Reliability for Ratepayers Act
Latest action · Jan 15, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 15, 2025
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Reliability for Ratepayers Act
This bill modifies provisions concerning the hiring and compensation of employees of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which is a nonprofit federal power marketing administration that sells hydropower in the Northwest.
Specifically, it directs BPA to develop and implement a plan that specifies and fixes the compensation for its employees, including members of the Senior Executive Service. Within a year, BPA must develop an initial compensation plan, which must be approved by the Department of Energy. BPA must implement the plan no later than one year after the plan is developed.
The compensation plan must be based on an annual survey of the prevailing compensation for similar positions in the public sectors of the electric industry, provide compensation that is competitive with similar positions among consumer-owned utilities in the Western Interconnection, be consistent with BPA's approved annual general and administrative budget, and meet other criteria as outlined in the bill.
BPA must (1) annually review the compensation plan and make any updates as appropriate, and (2) publish the plan and any updates made to the plan.
The bill exempts BPA from certain civil service laws when it is carrying out its hiring authority.
Finally, the bill subjects BPA's employees to certain merit system principles.
Cosponsors 7
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 15, 2025 to May 4, 2026; 1 is an original cosponsor, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-WA | Dan Newhouse | Original | Jan 15, 2025 |
| D-WA | Emily Randall | Feb 10, 2025 | |
| D-OR | Andrea Salinas | Mar 5, 2025 | |
| D-WA | Suzan K. DelBene | Mar 10, 2025 | |
| R-WA | Michael Baumgartner | Apr 7, 2025 | |
| D-WA | Adam Smith | May 29, 2025 | |
| D-WA | Kim Schrier | May 4, 2026 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Jan 15, 2025 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 15, 2025Introduced in House
- Jan 15, 2025Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 8, January 15, 2025, page H187.
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To provide compensation flexibility to address retention and hiring issues at the Bonneville Power Administration.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Reliability for Ratepayers Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Energy.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 15, 2025Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
