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.

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

SB16, SB 545 and SB 541 are on the House Major State Calendar today. As we’ve said on this site repeatedly, this is great news. However, midnight tonight is the deadline for the House to pass Senate bills on second reading. The Alliance for a Clean Texas asks all Texans who want clean air and clean energy to call their representatives immediately and ask them to vote for these three crucial bills.

In the final six days of the 81st Session, the Alliance for a Clean Texas urges all Texas lawmakers to take up clean air, renewable energy, green jobs and other important environmental issues that will make our state healthier and more sustainable. There are still many opportunities for the Texas Legislature to act on behalf of all Texans. It’s time to put the health and future welfare of our state first and make the commitment to clean air and clean energy by passing these three bills.

The next step for these three bills is to be placed on the House calendar. ACT urges the members of the House Calendars committee to place SB 545, SB 16 and SB 541 on the calendar before Sunday (the deadline for Senate bills to be heard in the House). The people of Texas expect their lawmakers to take bold action on energy this session. The Texas Legislature could make the 81st Session an historic one for the development of the next great Texas energy industries. While many traditional energy businesses and their allies oppose these bills, the people of Texas know that for Texas to be as strong in the 21st century as it has been in the 20th, it needs to stay ahead of the curve on all energy development.

Another ACT high priority bill reaches the next step in the legislative process tomorrow morning. HB 821, the producer TV takeback bill, will be heard in the Senate Committee of Business & Commerce tomorrow morning. An unusual committee referral (most recycling and landfill bills are referred to Senate Natural Resouces), ACT hopes that the members of Senate B & C can see the value of this timely bill that will help keep more lead, mercury and other hazardous materials out of our landfills.

Representative Anchia’s trio of energy efficiency bills remain a top priority. By passing these, the House will enable Texas to adopt a set of efficiency measures that will help lower emissions by decreasing the overall demand for electricity.

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. ]]> http://www.acttexas.org/2009/05/12/important-bills-on-house-calendar-today-may-12/feed/ 0 http://www.acttexas.org/2009/05/11/important-bills-on-house-calendar-today-may-11/ http://www.acttexas.org/2009/05/11/important-bills-on-house-calendar-today-may-11/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 17:17:03 +0000 lize http://www.acttexas.org/?p=972 The following bills are on the General State Calendar today for second reading. Each of the bills addresses an ACT 2009 legislative recommendation.

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.

Public Citizen has posted a helpful guide to the bill as passed today on their excellent Texas blog Citizen Vox. Of particular interest are the amendments:

A few good amendments also got tacked on at the 11th hour, so now the bill also contains:

• net metering language, so that folks with solar panels on their homes will be able to sell power back into the grid at a fair rate
• an amendment so that Home Owner’s Associations won’t be able to prevent people from putting solar panels on their homes unless the HOA can prove it is dangerous
• a website requirement so that PUC will have to provide information to the public on solar incentives and subsidies available
• a requirement that electrical coops and munis have to adopt a similar solar program and report back to the lege in 3 years to prove they’ve done their homework

The bill now moves on to the House where several distributed renewable generation bills, including Rep. Anchia’s HB 278, are currently pending in the House Committee on Energy Resources. Congratulations to all the legislators, staffers, and advocates who have been working to make this the solar session.