1,161 bills have been introduced and CAC is tracking close to 75 of them while monitoring many more issues that will appear in legislative proposals throughout the session. 

We attended this session's second meeting of the House Utilities, Energy, and Telecommunications Committee, and testified on House Bill 1007, a priority bill for the House Republicans. The Committee amended the bill to remove the mandate requiring the IURC to implement Performance Based Ratemaking (PBR) no later 2027 after they complete the study to determine whether PBR or other alternative regulatory models, like multi-year rate plans and formula-based rates, are a good option for both the utilities and Hoosier consumers. At CAC, we are generally opposed to these rate design methodologies because they tend to enhance and protect utility earnings and revenues at the expense of affordability. However, we support the IURC studying regulatory reform, so we were very relieved when the bill was amended to merely study the issue rather than outright implement. HB 1007 passed committee 13-0. The Indiana Environmental Reporter and Indiana Public Media covered HB 1007’s passage.  CAC’s testimony on the bill was also referenced in this week’s edition of Indiana Week in Review [story begins at 15:31, specific mention at 17:33]. 

Thursday, we took part in Renewable Energy Day, hosted by a number of partner organizations working to advance cleaner, cheaper energy. A number of legislators joined us after the House adjourned, where they had just concluded discussing House Bill 1007 at length on the House floor, where it was up for second reading, meaning it could be amended. Despite three amendments presented that would have: 1.) created a community solar program; 2.) ensure monthly netting for net metering customers; and 3.) require affordability for low-income households be a primary consideration by the IURC when setting electric rates.  The House failed to pass each amendment, by party line votes. The Muncie Star Press covered the community solar amendment. And many newspapers have reprinted the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette editorial regarding HB 1007.

You may remember from last week - SB33, which seeks to study the decommissioning and recycling of devices used to generate solar and wind power—the House passed it unanimously and it now heads to the Senate.

As expected, Senator Andy Zay’s (R-Huntington) SB221 which requires the state to conduct an energy audit of the Indiana Capitol Complex, was recommitted to Senate Appropriations but a hearing has not yet been announced. 

House Bill 1290, which we testified in support of last week, passed the Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. House Bill 1290 was amended to increases the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to 11% from 10% and, most importantly, it was amended to allow Indiana’s EITC to be recoupled to the federal EITC. This is excellent new for low income families in Indiana. The bill will now head to the House Floor, where it could be amended as soon as Tuesday and voted on by the full House by Thursday.

We also monitored Ways and Means Committee this week as they continued their discussions about House Bill 1001, the biennial budget—specifically the agency funding of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Office of the Utility Consumer Counsellor. Ensuring these agencies have proper staffing and management is the very root of state government’s duty to adequately maintain that natural monopolies like investor owned utilities have appropriate oversight.

Items upcoming this week

We will be attending meetings of the House and Senate Utilities Committee as well as the Senate Environmental Affairs committee first thing Monday morning. They’ll be discussing SB472 which is cleverly titled “Advanced Recycling.” We’ll be listening as they discuss the bill which puts definitions surrounding the toxic materials refining processes into state statute. We would like to note that SB451, which is yet another attempt by Wabash Valley Resources to take away the rights of property owners to enable their Carbon Sequestration science experiment in Vigo County that we’ve been fighting successfully for years, was scheduled for hearing in the Environmental Affairs Committee, but promptly removed from the schedule. We’ll continue to closely monitor that bill.

The Senate Elections Committee will also meet Monday morning to hear SB262 which would place into state law “Big Lie” audit requirements based on flawed processes that have already been debunked. As always, we’ll be watching any and all bills that have a hand in our democratic process this year.

The Senate Utilities Committee will be meeting to hear legislation dealing with water and wastewater utilities. SB114 deals with the receivership process for past due utility bills. This issue has been in the news in Central Indiana. SB374 speaks to  regional water, sewage, or solid waste districts. We will be interested in both these bills as discussions continue.

The House Utilities Committee will hear House Bill 1173, again. The bill speaks to utility scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), specifically the concerns over the lack of emergency preparedness in communities where they  have been deployed. The Committee will also hear House Bill 1258 which deals with telecom providers’ underground equipment and House Bill 1421 which deals with electric generating facility construction and promises to give the utilities a new tracker, which would  likely enable the utilities to force already struggling Hoosier consumers to bankroll dirty and spendy fossil fuel plants. 

We’ll be updating regularly throughout Week 4 of the Legislature. Follow our social media for an up-to-date detailing of our work at the Indiana State Capitol. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Respectfully submitted,

Kerwin Olson & Lindsay Haake