Lawmakers plowed through bills this week, clearing their desks before next week's Easter break. The state budget-writing process begins this year in the Senate, which unveiled a problematic plan including a back-door attempt to shunt power plant construction costs to ratepayers.
We've already flagged S261, the bill that would allow utilities to charge their customers for construction works in progress (CWIP), even if those power plants never come on line. The bill sailed through the Senate but has gotten a less warm reception in the House – thanks in part to calls and emails from Sierrans and other opponents.
So the bill's Senate backers have given themselves insurance, dumping S261's language into the chamber's budget proposal. That means the House could avoid holding substantive committee hearings on CWIP and other S261 elements, sliding the language through as part of budget negotiations.
House committees held rapid-fire sessions this week, sometimes approving more than 10 bills in a single hour-long committee meeting. Some bills we’ve been supporting received committee approvals and will move on to the next step:
- H569, PFAS Polluter Responsibility, would require the creator of the PFAS that ended up in a public water system to compensate that water system for the contamination, including reimbursing drinking water ratepayers if their bills went up; and
- H570, Responsible Firefighting Foam Management, would prohibit the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS for training.
A number of bills we're fighting also reared their heads:
- H402, NC REINS Act, was changed to eliminate General Assembly final approval on state agency regulations, but still requires extra steps for implementation of rules that have a statewide fiscal impact of $1 million.
- H605, Definitions for Advanced Recycling, would make an accounting change for recycled content when recycled. Many dispute that the process it covers is recycling at all: an incineration process that burns plastics back to petroleum before making them into plastics again.
- H729, Farmland Protection Act, is an assault on the relationship between farmers and solar development. The bill sponsor and the Association of County Commissioners argue that the property tax credit for solar projects placed on farmland is costing county governments millions of dollars. The bill presumes that, by eliminating the credit (equal to a 500% tax increase on the equipment in question), the resulting tax payments will create a windfall for counties. But it's more likely that solar development will stall and existing projects will be abandoned at the end of their lifespan, cutting off a valuable passive income stream for farmers and negating any county tax revenue. The bill was put on a House committee agenda, but removed without action.
- S472, Amend 401 Certification Process, passed the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee. It would give state regulators only five days to act on 401 permit applications before they are automatically “deemed approved.” As we explained in last week's update, a 401 permit is required for projects that impact North Carolina waters – streams, wetlands, lakes and riparian buffers.
- S730, Expand CEPS / Nuclear and Hydro, would add existing large hydro and nuclear power plants to the state’s renewable energy portfolio, crowding out any new investment in clean energy.
With the legislature on Easter break next week, this update will take a break, too. Look for our next Letter from Jones Street on Friday, May 2.
Take action:
Please be sure to ask your House member to oppose S261, the Energy Security and Affordability Act, as a separate bill and as part of the Senate's budget proposal. You can use our action form to send a message, then follow up with a phone call.