This week, the N.C. House passed its version of the state budget, notably without including language from S261, the bill that would burden customers with the cost of utility "construction work in progress" (CWIP) and let Duke Energy drop its 2030 target for carbon emission-cutting.
While that's good news, neither the House nor Senate versions of the budget are sufficiently supportive of the Department of Environmental Quality, or environmental initiatives generally. Still, 20 House Democrats voted with the GOP to pass the House's edits, stating reasons such as postponing the next round of income tax cuts until the state budget projections appear more positive.
Conference committees will take up the work of resolving the differences after the General Assembly returns from a weeklong break on June 3.
The Senate Committee of Regulatory Reform held a discussion-only hearing on H402, the NC REINS Act. This bill would require administrative rules with a fiscal impact of $1 million over five years (with no offset for any savings the rule may create) to be approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the rulemaking body. This equation takes the “benefit” out of a cost-benefit analysis. If the rule would have an economic impact of more than $10 million across North Carolina over five years, the rule must then be unanimously adopted by the rulemaking body.
The effect of this is to tie the hands of board and commission appointees, who are appointed based on their expertise, as they try to respond to issues such as a new health or environmental threat. This bill also chips away at executive authority, begging the question of whether it is constitutional. Stay tuned for more news on this measure and ways you can help us oppose it.
Take action:
Remember that we have a new action alert for S261, the CWIP bill, that needs your support! Even if you took action on our earlier S261 alert, please use this new version to contact your House member again and urge them to be vigilant against S261's provisions as they pop up in other legislation (such as the Senate budget proposal). Also, please use our companion alert to ask your House member to oppose S730, Expand CEPS/Nuclear and Hydro, which would undermine targets set in the state's Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, stifling development of new clean, renewable energy production along with the economic and environmental benefits that would bring.
Since the General Assembly will have next week off, this update will take a break, too! Look for the next Letter from Jones Street on June 6.