Photo: Al Braden
By Cyrus Reed
Down to 30 days. “Sine Die” is the name for the end of the regular legislative session and this time it arrives on the last day of May.
A week from Monday is the last day to get a bill out of committee in the House.
Everything is on the line -- voting rights, radioactive waste, city powers, the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, methane controls, storm-response, energy efficiency, water quality, and water supply, etc, etc, etc. I wish I had a crystal ball. The twists and turns of the legislative session can be surprising.
As an example, we expected a major bill on funding for the winterization and weatherization of water, electric, and natural gas utilities through state loans through HB 2000 by Dan Huberty, and a constitutional amendment known as HJR 2. Sierra Club is not supportive unless the bill is improved to add demand-side solutions that could be funded by the state. We were ready to go with our allies with great amendments, but we didn’t expect the sponsor to be a charged with a DWI over the weekend. The bill was delayed.
We also didn’t expect the House to pass a “Constitutional Carry” gun bill on a party-line vote -- essentially meaning that Texans over 21 wouldn’t even need training or permit to carry a gun around town - which led Lt Governor Dan Patrick, who did not want to have to deal with the issue, to cancel a number of important hearings, to schedule a hearing Thursday morning on the gun bill. Competing t-shirts -- black “Victory or Death: No Compromise” shirts and red Moms Demand Action shirts - were all around the capitol this week.
Budget goes to conference
The budget -- SB 1 -- passed both the Senate and House and the 10 conferees were named. We will be working closely with Rep. Walle and Sen. Nichols -- who are in charge of the key articles involving natural resource agencies -- as we advocate for air monitoring, well plugging, money for the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP), and money for the Economically Distressed Areas Program (EDAP) for water and wastewater.
Storm response still unclear
While the above-mentioned loan-funding bill -- HB 2000 -- is on the House floor Monday, other bills are somewhat stuck. One of our main priorities -- HB 4556 and SB 243, which would raise our energy efficiency goals -- as of this write-up were still stuck in committee in part due to opposition from Oncor and the Association of Electric Companies of Texas. Apparently they don’t want to raise goals even though they recover all costs to run the programs through ratepayers anyway and it doesn’t impact their bottom line (which grew by $62 million in 2020 compared to 2019).
Also, still stuck are bad bills supported by Berkshire Hathaway to create a “reserve” of at least 10,000 MW of fracked gas plants paid for by ratepayers which will cost at least $8.3 billion. SB 2109 and HB 3749 are still stuck in their committees and we hope to keep them there. We can reduce an equivalent amount of demand through energy efficiency and demand response for much less money without the pollution or stranded gas!
Other priorities like HB 897 -- a study on methane -- has yet to get out of the Committee on Environmental Regulation -- while HB 1533 -- an energy efficiency loan program -- is similarly stuck, though it is part of a wider TERP bill (HB 4472 by Landgraf) that was just voted out of committee.
Other storm response bills did move some, but the other chambers have yet to take it up. As an example, the House has sent over HB 10, HB 11, HB 12, HB 13, HB 14, HB 16 and HB 17 (that last one is really about promoting gas use in cities) but while several have had hearings, none of them have passed the Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate sent over SB 3, which has yet to be heard in the House. Expect some movement next week. We will be calling for real reform by requiring winterization of gas plants, removing anti-renewable “ancillary” service and back-up procurement requirements found in Section 13 of SB 3, and adding some provisions on the demand side. We are fighting two separate bad bills: SB 1278 (Hancock) and HB 4466 (Phil King) that would also add costs onto renewable energy providers.
Meanwhile, a good enforcement bill -- HB 1820 -- by Rep. Zweiner got out of committee last week on a 5-4 vote. We are pushing hard to keep it moving as the bill would lead to stronger penalties and enforcement.
One other bright spot was HB 1607, which passed the House this week. The bill, by Republican Drew Darby would help solve the transmission congestion issues in ERCOT by creating a process to build out transmission to solve “Generic Transmission Constraints,” or GTCs. GTCs make it hard for electrons from generation (primarily wind and solar) to loads, and HB 1607 would help. Darby’s bill withstood a number of amendments designed to hurt renewable energy.
Other great bills such as HB 2221 by Rep. Canales on creating a statewide EV policy and further incentives for EVs, SB 398 relating to distributed renewable generation resources (Solar Bill of Rights), and HB 3624 by Deshotel, which would create rights -- including the right to participate in energy markets - for distributed owners of storage and renewable technologies, are in the Calendars Committee and need help to get out.
We have seen some good movement on our water priorities (see Ken Kramer article).
What’s next
The next 30 days will be fast and furious with the Legislature likely to even meet on some weekends as deadlines approach. Monday, May 10th, is the last day to get a bill out of committee in the House. May 13th is the last day to pass a bill on the House floor.