2025 Indiana General Assembly 

Our Kerwin Olson was on Indiana Lawmakers last week (3/13/25) to discuss this session's legislation around Indiana's energy policy - you can check it out here!

After a few weeks of allowing the trio of small modular reactor subsidy bills to weigh on lawmakers' minds, including the comments from Governor Braun and  blistering reporting from Business Insider about “the situation [which] has set off a debate … over who should foot the bill for the new power plants and transmission infrastructure needed to serve data centers,” the conversation started up again this week with a busy committee hearing in House Utilities on Tuesday.

There were almost two hours of testimony on Senate Bill 424, which creates a new tracker for the investor-owned utilities. The new tracker is effectively a giant subsidy for utilities to “consider” small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). SB424 forces ratepayers to assume all of the costs for “project development” for SMRs. This encompasses all the pre-construction costs like permitting, procurement, and licensing.

Even worse, under SB424, Indiana electric utility customers would be forced to pay these costs before the utility has even applied for approval to construct an SMR and even if the utility never files for approval and cancels the project.

We are disappointed to report that SB424 passed the committee by a vote of 10-3. You can read more about the hearing from the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Be sure to visit act.citact.org/I45KhgJ to contact state legislators to oppose SB424 and the other bills (HB1007 and SB423) which also include this outrageous subsidy.  SB424 will be up for a vote by the full House next  week.

House Utilities also heard Senate Bill 422, a bill dealing with advanced transmission technologies, which requires utilities to fully consider software or hardware technologies that increase the capacity, efficiency, reliability, or safety of an existing or new electric transmission facility during their integrated resource planning process (IRP). CAC testified in support of the bill. Anything to avoid expensive capital expenditures by ratepayers is a good step forward. The bill passed the Committee unanimously and will be up for a vote next week before the full House. 

The House Utilities Committee also heard Senate Bill 457 for a second time. This is the bill addressing Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). While we are opposed to CCS generally, we were reassured by the civil penalties and the new permitting process included in the bill. The bill was amended and moved out of committee by a vote of 11-2.

SB426, which speaks about several issues related to water utilities, was also heard in this week's marathon House Utilities committee hearing. Notably, the bill bars complaints from water consumers in the case of alleged exposure to contaminated water. Read more about SB426 from Indiana Public Media here. The bill moved out of committee 9-3 and will be eligible next week for a vote on the House floor. 

Lastly, the House heard Senate Bill 178, a silly bill that defines natural gas and propane as clean energy in Indiana law. To be fair, the bill also includes wind, solar and other actual clean energy technologies in the definition of clean. The bill passed the committee 10-3 and will also be eligible for a vote on the floor of the House next week. 

Senate Utilities had a quick hearing on Thursday with only one bill on the agenda, House Bill 1459. The bill requires all unregulated water and wastewater utilities, of which there are approximately 900, to file a report with the IURC outlining their asset management plans to ensure that the utility delivers adequate and safe service to the public. CAC supported the bill, but it was met with resistance by many of the small utilities who fear regulation and the burden the reporting requirement imposes. The bill was held to allow for discussions with the IURC and the small utilities to craft language that everyone can find acceptable. 

Coming up this week

• The House Utilities Committee is scheduled to hear Senate Bill 4, a priority bill from the Senate Republicans addressing large water withdrawals, large water users, and  pipelines of 30 miles or longer from the water source. The bill was motivated by the controversial LEAP District and the tremendous water needs of that project.

   

• In the Senate Utilities Committee, the behemoth that is House Bill 1007 has yet to be scheduled for a hearing. On Monday, we will be testifying on SB310 in the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee. You might recall we’ve testified in support of this measure in years past. Authored by Sen. Andy Zay, Senate Bill 310 would allow the Indiana Department of Administration to conduct energy audits of the Indiana State Government Center and the Statehouse. Our energy efficiency hearts and minds are excited by the prospect of this bill passing without any opposition.

To follow these bills in real time, make sure you follow our social media for an up-to-date detailing of our work at the Indiana Statehouse: Facebook, X and Instagram. We tweet and post throughout the week about the progress of bills we mention in our reports.

Respectfully Submitted,

The CAC Team