The bottomline: we didn’t make the kind of progress on clean energy and clean air issues we had hoped to make. ACT bills faced two hurdles that could not be overcome this session. The first was strong industry opposition that both slowed the process (especially getting bills voted out of committee) and undermined the bipartisan support these measures had going into the session. The second was a legislative session that was behind from the beginning and ultimately derailed by a partisan stalemate in the House.

It’s important to note that bills did indeed pass that will continue to move Texas toward a cleaner, healthier future. Over the coming weeks, we’ll take a look at each of the 2009 issue areas in-depth and publish an assessment of how we fared on each. By the end of the month, ACT plans to publish a 2009 Legislative wrap-up.

Today, it’s worth taking a look at where ACT’s high priority bills ended up. First, the good news. Two of the ACT’s nine high priority bills are headed to the governor’s desk. HB 821 (TV producer takeback recycling) and SB 184 (greenhouse gas registry study) passed to engrossment in both chambers. ACT would like to thank everyone who worked on these bills – both this year and in years past laying the foundation for their success.

As for the other seven bills: frankly, last Friday, three more high priority bills seemed poised to make it: SB 546, SB 545 (as an amendment) and HB 300 (TXDoT sunset). However, SB 546 failed in the conference process, taking SB 545 with it. HB 300 died when the Senate chair of the Transportation Committee threatened to filiabuster it. Obviously, members of the ACT issue teams did everything possible to keep these bills alive – particularly SB 545. But Sine Die came without a solar bill headed for Gov Perry’s desk, without the increase in energy efficiency goal recommended by the PUC’s Itron Study, and without needed improvements to make TXDoT a more environmentally-sound agency.

SB 16 became ensnared in a tremendous amount of industry push back, particularly against future air permits requiring ozone impact analysis and cumulative impact studies. After a considerable delay in voting the bill out of House Environmental Regulation, the House Calendar committee finally placed SB 16 on the House Major State calendar on May 23. But by that point, the House had ground to a halt and SB 16 failed to be passed by the midnight deadline on May 26. Eventually, parts of SB 16 were amended onto other legislation, but between the stripping of non-germane amendments and the abrupt adjourning of the Senate last night, most of them died as well.

HB 280 was made the companion for SB 546 by the House on May 14th, so it essentially shared the fate of SB 546. And HB 1553 – the climate adaptation plan bill – was voted out of House Envirnonmental Regulation but was not placed on the House calendar.

ACT will continue to follow these bills and post updates on their progress. To receive action alerts from ACT, please sign up for our email list. And to follow bill progress in real-time, sign up to follow ACT on Twitter.

HB 280 also came up for second reading, but Rep. Anchia requested that it be postponed until 9:00 today, when it can be considered at the same time as SB 546, Sen. Fraser’s energy efficiency goal legislation.

Several other bills that address ACT legislative recommendations were on yesterday’s calendar, but most of them were not heard and move on to today’s calendar. The exception was HB 2783; Rep. Anchia’s energy efficiency standards for building codes bill (which is the House companion to a section of SB 16), passed to third reading.

Here are the bills ACT will track today:

Energy Efficiency:

Renewable Energy:

Clean Air:

Energy Efficiency:

Renewable Energy:

Clean Air:

To receive updates on the debate and votes, follow ACT on Twitter. To receive action alerts on ACT priority legislation, join our mailing list.

Here’s the bill list for tomorrow:

Clean energy was in the news this week as the City of Austin voted to go ahead with plans for a solar array that will be among the largest in the world. Public Citizen’s blog Texas Vox has a detailed account of the city council meeting. Transportation was also the topic a great deal of discussion and a fair amount of dissent as TxDOT’s plans for its share of the federal stimulus package were debated in the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilizing Funding. ACT has published its transportation recommendations for the 81st session. Our emphasis is on smart growth and integrating the work of the environmental specialists in TxDOT.

This week, there have been several additions to the resources available on ACT clean air page. A link to the extensive Environmental Defense Fund’s comprehensive Clean School Bus site was added. This site includes a detailed look at the program in Texas for which ACT recommends an increase in funding this year. There’s also @acttexas. Our goal is to provide information about Texas environmental legislation and issues in the most timely and to-the-point manner possible. We’ll have a preview of the week ahead on Monday morning

• Renewable Energy
• Energy Efficiency
• Clean Air
• Climate Change
• Coal
• Electronic Waste & Recycling

ACT published and distributed its 2009 legislative agenda in conjunction with the ACT Lobby Days held at the Capitol on February 17th & 18th. ACT Legislative Agenda: 81st Legislative Session (pdf)

For further information on each issue, please contact the team leader listed on the specific issue page.