S-5210

   Amend Senate File 2300 as follows:
   1.  Page 1, after line 2 by inserting: 
   <Sec. ___.  Section 364.2, subsection 4, Code 2024, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  h.  (1)  When a person requests a franchise for a merchant line as defined in section 478.6A and that requester possesses a franchise issued by the Iowa utilities board outside of a city, and when the proposed merchant line is more than fifty miles in total length within the state and will be underground within the limits of the city, all of the following apply:
   (a)  A person shall submit a written franchise request including the proposed terms and conditions of the franchise.
   (b)  Upon receipt of the franchise request for a merchant line, a city shall conduct a hearing pursuant to this subsection. The city and the person may negotiate the terms of a franchise prior to the approval of an ordinance. A city may not unreasonably refuse to grant a franchise for a merchant line. If the city denies the franchise request, the city shall provide the person with a written denial of the franchise based on substantial evidence in the record demonstrating that the proposed transmission line would have a significant adverse impact on the health or safety of the city’s residents or public facilities that would not have been considered by the Iowa utilities board.
   (c)  If the city has not held the required hearing or has not acted on a request for a franchise for a merchant line within ninety days of the receipt of the request, notwithstanding any other terms of the Code, the franchise is deemed approved by the city. If a request is timely denied, the person may seek a certiorari judicial review by filing a petition either in Polk county district court or in the district court for the county in which the petitioner resides or the principal place of the requester for the merchant line.
   (d)  This subsection applies to eligible merchant lines for which a franchise has been granted pursuant to chapter 478 prior to the effective date of this subsection.
   (2)  This paragraph is repealed effective January 1, 2026.>
   2.  By renumbering as necessary.

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MIKE KLIMESH