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HB 6039

Public utilities: other; guidelines for trimming trees and branches around power lines; modify.

2023-2024 Regular Session Introduced by Phil Green

Requires electric utilities to create worker transition programs and protect employees in asset transfers, plus the MPSC to set and enforce service quality standards.

bill electronically reproduced 11/07/2024
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Bill Summary · HB 6039

Summary — HB 6039 (House Introduced Bill)

Short title / subject: Public utilities — modify guidelines (bill text amends MCL 460.10p)
Primary sponsor: Rep. Phil Green
Introduced: November 7, 2024 (electronic reproduction noted 11/07/2024); related filings and committee referrals occurred in early 2025.
Status (from provided actions): Referred to committees; later indefinitely postponed/withdrawn (05/03/2025) and reported as dying in the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee (06/16/2025).

Main purpose and intent

HB 6039 amends section 10p of the Michigan Public Utilities Act (MCL 460.10p) to (1) require electric utilities to institute industry worker transition programs and protect employees in the sale/transfer of utility divisions or generating assets, and (2) direct the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to adopt and enforce service quality and reliability standards, with reporting and oversight requirements. (The bill title references tree-trimming guidelines, but the provided text focuses on section 10p; no tree-trimming provisions are present in the excerpt supplied.)

Key provisions

  • Worker transition program (mandatory for each electric utility):
    • Utilities must establish programs, developed in consultation with employees or bargaining representatives, that provide skills upgrades, apprenticeships, training, voluntary separation packages, and job banks to help place employees into comparable jobs at no less than prior wage rates and substantially equivalent fringe benefits.
  • Cost treatment:
    • Costs from these programs (audited, verified employee-related restructuring costs such as severance, retraining, early retirement, outplacement) are recognized if approved by and found prudently incurred by the MPSC.
  • Protections on sale/transfer of divisions, business units, generating stations or units:
    • Contracts with acquiring entities must require for at least 30 months:
    • Offers of employment to the nonsupervisory workforce sufficient to safely operate and maintain assets.
    • Prohibition on hiring nonsupervisory employees from outside the utility unless offers have been made to all qualified nonsupervisory employees of the acquired unit.
    • A dispute resolution mechanism culminating in a final, binding neutral third-party decision for employee complaints about wages, benefits, or working conditions.
    • Employment offers at no less than existing wage rates and substantially equivalent fringe benefits and terms of employment, maintained for at least 30 months unless mutually agreed otherwise.
    • If fewer workers are needed, utilities must offer transition plans to employees who are not offered jobs.
    • If litigation delays a transfer, the 30‑month protection period begins when the acquirer takes control.
  • Service quality and reliability standards:
    • The MPSC must adopt generally applicable standards for transmission, generation and distribution systems (outages, facility upgrades, repairs/maintenance, telephone/billing service, operational reliability, public and worker safety).
    • Standards must consider safety, costs, geography/weather, applicable codes, national practices and engineering judgment, and include provisions to upgrade historically poor-performing distribution circuits.
    • Annual filings: each jurisdictional utility must file annual reports with the commission describing planned compliance actions and prior-year performance, including data and estimated costs required by the commission.
    • MPSC duty to analyze data and take corrective action as needed.

Who is affected

  • Electric utilities operating in Michigan (subject to new program and reporting requirements).
  • Nonsupervisory utility employees (job-offer and wage/benefit protections on transfers).
  • Acquiring entities that purchase or otherwise take control of utility divisions/units.
  • The Michigan Public Service Commission (rulemaking, oversight, prudence determinations).
  • Utility customers (indirectly), via service-quality standards and potential cost recovery for approved employee-transition expenses.

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Bill text amends existing statutory provision MCL 460.10p (as amended by 2016 PA 341).
  • The statutory 30‑month protection period is a core timing element for transfer-related employee protections.
  • Provided legislative history shows introduction and committee referrals in late 2024 and early 2025, with later indefinite postponement and a report of dying in subcommittee in mid‑2025.

Additional notes

  • The version supplied does not include any language about tree‑trimming guidelines despite the bill title; if tree-trimming provisions exist, they were not in the excerpt provided.
  • Financial impacts depend on MPSC determinations of prudence and cost recovery treatment for employee-transition costs and on the scope of required service-quality upgrades.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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