Sine Die (Part 1: the Solar Bills) – June 1
After a weekend-long roller coaster ride, the dust is beginning to settle around the renewable energy bills. And as we get off the ride, it’s fair to say that “whiplashed” is the only word for what we’re feeling.
The disappointing news: SB 545 and HB 1243 have failed to gain final passage in the House. They will not go to the governor’s office. They will not be passed into law.
SB 545 was the solar rebate bill that would have pumped up to $500 million into rooftop solar and other “distributed generation” renewable energy. It passed through the Senate and the House Committee on Energy Resources. It failed to be taken up by the full House even though it was placed on the Major State calendar (the high priority calendar). The slow start to the session, significant industry resistance (this time from the Texas Association of Manufacturers) and the five-day stalemate over Voter ID each contributed to SB 545 failure to pass the House.
When SB 545 failed to pass the House, there was one more chance for it to continue on – as an amendment to a House bill already waiting passage in the Senate. While not what you set out to do when you’re drafting legislation, this is a standard path to take. So when Sen Fraser attached SB 545 (his solar bill) to HB 1243 (Rep Gallego’s net metering bill which he was sponsoring in the Senate) late Wednesday night, our hopes for solar legislation in 2009 were restored.
But at 11:58 on Friday night, with two minutes to go, a point of order was called on HB 1243 questioning whether its amendments were germane. (A second amendment on electric co-operatives had also been attached by Sen Fraser.) This point of order by Rep Turner had the effect of running out the clock, and midnight, the sun seemed to set on solar.
However, several of solar energy’s strongest advocates in the House worked all weekend trying to find a way to save solar. Unfortunately, they were unable to resolve differences over the goals for solar and efficiency that the amended bill would set. The doubly disappointing news: as a result of these failed negotiations, SB 546 failed to be reported from conference committee.
It’s very disappointing that we came so close to passing this legislation. However, while the news is bad on these three bills, we are heartened by the success of bills such as HB 821 (TV recycling), SB 184 ( the “no regrets” greenhouse gas strategy), and the green jobs training bill (included as an amendment to another workers’ training bill and as a rider to the budget).
But we’ll