2026 Week 5 Statehouse Report
The legislature is a few days away from its halfway point, which is when bills must pass out of their chamber of origin to continue moving through the process. The committee report deadline is Monday, 1/26. This means that any bill that has not been heard or is not scheduled to be heard in committee on Monday morning is effectively dead.
However, the language of any dead bill could resurface in the second half of the session as an amendment to a bill that is considered “germane,” meaning the legislation cites similar code or contains similar subject matter as the proposed amendment.
House Bill 1002: Electric Utility Affordability, was amended in committee on Tuesday. Amendments were incorporated from both Republican and Democratic members of the House Utilities Committee. A total of eleven amendments were presented, and four were adopted. The bill has been dramatically improved, and CAC now supports the bill in its current form.
HB1002 includes multiple aspects that are priorities for CAC, many of which are also components of our Ratepayer Relief Plan that we released last December with our partners at Indiana Conservation Voters.
If HB1002 becomes law, the electric utilities will be required to report consumer data to the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) on a quarterly basis, like customers in arrears, number of disconnect notices sent, number of disconnections, and other critical information that’s necessary to understand the affordability of monthly electric bills. HB1002 also requires the electric utilities to offer assistance to qualified low-income households, and puts in place a summer disconnection moratorium for those same households, similar to the winter disconnection moratorium that has been in place in Indiana for decades.
One big downside to HB1002 is that it still mandates that all ratepayers be forced into what is currently referred to as “budget billing.” The bill changes the term “budget billing” to “levelized billing,” and prohibits the utilities from using the term “budget billing” unless additional assistance or discounts are being provided. Whatever it's called, CAC does not support this mandate and is hopeful that it will be removed should the bill make it to the finish line.
Additionally, CAC’s concerns with the performance-based ratemaking and multi-year rate plans contained in the introduced version of HB1002 were mostly assuaged by an amendment adopted in committee, although CAC will continue working to improve the language.
HB1002 passed unanimously out of committee and now heads to the House floor for further consideration. The bill’s author, Rep. Alaina Shonkwiler (R, Noblesville), deserves much credit for shepherding her complex bill to a unanimous bi-partisan vote. Rep. Alex Burton (D, Evansville) joined Rep. Ed Soliday (R, Valparaiso) and Rep. Jim Pressel (R, Rolling Prairie) as co-authors on the bill. Read more from the Indianapolis Business Journal and The Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Other bills that were heard and passed the House Utilities Committee were HB1368 and HB1333. We testified in opposition to House Bill 1368, which requires the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to seek primacy for Indiana to issue Class VI permits for Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency has exclusive authority to issue Class VI permits. (Note: We forecasted this last year, when DNR hinted they were working on a primacy application.) We oppose the bill, primarily because it inexplicably continues to exempt the Wabash Valley Resources project in West Terre Haute from the Statewide rules governing CCS in Indiana. The bill passed 10-2.
House Bill 1333 is the only data center bill moving through the process. As we reported last week, the bill was amended out of the gate, removing the original language that stripped the sales tax exemption for data centers, instead sending a paltry 1% of the sales tax "savings" enjoyed by data centers to the local government entity from which the data center receives permitting approval. We testified in opposition to the bill, pointing out that data centers still receive sales tax exemption on equipment and other costs. The bill moved out of committee on a vote of 8-4 and was recommitted to the Ways and Means Committee where it is scheduled to be heard on Monday. Read more from IndyStar’s Marissa Meador here.
Given the expedited timeline the Speaker and Senate Pro Tem have set for the legislative session, it is an exceptionally busy time at the Statehouse, with more than 15 hearings in just one day this week. We attended multiple hearings and coalition meetings this week and we’re following more than 50 bills in addition to our work in the field and at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
House Bill 1116, which we supported alongside the AARP, aims to prevent seniors from falling victim to cryptocurrency scams, unanimously passed House Ways and Means on Thursday.
Senate Bill 277, authored by Sen. Rick Niemeyer (R, Lowell), passed the Senate. SB277 eliminates more than 250 environmental mandates and deregulates Indiana’s environment in the name of "efficiency." Of most concern to CAC is the elimination of any IDEM oversight related to the radioactive, hazardous and toxic waste resulting from the operations of nuclear reactors. SB277 also removes the authority of the IDEM Commissioner to call a public hearing to discuss the risks to public health and safety that come from nuclear reactors. The bill passed Senate Appropriations Thursday morning, 9-4.
Senate Bill 258, which was heard in Senate Utilities last Thursday, is a stand-alone bill that includes only the nuclear language contained in SB277. Our testimony on both bills spoke to the fact that the State of Indiana has absolutely zero experience when it comes to operating a commercial-scale nuclear reactor. SB258 passed the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 36-9, and now heads to the House for further action.
Senate Bill 240, which, if passed, would allow for surplus interconnection service (SIS) to be included in utility Integrated Resource Plans as of 2029, passed the Senate unanimously Thursday afternoon. The bill was amended in committee to apply only to facilities owned by the utility and makes it optional for utilities to seek information from third-party facility owners about possible SIS use. Additionally, the bill reduces the scope of issues the Utility Regulatory Commission must study related to SIS.
Items upcoming this week
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House Bill 1333 will be in House Ways & Means Committee on Monday for another vote before heading to the House floor due to its fiscal impact.
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Senate Bill 7 will be heard in the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee on Monday. SB7 gives county leaders a voice regarding carbon sequestration (CCS) projects that bring in carbon from outside the county.
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Upcoming deadlines:
Monday, January 26: Committee report deadline
Wednesday, January 28: Second reading deadline
Thursday, January 29: Third reading deadline
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Lookup your legislators here and bookmark their contact page to quickly contact them in the future.
The very best way to get a message to your State Senator and Representative is to call and leave a message with their Legislative Assistants, You will find the contact information to do so below.
Indiana Legislator Direct Phone Numbers and Emails:
Respectfully submitted,
The CAC Team
