NOTICES
INDEPENDENT REGULATORY REVIEW COMMISSION
Notice of Comments Issued
[29 Pa.B. 4139] Section 5(g) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5(g)) provides that the designated standing committees may issue comments within 20 days of the close of the public comment period, and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (Commission) may issue comments within 10 days of the close of the committee comment period. The Commission comments are based upon the criteria contained in section 5a(h) and (i) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5a(h) and (i)).
The Commission has issued comments on the following proposed regulations. The agency must consider these comments in preparing the final-form regulations. The final-form regulations must be submitted by the dates indicated.
Final-Form Submission Reg No. Agency/Title Issued Deadline 57-203 Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission 7/16/99 6/16/01 Annual Resource Report Filing
Requirements(29 Pa.B. 2025 (April 17, 1999)) 16A-626 State Board of Examiners of Nursing
Home Administrators
Fees7/16/99 6/14/01 (29 Pa.B. 2582 (May 15, 1999))
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Regulation No. 57-203
Annual Resource Report Filing Requirements
July 16, 1999 We have reviewed this proposed regulation from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) and submit for your consideration the following objections and recommendations. Section 5.1(h) and (i) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5a(h) and (i)) specify the criteria the Commission must employ to determine whether a regulation is in the public interest. In applying these criteria, our Comments address issues that relate to protection of the public health, safety and welfare; economic impact; and clarity. We recommend that these Comments be carefully considered as you prepare the final-form regulations.
1. Section 57.141. General.--Protection of the public health, safety and welfare; and Clarity.
The existing regulation requires a public utility to submit an Annual Resource Planning Report (ARPR) to the PUC. Section 57.141(a) of this proposal replaces the term ''public utility'' with ''electric distribution company'' (EDC). Chapter 28, adopted in Act 138 of 1996, included provisions under which an EDC is obligated to serve customers. In the deregulated market, EDCs are frequently, but not always, the provider of last resort. We understand that deregulation has resulted in a number of electric generation suppliers (EGSs), as well as smaller subsidiaries of EDCs and EGSs acting as providers of last resort.
Does the PUC plan to gather similar data from providers of last resort that are not EDCs? The PUC should explain how it will ensure that the customer demands will be met in cases where the provider of last resort is not an EDC.
The same section requires that the ARPR be submitted on May 31. The report will contain information pertaining to the current year. ''Current year,'' as defined in subsection (b), is ''the year in which the filing is being made.'' This is unclear, and should be revised to read, ''the calendar year preceding the year in which the filing is made.''
2. Section 57.142. Forecast of energy demand, peak load and number of customers.--Clarity.
Subsection (b)(2)(i) requires data for both summer and winter seasons. No definition exists for either term in this section. The existing definition, ''the summer season being June through September and the winter season being December through March,'' is deleted from § 57.146(a). We recommend inserting the definition in § 57.141.
3. Section 57.143. Existing and planned generating capability.--Clarity.
Section 57.143(b) requires that the ARPR contain a synopsis of major occurrences including a number of different entries, as well as ''any other pertinent information.'' We request that this phrase be clarified to reflect that the other pertinent information is related to major occurrences.
4. Section 57.145. Cogeneration and independent power production.--Clarity.
There is no definition of ''independent'' contained in this section. We recommend a cross-reference to the definition of the term in § 57.31.
5. Section 57.151. New generating facilities and expansions of existing facilities.--Economic impact; Protection of the public health, safety and welfare.
This existing section is deleted in this proposal. It included detailed reporting of information regarding planned construction and operation of facilities. Instead, planned generating capability is added to requirements in § 57.143 (relating to existing and planned generating capability). We agree that the amount of detail in the current § 57.151 is not necessary. However, we question why the PUC has not retained any requirement for reporting of generating units scheduled to be removed. We request the PUC explain how the proposal will provide complete information on available generating facilities without considering units which will be going out of service.
6. Report format.--Clarity.
The current regulation lists formats for the ARPR. The revised rulemaking contains no information regarding formats. Commentators and the PUC have noted that ARPR forms have yet to be revised or developed.
The PUC should develop or revise, as necessary, forms consistent with the new reporting requirements. These forms should be ready for distribution at the time of the submittal of the final-form rulemaking.
State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators
Regulation No. 16A-626
Fees
July 16, 1999 We have reviewed this proposed regulation from the State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators (Board) and submit for your consideration the following objections and recommendations. Section 5.1(h) and (i) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5a(h) and (i)) specify the criteria the Commission must employ to determine whether a regulation is in the public interest. In applying these criteria, our Comments address issues that relate to fiscal impact and clarity. We recommend that these Comments be carefully considered as you prepare the final-form regulations.
Section 39.72. Fees.--Fiscal impact and Clarity.
Administrative overhead costs
In the proposed regulation's fee report forms, there are significant differences in the costs covered by different fees except for administrative overhead costs. According to staff at the Department of State and its Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs (BPOA), the allocated share of overhead cost for each fee category is calculated by dividing total overhead costs by the number of active licensees. This methodology for overhead cost allocation is not unreasonable and has been consistently applied. On the other hand, the staff cost allocations are based on estimates of the actual time BPOA staff spends performing the tasks related to each fee.
For overhead cost allocations, there appears to be no relationship to the services covered by the fees or frequency of fee payments. Therefore, there is no indication that the fees will recover actual or projected overhead costs. In addition, the allocated costs are based on past expenditures rather than estimates or projections of future expenditures. Hence, there is no certainty that the fees' ''projected revenues will meet or exceed projected expenditures'' under section 7.1(a) of the Nursing Home Administrators License Act (63 P. S. § 1107.1(a)).
We question the use of a constant overhead cost allocation that appears to be unrelated to the actual costs of activities covered by different fees. Even though this process was used to determine other fees, why should BPOA maintain this approach? The Board and BPOA should specifically identify the overhead costs, or portion of the total overhead, to be recouped by these fees, and review their methodology for allocating these overhead costs. Is it the Board's goal to allocate all overhead costs by category to each fee? If so, we do not believe the current allocation formula gives the desired result.
Differing overhead costs
The administrative overhead costs for all fees are $10.41, except for the certification of scores and verification of licensure or temporary permit, which are $9.76. The Board should explain why the administrative costs for certification of scores and verification of licensure or temporary permit are different.
JOHN R. MCGINLEY, Jr.,
Chairperson
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 99-1263. Filed for public inspection July 30, 1999, 9:00 a.m.]
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