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.

SB 184 – Sen Watson’s “no regrets” greenhouse gas registry – just passed to third reading on the House Local and Consent calendar. This bill represents a welcome first step toward assessing carbon emissions in Texas.

On the renewable energy bills front, SB 545 has been sent to the House Calendars committee. SB 541 has beed reported favorably by the House Committee on State Affairs; the committee report has not yet been filed. ACT has two urgent recommendations on behalf of these bills:

1. ACT urges the House Calendars Committee to place SB 545 on the calendar for Major State Affairs at its next meeting.
2. ACT urges the House Committee on State Affairs to take all necessary steps to have the committee report on SB 541 in the House Calendars Committee before its next meeting.

Two more ACT high priority bills are poised to move to the next step. HB 821 (producer TV takeback recycling) was heard in Senate Business and Commerce yesterday afternoon and passed out on a 9-0 vote.  It is now eligible for the Senate Intent calendar; ACT will continue to follow this bill and let supporters know if and when calls to the Lieutenant Governor’s office might be needed.

Finally, SB 184, Senator Watson “no regrets” greenhouse gas bill was reported favorably from House Environmental Regulation yesterday. The next step for this bill is for the committee report to be sent to the House Calendars Committee.

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.

One thing to note: the vote to pass this bill out of committee was unanimous. Thank you, Chairman Cook, for bringing this bill to a vote this week and to Rep Burnam for introducing this legislation in the House.

HB 1553 is exceptionally pragmatic in its approach to climate change. Rather than focusing on causes or solutions, it establishes a plan of action to respond to changes should they occur. Climate adaptation planning can be seen as a form of contingency planning. The state agencies will report to the Legislature biannually on any climate-related impacts to their programs they foresee in the coming two years. The bill sets the reporting date as September of even-numbered years, to provide the Legislature with information to allocate funds (if needed) in the following session. It’s simple. It’s smart. It’s a way for Texas to move forward.

Climate change legislation also came before the Senate this week. SB 184, Senator Watson’s “no regrets” on greenhouse emissions bill, was passed unanimously on the Senate floor, 31-0, and now moves to the House. Again, there was a unanimous vote in favor of climate change legislation – this time, on the Senate floor. Rep. Chisum introduced his companion bill, HB 4346, to the House Committee on Environmental Regulation Wednesday evening.

The disappointing vote of the week came in Senate Natural Resources, where Sen Ellis’ SB 988 failed to get out of committee. Frankly, this vote was surprising, given that SB 184 passed out of this committee unanimously. Interestingly, SB 988 and HB 1553 are companion legislation. Perhaps the Senate will have the opportunity to reconsider SB 988 if it comes to the Senate in the form of HB 1553.