1.1Senator Hoffman moved to amend
S.F. No. 4504 as follows:
1.2Page 1, after line 11, insert:
1.3 "Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 216B.16, subdivision 17, is amended to read:
1.4 Subd. 17.
Travel, entertainment, and related employee expenses. (a) The commission
1.5may not allow as operating expenses a public utility's travel, entertainment, and
related
1.6employee expenses that the commission deems unreasonable and unnecessary for the
1.7provision of utility service. In order to assist the commission in evaluating the
travel,
1.8entertainment, and related employee expenses that may be allowed for ratemaking purposes,
1.9a public utility filing a general rate case petition shall include a schedule separately
itemizing
1.10all travel, entertainment, and related employee expenses as specified by the commission,
1.11including but not limited to the following categories:
1.12(1) travel and lodging expenses;
1.13(2) food and beverage expenses;
1.14(3) recreational and entertainment expenses;
1.15(4) board of director-related expenses, including and separately itemizing all
1.16compensation and expense reimbursements;
1.17(5) expenses for the ten highest paid officers and employees, including and separately
1.18itemizing all compensation and expense reimbursements;
1.19(6) dues and expenses for memberships in organizations or clubs;
1.20(7) gift expenses;
1.21(8) expenses related to owned, leased, or chartered aircraft; and
1.22(9) lobbying expenses.
1.23(b) To comply with the requirements of paragraph (a), each applicable expense incurred
1.24in the most recently completed fiscal year must be itemized separately, and each itemization
1.25must include the date of the expense, the amount of the expense,
the vendor name, and the
1.26business purpose of the expense. The separate itemization required by this paragraph
may
1.27be provided using standard accounting reports already utilized by the utility involved
in the
1.28rate case, in a written format or an electronic format that is acceptable to the commission.
1.29For expenses identified in response to paragraph (a), clauses (1) and (2), the utility
shall
1.30disclose the total amounts for each expense category and provide separate itemization
for
1.31those expenses incurred by or on behalf of any employee at the level of vice president
or
2.1higher and for board members. The petitioning utility shall also provide a one-page
summary
2.2of the total amounts for each expense category included in the petitioning utility's
proposed
2.3test year.
2.4(c) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, data submitted to the commission
2.5under paragraph (a) are public data. The commission or an administrative law judge
assigned
2.6to the case may treat the salary of one or more of the ten highest paid officers and
employees,
2.7other than the five highest paid, as private data on individuals as defined in section
13.02,
2.8subdivision 12, or issue a protective order governing release of the salary, if the utility
2.9establishes that the competitive disadvantage to the utility that would result from
release of
2.10the salary outweighs the public interest in access to the data. Access to the data
by a
2.11government entity that is a party to the rate case must not be restricted."
2.12Page 12, after line 17, insert:
2.13 "Sec. 13. Laws 2005, chapter 97, article 10, section 3, as amended by Laws 2013, chapter
2.1485, article 7, section 9, and Laws 2023, chapter 60, article 12, section 66, is amended
to
2.15read:
2.16 Sec. 3.
SUNSET.
2.17 Sections 1 and 2 expire
June 30, 2028 December 31, 2036."
2.18Renumber the sections in sequence and correct the internal references
2.19Amend the title accordingly
2.20The motion prevailed. #did not prevail. So the amendment was #not adopted.