Senate debate over energy bill centers on authority composition, cost-shifting and permitting timelines

Senators spent more than an hour debating competing substitutes for Senate Bill 161, a measure that would create an energy authority and set a process for evaluating potential future operations of a large municipal-owned power plant.

Sponsor Senator Owens said the bill was substantially rewritten to remove mandates and create a study-focused authority. “This bill is vastly different than the bill that we've, originally passed to the third,” Owens said, adding that stakeholders asked the sponsor to remove “shalls” and to create criteria for vetting potential purchasers while protecting owners’ permits and operation dates.

Opponents, led by Senator Wyler, argued the fifth substitute circulated on the floor shifted costs and decision influence onto municipal ratepayers and introduced conflicts of interest into the authority’s appointments. “Should the state pay for those costs if the state's trying to do this? Or should my constituents pay for it in terms of higher power?” Wyler asked, urging changes to the substitute to extend permitting timeframes and add agency experts.

Wyler’s amendment lengthened the time for the Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) to submit applications from 30 to 120 days and proposed adding technical expertise from state agencies (DEQ, DNR) and municipal operators to the authority. Sponsors and opponents also debated removal of PSC mandates, RFP requirements and the composition of seats appointed by the League of Cities and Towns; some senators raised conflict-of-interest concerns about municipal appointees.

After repeated motions to substitute, a call of the Senate and votes to stand in support, the body voted to 'circle' the fifth substitute — setting it aside so the original sponsor and stakeholders can confer before a future hearing. The circling gives the sponsor time to review and reconcile the competing fourth, fifth and earlier substitutes.

Next steps: Senate staff will hold the fifth substitute and the sponsor indicated additional stakeholder meetings will occur before the bill returns to the floor. No final passage vote on the underlying bill occurred during this session.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 696, topfinish SEG 1090