Early in the morning of sine die, the last day of session, lawmakers, lobbyists, staff, and members of the public arrived at the Statehouse without any knowledge that it would be the last day of 2022’s legislative session. 

After hours of debate on a variety of issues including a late night revival of the anti-environment bill, House Bill 1100, (which was put into House Bill 1211 in the late hours of the evening after HB 1100 had been decisively defeated earlier in the session), the legislative session adjourned just after midnight.

While Governor Eric Holcomb ended up vetoing House Bill 1211, the legislation containing sweeping changes to degrade the rulemaking process and protocol for all state agencies is still eligible for a veto override since lawmakers did not call it for legislative action during the subsequent inflation/abortion Special Session, so the Governor’s veto will stand (for now). See the rundown on this bill from our colleagues at Hoosier Environmental Council.

Other significant legislation remained in limbo until the final moments of the legislature. While this year’s legislative session was heavily dominated by social issues and taxation policy, there were also bills dealing with electric vehicle policy, small modular nuclear reactors, and carbon capture and sequestration.

Unfortunately, Indiana legislators passed legislation which effectively shifts all the risk onto the backs of ratepayers and taxpayers to enable this dangerous, dirty, and risky technology. SEA271 shifts the financial risk to captive consumers by extending the subsidy that is Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) to small modular reactors (SMRs), which will force ratepayers to pay for them while they are being built, and even if they never come online and never produce any electricity. It should be noted that this technology is in no way commercially viable. Despite this, the Governor signed on March 18th. More background on SMRs here.

In the last days of session we saw concurrence motions filed on almost every bill on which we’ve been working—mostly because these bills we’ve been fighting have been fast tracked to limit public input. Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), HB1209, was one of these. This bill sets the regulatory framework for CCS and addresses related issues such as pore space ownership, mineral rights, and long-term liability. Despite its close vote in the Senate due to concerns over property rights and liability, the bill easily made it through the House and was signed by Governor Eric Holcomb on March 18th.

The session closed without passage of the near blanket immunity for Carbon Sequestration projects—legislation that had already failed once this session. The owners of the proposed hydrogen and carbon capture project in West Terre Haute, Wabash Valley Resources, once again pushed for legislation to make them immune from any liability from damage done by the long-term storage of toxic, super-critical CO2, such as contaminated air, water, and land. Additionally, BP, who owns and operates the Whiting Refinery, also sought legislation to enable them to utilize CCS and sequester the toxic super-critical CO2 near the NW Indiana refinery.

Thankfully, the companion bills that were introduced on behalf of Wabash Valley Resources - SB265 and HB1249 - were both defeated. These bills provided only Wabash Valley Resources near blanket immunity from liability and the right to condemn private property with no notification or compensation to the property owner.

A bill designed to increase investments in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, HB1221, will allow convenience stores, gas stations, and other entities to install EV chargers for public use and will authorize the electric utilities to apply at the IURC for approval of EV charging pilot programs. Unfortunately the bill was amended in the Senate to further protect monopoly utility control over EV charging and that caused the bill to be delayed and 25 legislators to oppose. Despite this, the bill was signed by the Governor on March 11th.

In the face of a concerted effort to once again limit public investment in public transit, the legislature rejected opponents’ second reading amendment attempt to in Ways and Means Committee and did not try again despite opportunities to do so.

House and Senate Republicans insisted on providing a generous tax break for big business with the elimination of the utility receipts tax in House Bill 1002, but our Executive Director, Kerwin Olson revealed to the IndyStar that while this revenue stream elimination would be a boon for big business, Joe Hoosier would only see $4 or $5 a month. Despite that, press release after press release was sent couching utility bill savings for Hoosiers while rate increase after rate increase was being filed over at the Utility Regulatory Commission.

There were multiple consumer-friendly bills introduced which would have protected and expanded Hoosier access to distributed generation, like solar power. Sadly, all of this legislation died in the first half of the session.

• HB1136 and SB314 would have extended the availability of net metering. 
• Companion bills SB248 and HB1304 would have restored fairness to the billing method used by the utilities to compensate solar owners for the excess energy they put on the grid.
• Companion bills HB1250 and SB313 would have provided consumers access to community solar programs.

Special Session 2022

The special session was called by Governor Eric Holcomb on July 6th, 2022. He indicated it was to address inflation but with the Dobbs v. Jackson SCOTUS decision having been released days before, all eyes were on the Indiana Legislature, poised to the be the first state in the nation to take action to limit reproductive freedom. 

As such, the legislature reconvened July 25th and accordingly, filed SB1, the all-out abortion ban and relegated the inflation relief to SB2, which provides funding for family and social services issues, commonly referred to as the “wrap around bill.” 

Respectfully Submitted,
Lindsay Shipps Haake & Kerwin Olson
Government Affairs