Jones Street was frenzied this week as the Senate bill filing deadline came and went. (The House bill filing deadline is next week).
We’re still keeping an eye on S261, Energy Security and Affordability Act, which remained in the House Rules Committee all week.
The bill's main sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus), abruptly resigned at midweek to take a high level legal counsel job at UNC-Chapel Hill. That leaves the question as to whether S261 is his initiative, a legislative leadership initiative, or a Duke Energy initiative – and what will happen to it based on the answer to that question.
While the bill eases up on Duke Energy's carbon-cutting goals, a major concern is its impact on CWIP – construction work in progress – costs; the bill would allow Duke to begin charging ratepayers for projects as they're built, even if they're never finished and never produce a single kilowatt of power. In South Carolina and Florida, ratepayers have been left to foot the bill for energy projects utilizing CWIP, though they never came on line.
The NC REINS Act was filed in both chambers and is scheduled for a hearing in House Judiciary 1 committee next week. (H402 / S290) This bill would require legislative approval of any administrative rule that would have a $1 million cumulative impact across the state in one year. If enacted, it would slow environmental rule-making and send transportation and public health-related rules screeching to a halt. The REINS Act has been enacted in Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana and Kansas, but with higher dollar-impact thresholds.
Newly filed this week, S472, Amend 401 Certification Process, would require state environmental regulators to act within five days on a Clean Water Act 401 certification or see it "deemed approved." This timeline would violate existing public notice requirements. In past years, the US EPA has weighed in to support the NC Department of Environmental Quality in opposing efforts to establish a “deemed approved” permitting process. We'll keep you posted on how this bill progresses and how you can help push back.