penalties collected by the commission must be deposited into the Public Utilities Commission Reimbursement Fund. Administrative penalties not needed to reimburse the commission for additional expenses associated with the enforcement activities that resulted in the collection of the penalty must be transferred to the General Fund of the State Treasury.
A. The commission may use amounts collected as administrative penalties and deposited in the Public Utilities Commission Reimbursement Fund to reimburse the commission for additional expenses associated with the enforcement activities that resulted in the collection of the penalty.
B. After deducting any amount used pursuant to paragraph A, the commission may, to the extent practicable and in as equitable and fair a manner as possible, apply administrative penalties, along with any accrued interest, in accordance with this paragraph. The commission shall seek to apply the amount in a manner that benefits those customers affected or potentially affected by the violation, if they can reasonably be identified or, if the commission determines this application of the amount to be impractical or unreasonable, in a manner that benefits the class or group of customers affected or potentially affected by the violation. In order to achieve the purposes of this paragraph, the commission may apply the funds:
(1) In the form of a direct payment or credit to the customers or group or class of customers affected or potentially affected by the violation resulting in the administrative penalty;
(2) To supplement a low-income assistance or outreach program that the commission determines would benefit customers affected or potentially affected by the violation resulting in the administrative penalty;
(3) To supplement the conservation program fund established pursuant to section 3211-A, subsection 5;
(4) To supplement the telecommunications education access fund established pursuant to section 7104-B; or
(5) To supplement any other program or fund that the commission determines would benefit customers affected or potentially affected by the violation.
Amounts applied pursuant to this paragraph to supplement an existing program or fund may not result in a reduction in other funding provided for the program or fund unless the reduction is outside the commission's control and the commission finds that application of the penalty amount to the fund or program is the most appropriate use of the penalty and the net effect will be an increase in total funding available to the program or fund.
Sec. 2. 35-A MRSA §1510-A, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 505, §26, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
§1510-A. Disposition of administrative penalty
The disposition of administrative penalties collected by the commission is governed by section 117, subsection 3.
Effective September 17, 2005.
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