Robert Smith: “my second-degree amendment is very similar to that of my colleague, Senator Wyden's. I have changed only the date of the…”

“my second-degree amendment is very similar to that of my colleague, Senator Wyden's. I have changed only the date of the applicability for bankruptcy filings to those that occur on or after March 7, 2001, and I have further clarified that just and reasonable debt owed will be paid to government agencies. I did this because it is important to recognize the efforts made by the State of California during the first week of March to begin to restore stability to the west coast energy market. On March 5, the Governor of California announced that the State department of water resources had signed 40 long-term contracts for electricity. Prior to this, the State had required the investor-owned utilities to purchase all their power on the spot market, making these utilities very vulnerable to short-term price spikes. While California is making some headway on restoring the creditworthiness of its utilities, it is imperative that the utilities in California not be able to export their bills to Oregonians and other Western States by seeking bankruptcy protection and avoiding repaying other power providers in the western United States for power that has literally kept the lights on in California in recent months. My constituents and energy-sensitive businesses in Oregon are already feeling the effects of the price volatility in the west. Utilities in the northwest are facing current rate increases of 11 to 50 percent.…”