The 2022 legislative session is the "short" session during which a wide array of topics, other than the biennial budget, may be considered by the legislature. By statute the session must be completed by March 14 compared to April 29 for the "long" session. Legislative leaders have indicated their desire to end session earlier, but we shall see.

Without any COVID protocols in place, let alone a basic mask requirement, the first week of session kicked off Tuesday, January 4th. Gone are the two-hour hearing limits and social distancing — this week there were packed committee rooms and a hearing that lasted eight hours. 

By the end of the week, we were tracking more than sixty bills, including several consumer-friendly bills aimed at extending net metering and improving Hoosier consumers opportunity to invest in distributed generation, like rooftop solar, and participate in community-owned solar programs. Also introduced are dangerous and anti-consumer bills designed to subsidize the false climate solutions that are nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration. 

Additionally, the owners of the proposed hydrogen and carbon capture project in West Terre Haute, Wabash Valley Resources, are back at the Statehouse trough pushing for legislation to provide them immunity from any consequences that may arise from the long-term storage of toxic super-critical CO2. Companion bills have been filed in the House (HB1249) and the Senate (SB265). For a refresher on Wabash Valley Resources please see this article from the Tribune Star and this video from CAC. 

Bills are still appearing on the Indiana General Assembly website here. We expect them to continue appearing throughout the upcoming days. Please continue to check the CAC website for a list of all the bills that we are currently tracking. A complete list should be available by the end of the week. The legislative deadlines for the 2022 Legislative Session are also on the IGA website.

Legislative leaders this week announced their legislative priorities including hospital bill affordability and childcare while Governor Eric Holcomb focused on continuing Indiana’s path to budgetary prosperity by way of a corporate tax cut.

Items upcoming this week

• On Wednesday, CAC is a sponsor of the fourth annual Renewable Energy Day at the Statehouse. Advocates from around the State will gather to meet with lawmakers to push for policies that will transition Indiana to clean energy. 
• Governor Holcomb’s State of the State address will take place Tuesday evening, 7pm
• The Senate Utilities Committee will meet Thursday, and this is the agenda.
• We anticipate the House Utilities Committee will meet, though no official agenda has posted as of the writing of this report. 

Respectfully submitted,
Kerwin Olson & Lindsay Shipps Haake
Government Affairs