The legislature continues its trek towards sine die, the official end of the legislative session, which is due to end April 29th or sooner. Unfortunately, it’s looking like the legislature is shaping up to ignore the plight of Indiana ratepayers by disregarding the ongoing utility affordability crisis. 

Last week legislators decided to bail out Duke Energy by significantly amending Senate Bill 9 in the House Utilities Committee. SB9 went from a bill dealing with the retirement of electric facilities to a bill that gives a massive bailout to Duke, as well as a blank check for all Indiana monopoly electric utilities to spend enormous amounts of ratepayer money on projects which may or may not be necessary for the utility to comply with new federal mandates. Take action on SB9 as it may be up for a vote as soon as Tuesday.

In the House Committee on Environmental Affairs last week, Senate Bill 451 passed by a vote of 10-3. SB451 forces Hoosier property owners - families, farmers, and businesses - to allow toxic, highly pressurized carbon dioxide waste to be stored long-term underneath our properties without our consent. SB451 also authorizes Wabash Valley Resources to condemn property with no notification to the property owner. The Indianapolis Star covered the issue here, and you can take immediate action on SB451 here.

SB176, a bill that increases the threshold for "small" modular nuclear reactors, passed the House, 70-21. The bill increases from 350 to 470 megawatts, the eligibility for CWIP (Construction Work in Progress), to include technology being developed in the UK.

In committee last week the House Utilities Committee passed Senate Bill 298, a bill we supported that addresses the cost recovery of infrastructure improvements by municipal and non-profit water and wastewater utilities. The bill will be up for a vote in the House this coming week.

Senate Bill 33, which deals with solar panel and wind turbine decommissioning, was also heard in the House Utilities Committee last week, although it didn’t receive a vote. We testified in support and the Indianapolis Star covered the bill, as well as our take on the issue. The bill may receive a vote in the forthcoming meeting of the House Utilities Committee.

It wasn’t all bad news this week - a bill we’ve been championing since 2020 brings Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding up to date. The House Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee passed SB265 unanimously and now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee. If you can believe it TANF hasn’t been increased or adjusted since 1988. While SB265 has proceeded through the process unanimously, it still faces an uphill battle, as it has yet to be scheduled in the House Ways and Means Committee.

This coming week, we will be testifying in support of House Bill 1138 in the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee. HB1138 is a follow up bill to Rep. Carolyn Jackson’s (D-Hammond, 2020 Legislative Session House Bill 1265, which is now state law requiring lead testing in schools. Since daycares were not included in the 2020 bill, the sole aim of HB1138 is to include those daycares.

Also coming up this week, HB1421 is on the Second Reading Calendar in the Senate, meaning it may be amended. House Bill 1421 gives utilities Construction Work in Progress, or CWIP, for the construction of dirty and expensive fossil-gas power plants. Also this week, House Bill 1007, a priority bill for the House Republicans and an attempt at an official state Energy Policy is on the Third Reading Calendar in the Senate, meaning it may receive a vote as soon as Monday.

Upcoming in Committee:

• We will be testifying in support of House Bill 1290 in the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. HB1290 will increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to 12% and recoupled Indiana’s EITC with that of the federal EITC.

• We will be monitoring House Bill 1173, in the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which wasn’t heard last week due to time constraints. HB1173, authored by Rep. Jim Pressel (R), speaks to utility scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) and the approval process required to build the facilities.

We’ll be in the House Utilities Committee where they’ll hear SB221 which recommends the state conduct an energy audit of the Indiana Capitol Complex. We testified in support of the bill in the Senate and plan to do so when it’s heard in House Utilities Committee. They will also hear SB390, authored by Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper). SB390 is the post cursor to last year’s Senate Bill 411, which set voluntary standards for renewable-friendly siting ordinances at the local level. The legislature chose not to fund the incentive for locals to write the ordinances so SB390 allows federal dollars to support the locals’ work, but does not fund it with state dollars. The Indianapolis Business Journal recently covered our take on Senate Bill 390.

A Reminder

To follow these bills in real time, make sure you follow us on Twitter. We tweet throughout the week as to the progress of bills we mention in our reports and on the Indiana General Assembly page of our website.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lindsay Haake & Kerwin Olson