By: Hancock  S.B. No. 736          (In the Senate - Filed February 3, 2017; February 21, 2017,   read first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce;   March 22, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable Committee   Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 3; March 22, 2017,   sent to printer.)Click here to see the committee vote     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 736 By:  Hancock     A BILL TO BE ENTITLED   AN ACT     relating to the authority of the General Land Office to sell retail   electric power.          BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:          SECTION 1.  Section 35.102, Utilities Code, is transferred   to Subchapter A, Chapter 101, Utilities Code, redesignated as   Section 101.009, Utilities Code, and amended to read as follows:          Sec. 101.009 [35.102].  STATE AUTHORITY TO SELL OR CONVEY   [POWER OR] NATURAL GAS. (a)  In this section:                (1)  "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the   General Land Office.                (2)  "Public retail customer" means a retail customer   that is an agency of this state, a state institution of higher   education, a public school district, a political subdivision of   this state, a military installation of the United States, or a   United States Department of Veterans Affairs facility.          (b)  The commissioner, acting on behalf of the state, may   sell or otherwise convey [power or] natural gas generated from   royalties taken in kind as provided by Sections 52.133(f), 53.026,   and 53.077, Natural Resources Code, directly to a public retail   customer [regardless of whether the public retail customer is also   classified as a wholesale customer under other provisions of this   title].          (c) [(b)]  To ensure that the state receives the maximum   benefit from the sale of [power or] natural gas generated from   royalties taken in kind, the commissioner shall use all feasible   means to sell that [power or] natural gas first to public retail   customers that are military installations of the United States,   agencies of this state, institutions of higher education, or public   school districts. The remainder of the [power or] natural gas, if   any, may be sold to public retail customers that are political   subdivisions of this state or to a United States Department of   Veterans Affairs facility.          SECTION 2.  Section 104.2545(d), Utilities Code, is amended   to read as follows:          (d)  In this section, "public retail customer" has the   meaning assigned by Section 101.009 [35.101].          SECTION 3.  (a)  The heading to Subchapter D, Chapter 35,   Utilities Code, is repealed.          (b)  Sections 35.101, 35.103, 35.104, 35.105, and 35.106,   Utilities Code, are repealed.          SECTION 4.  (a)  The General Land Office or an entity   operating under a contract with the General Land Office may   continue to provide retail electric service in accordance with   Subchapter D, Chapter 35, Utilities Code, as that subchapter   existed before the effective date of this Act, under the terms of an   agreement with a customer entered into before the effective date of   this Act, only until the date the agreement expires.          (b)  The General Land Office may not renew or extend the   expiration or termination date of a contract to provide retail   electric service in accordance with Subchapter D, Chapter 35,   Utilities Code, after the effective date of this Act.          SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.     * * * * *