(a) As used in this section, unless the context
otherwise requires, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Sewage disposal service" means any public utility service
whereby liquid and solid waste, sewage, night soil, and industrial
waste of any single territorial area is collected, treated, purified,
and disposed of in a sanitary manner, and includes all sewage
treatment plant or plants, main sewers, submain sewers, local and
lateral sewers, intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, force mains,
pumping stations, ejector stations, and all other equipment and
appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the
rendition of such service.
(2) "Sewage disposal company" means any natural person, firm,
association, corporation, or partnership owning, leasing, or
operating any sewage disposal service within the rural areas of
Indiana, and all provisions of this chapter pertaining to a public
utility shall apply with equal force and effect to a sewage disposal
company, except insofar as said provisions may be inconsistent
with specific provisions of this section.
(3) "Rural area" means territory lying within Indiana and lying
outside the corporate limits of a municipality.
(4) "Certificate of territorial authority" means a certificate of
convenience and necessity issued by the commission pursuant to
this section, which said certificate shall be deemed an
indeterminate permit, unless expressly conditioned otherwise by
the commission when issued.
(5) "Notice of hearing" means notice of the time, place, and
purpose of a hearing, given by publication in at least one (1)
newspaper of general circulation in each of the counties in which
the particular sewage disposal company operates or proposes to
operate and given also in writing by United States registered mail:
(A) to each other sewage disposal company operating in
territory contiguous to the territory in which the particular
sewage disposal company operates or proposes to operate;
(B) to each municipality in territory contiguous and nearest to
the territory in which the particular sewage disposal company
operates or proposes to operate; and
(C) to such other persons or entities which the commission may
from time to time require by its rules and forms;
all such notices shall be so mailed as to be received by the
recipients at least ten (10) days prior to any hearing, or as
otherwise required by the commission.
(b) It is hereby declared to be in the public interest to provide for the
orderly development and rendering of sewage disposal service in rural
areas within Indiana, and such public interest makes it necessary and
desirable that to the extent provided in this section, the holding of a
certificate of territorial authority should be required as a condition
precedent to the rendering of such service, and that such operation be
under the control, regulation, and supervision of the commission, and
such sewage disposal companies shall not be subject to regulation by
any municipality or county government or metropolitan regulatory
body, or any branch or subdivisions of or substitutes for any
municipality or county government or metropolitan regulatory body, in
the form of special service districts, with the exception that said sewage
disposal company shall be subject to the comprehensive plan, zoning,
and subdivision requirements and regulations of the governmental units
having jurisdiction in the area. However, all functions, powers, and
duties of the Indiana department of health and the environmental rules
board shall remain unaffected by this section.
(c) No sewage disposal company shall commence the rendering of
sewage disposal service in any rural area in Indiana in which it is not
actually rendering sewage disposal service, without first obtaining from
the commission a certificate of territorial authority authorizing such
sewage disposal service, finding that public convenience and necessity
require such sewage disposal service within such rural area by such
sewage disposal company, and defining and limiting specifically the
rural area covered by the certificate. No sewage disposal company
required to hold such a certificate under this section shall render any
additional sewage disposal service within such rural area to any extent
greater than that authorized by such certificate or shall continue to
render sewage disposal service within such rural area if and after such
certificate of territorial authority has been revoked or transferred as in
this section provided, unless in such order of revocation or transfer the
commission shall require continued service until a new sewage
disposal company or municipality actually takes over such service. The
commission shall not have the power to require extension of such
service by any sewage disposal company into any additional territory
than that defined and limited in such a certificate without the consent
of such sewage disposal company.
(d) Whenever any sewage disposal company proposes to commence
the rendering of sewage disposal service in any rural area, it shall file
with the commission a verified application for a certificate of territorial
authority to cover the proposed service. The commission shall by rule
prescribe the form of the application and the information to be
contained in the application, and such application by any such company
shall conform to such prescribed form. The commission shall set the
matter for hearing and notice of such hearing shall be given to the
parties and in the manner defined in this section. Any city may, and
upon petition to the commission shall, be made a party to any service
proposal if its territorial limits lie within five (5) miles of the area to be
serviced under this section.
(e) If, after notice of hearing and hearing on any application for a
certificate of territorial authority, the commission shall find from the
evidence introduced at such hearing, including any evidence which the
commission shall have caused to be introduced as a result of any
investigation which it may have made into the matter, that the applicant
has proved:
(1) lawful power and authority to apply for said certificate and to
operate said proposed service;
(2) financial ability to install, commence, and maintain said
proposed service; and
(3) public convenience and necessity require the rendering of the
proposed service in the proposed rural area by this particular
sewage disposal company; however, in the event the service is
proposed for a proposed rural real estate addition, division, or
development, or any part thereof, the reasonably expected sewage
disposal service requirements of the anticipated residents may be
found to constitute such public convenience and necessity;
then the certificate of territorial authority, defining and limiting the
rural area to be covered by the certificate, shall be granted to the
applicant, subject to such terms, restrictions, limitations, and
conditions, including but not limited to a reasonable time in which to
commence operations, as the commission shall determine to be
necessary and desirable in the public interest.
(f) In cases of applications filed by two (2) or more sewage disposal
companies seeking the issuance of a certificate of territorial authority
for the same area or areas or any conflicting portions thereof, the
commission may either consider such applications separately or by
consolidation of two (2) or more or all within a single hearing at its
discretion and shall have the power to issue its certificate after notice
of hearing and hearing to any single qualified sewage disposal
company for a particular rural area, or, in the event that the commission
determines and finds that two (2) or more or all applicants seeking the
same area or areas or any conflicting portions thereof are both or all
qualified, then the commission shall have the power to determine
which is the better or best qualified, or whether the same area or areas
or any conflicting portions thereof shall be divided between or among
such qualified applicants. However, in no event shall such area or areas
or portions thereof be greater than that for which the particular
applicant applied, unless such sewage disposal company shall consent
and agree in writing to such modification of its application and the
issuance of such modified certificate.
(g) After the issuance of such certificate, no other sewage disposal
company shall render sewage disposal service in the area or areas so
determined and so defined in any certificate of territorial authority
issued by the commission, except after notice of hearing and hearing,
and the determination and finding by the commission that public
convenience and necessity require that sewage disposal service in said
same area or areas be also rendered or offered by an additional or
another company, and the issuance of a certificate duly granted by the
commission as provided in this section.
(h) A sewage disposal company shall be required to furnish
reasonable adequate sewage disposal services and facilities for which
said service and facilities it shall be entitled to charge reasonable,
nondiscriminatory rates, subject to the jurisdiction of the commission
for the purpose of fixing said rates to be charged to patrons of such
sewage disposal company for sewage disposal service, and for such
purpose the commission is given jurisdiction to proceed in the same
manner and with like power as is provided by this chapter in the case
of public utilities.
(i) To encourage the installation of sewage treatment plants, and
sewers, mains, stations, and all other equipment and appurtenances for
rendering sewage disposal service in rural areas in close proximity to
municipalities, and to ensure that a sewage disposal company which
had made such installation in such area can recover the cost of its
investment, in the event that the area or areas or any part thereof
included within the territory granted under a certificate of territorial
authority shall be annexed by any municipality at any time within
twelve (12) years from the date that such certificate was granted, a
sewage disposal company operating under such certificate shall
continue to operate under such certificate of territorial authority,
subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and regulation of the commission,
for the unexpired portion of such period of twelve (12) years from the
date of granting such certificate, or, in the case of a determinate permit
specifying a term shorter than twelve (12) years, then for the unexpired
portion of such lesser period as specified by such permit from the date
of granting such permit. However, the foregoing provisions in regard
to continued operation within the corporate limits of a municipality
after annexation shall not affect the right of the sewage disposal
company to cease its operation of providing sewage disposal service
within such annexed territory prior to the termination of said twelve
(12) year or lesser determinate permit period, upon thirty (30) days
written notice to the commission, the municipality, and all patrons.
(j) Upon approval by the commission given after notice of hearing
and hearing, but not otherwise, any certificate of territorial authority
may:
(1) be sold, assigned, leased, or transferred by the holder of the
certificate to any sewage disposal company to which a territorial
certificate might be lawfully issued; or
(2) be included in the property and rights encumbered under any
indenture of mortgage or deed of trust of such holder;
or any sewage treatment plant or plants, sewers, mains, stations, and
equipment and appurtenances for the rendering of sewage disposal
service or any part of any sewage treatment plant or plants, sewers,
mains, stations, and equipment and appurtenances may be sold,
assigned, leased, or transferred by the holder of the certificate to any
municipality if these assets lie within an area which shall have been
annexed by such municipality or lie within the given radius of miles
from the corporate limits of such municipality into which it is
authorized to render such services, if such municipality is prepared to
render a comparable sewage disposal service without loss of continuity
of service, and if the terms of such sale, assignment, lease, or transfer
are reasonable. However, once the commission has given its approval
to such transaction and the transaction itself is actually consummated,
the commission shall have no control over the sewage disposal service
rendered by such municipality as a municipally owned utility (as
defined in this chapter).
(k) Any certificate of territorial authority may, after notice of
hearing and hearing, be revoked by the commission, in whole or in
part, for the failure of the holder of the certificate to furnish reasonably
adequate sewage disposal service within the area or areas determined
and defined in such certificate of territorial authority, or for the failure
of the holder of the certificate to comply with any applicable order or
rule prescribed by the commission in the exercise of its powers under
this chapter, or for failure to comply with any term, condition, or
limitation of such certificate of territorial authority.
(l) After the commission revokes any certificate of territorial
authority under subsection (k) or after the county board of health
determines the existence of a serious health problem related to the
sewage disposal facility, the county commissioners of the county in
which the sewage disposal facility is located may acquire the facility,
subject to the approval of the acquisition by the county council, except
that the county commissioners may not acquire any facility already
acquired by any city or town. The county commissioners shall acquire
the sewage disposal facility by:
(1) gift, grant, purchase, or condemnation that is funded in the
same manner that cities and towns fund sewage treatment
acquisitions under IC 36-9; or
(2) a lease arrangement that is funded in the same manner that
cities and towns fund leases of sewage disposal facilities under IC 36-9.
After acquisition, the county commissioners shall repair, operate, and
maintain the sewage disposal facility and charge user fees for these
services.
Formerly: Acts 1913, c.76, s.97c; Acts 1957, c.313, s.2. As
amended by Acts 1976, P.L.25, SEC.1; Acts 1981, P.L.11, SEC.41;
P.L.143-1985, SEC.186; P.L.23-1988, SEC.27; P.L.2-1992, SEC.76;
P.L.113-2014, SEC.15; P.L.136-2018, SEC.51; P.L.56-2023,
SEC.49.