A Senate committee on an unspecified date reported House Bill 3179 to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. Kelsey, committee counsel, explained the bill’s purpose before the committee voted to report it.

Kelsey told the panel, “The purpose of this bill is to prevent utilities that are ordered to acquire distressed or failing utilities from being forced to absorb costs they cannot feasibly bear.” The measure would prohibit the Public Service Commission from ordering an acquiring utility to take over a distressed or failing utility when the aggregate cost of necessary capital improvements that the acquiring utility would bear exceeds the aggregate required contribution under the commission’s extension-of-mains rules for new customers and the grant funds available from the Water Development Authority for distressed utilities.

The vice chair moved that House Bill 3179 be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass; the committee adopted the motion by voice vote and the chair declared the motion adopted. The transcript records a voice vote only; specific roll-call tallies were not specified.

The bill, as described to the committee, ties the commission’s authority to compel acquisitions to an affordability test that compares the projected capital-improvement burden to the acquiring utility’s contribution obligations under extension-of-mains rules and available Water Development Authority grants. No amendments to the bill were offered during the committee discussion.

Because the committee proceeding did not specify further floor scheduling or any implementation timetable, next procedural steps are that the bill will be placed on the Senate calendar for consideration by the full Senate.

Votes at the committee level and the committee’s recorded actions appear in the formal record.