Arkansas clean-energy task force bill fails in committee after no second to motion

State Senator Greg Lendingt introduced Senate Bill 681 to create a 12-member task force charged with recommending ways to attract clean-energy jobs, prepare workforce training and propose legislative or regulatory changes to promote low-emissions electricity in Arkansas.

Supporters including Gary Kahaneck and George Wise argued the shift to lower-emission energy would produce public-health benefits and job growth and urged an inclusive task force that would bring utilities, regulators and industry to the table. Ted Thomas of the Arkansas Public Service Commission said litigation over policies such as customer aggregation has impeded innovation and that a legislative forum could build consensus to avoid “policy by litigation.”

Committee members questioned who would sit on the task force, how nonlegislator members would be compensated if meetings were physical versus virtual, where money for facilitators would come from and whether an interim study could accomplish the same goals. Sponsor Lendingt said the task force would include seats for public utility entities, environmental regulators and Commerce officials, aimed to be incentive-based rather than punitive, and would be temporary with an Oct. 31 expiration next year.

After brief closing remarks from the sponsor and acknowledgment of bipartisan interest, a motion to advance the bill was made but received no second and failed. The committee therefore took no further action to send the bill forward.