We breathe a collective sigh of relief: the 88^th regular legislative session is over. By all accounts, this session featured a legislature run amok in a dedicated animosity to adapt and evolve.

❖   Passed: SB 1699 (Johnson), permits aggregated distributed energy resources to participate in the ERCOT wholesale market without having to register with the PUCT as a power generation company. Additionally, the bill permits utility providers to offer and promote demand-response programs when possible and allows them to make use of grant-funding for up to 10% of the costs. Demand-response, as a concept, seeks to increase grid reliability through reducing energy consumption during times of peak demand through smart-metering technologies and increased energy efficiencies. The bill was sent to Governor Abbott on May 29.

❖   Passed: HB 3526 (Raymond), will forbid municipal or county governments from applying building codes to the construction of solar pergolas (patios with solar panels affixed). The bill was sent to Governor Abbott on May 18.

❖   Killed: HB 4455 (DeAyala), would have increased the ability of homeowner’s associations (HOA) to restrict the location of rooftop solar. Specifically, under current law, if the homeowner can prove that an alternate location outside of the HOA-designated area would result in 10% more electrical generation, the homeowner may use the alternate location. HB 4455 would have raised that bar from 10% to 25%, a more difficult hurdle for solar homeowners. Fortunately, the bill died, having failed to make it out of the House Business & Industry Committee.

❖  Killed: SB 7 (Schwertner|King), would have mandated electric utility providers to pay exorbitant fees to generators during unreliable grid conditions. Additionally, the bill offered little regulatory oversight and would incentivize new dispatchable generation facilities. Expert estimates had pinned the cost of SB 7 from $10-$18 billion; however, legislators capped the cost to $1 billion annually.

❖  Killed: SB 624 (Kolkhorst|Middleton), would have imposed excessively stringent permitting processes on renewable energy generators and levied new application fees. Fossil fuel and nuclear plants were exempt from this permitting process. Additionally, non-dispatchable generators (aka renewables) would be required to pay more costly service fees than they currently pay. In sum, the bill required renewables to bankroll further development of fossil fuels.

❖   Passed: HB 5 (Hunter|Meyer|Burrows|Shine|Longoria), will replace Chapter 313, a recently expired program that helped oil and gas companies, chip manufacturers and other industries secure billions in tax abatements through local school districts. HB 5 also makes methane gas power plants cited in SB 2627 eligible for tax abatements. While the bill was scaled back from its predecessor and includes more oversight, it still excludes clean energy generators and battery storage facilities from receiving the benefits. HB 5 was sent to Governor Abbott on May 30.

❖   Passed: SB 505 (Nichols) will require electric vehicle (EV) owners to pay a $400 registration fee for new first-time EVs, and a $200 annual registration fee each year after. Some purport that the bill is designed to make up lost revenues from gas taxes; however, the bill will punish rather than reward EV’s economically beneficial carbon reductions. EV advocates proposed a mileage system in addition to a lower registration fee. The bill was signed by Governor Abbott on May 13.

❖   Passed: HB 2127 (Burrows|Meyer|Goldman|King, Ken|Raymond), will claw back the power of home rule cities dramatically. Should cities draft or pass any law that pertains to any of the contents of the Texas Agriculture Code, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Business & Commerce Code, Finance Code, Insurance Code, Labor Code, Local Government Code, Natural Resources Code, Occupations Code, or Property Code, the law will be considered null. This will dramatically reduce the ability of cities to, among other things, incentivize the adoption of renewables and disincentivize the continued use of fossil fuel generation. HB 2127 was sent to Governor Abbott on May 24.

❖   Passed: SB 2627 (Schwertner), will establish a special fund for dispatchable (non-renewable) generators to receive 2% interest loans for up to 60% of the cost of developing new facilities. While the bill will not go into effect without the enabling legislation of SJR 93, it will still withhold taxpayer dollars and provide up to 20% of costs in the form of bonuses. All the while generators have admitted that the extra financing is not necessary. SB 2627 was sent to Governor Abbott on May 29.

❖   SJR 93, the enabling legislation for SB 2627, proposes a constitutional amendment to create the State Energy Fund Amendment and authorizes other funding mechanisms for the construction, maintenance, modernization and operation of electric generating facilities. It was filed with the Secretary of State on May 30 and will be on the general election ballot statewide on November 7, 2023.

❖   Passed: SB 1290 (Perry) will direct the Texas Department of Agriculture and Texas A&M Agrilife + Forest Service to study the effects of the operation of, and the impacts of the disposal of solar, wind, and energy storage equipment. The bill was sent to Governor Abbott on May 29.

❖   Killed: HB 3010 (Zwiener), would have streamlined the municipal permitting process for solar installations significantly. The bill would have required cities to use the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s SolarAPP+ program to expedite permitting and reduce costly wait times. Despite maneuvering and attempting to add the language as an amendment on to other bills, HB 3010 did not make it out of House State Affairs Committee.

❖   Killed: HB 4542 (Moody), would have required utility providers operating outside of ERCOT to institute a net-metering buyback program for homeowners with rooftop solar that produces excess generation. HB 4542 was placed on the intent calendar on May 24.

❖   Passed: HB 1500 (Holland|Bell, Keith|Canales|Goldman|Clardy), the sunset bill for the Public Utility Commission (PUCT), was one of the more harrowing pieces of legislation in the 88^th. Under the Texas Sunset Act, all state agencies go through sunset review to determine if that agency is still necessary, or if some of the functions of the sunsetting agency should be moved to another agency in order to improve efficiency/effectiveness. While amendments are often added in sunset legislation, it’s considered bad practice. The bill was amended to include some provisions of SB 7, the so-called “performance credit mechanism,” and SB 624, a discriminatory permitting process for solar and wind projects only.

❖   Passed: SB 1015 (King), will amend the Texas Utilities Code to provide the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) with sole regulatory control over tariff/ratemaking adjustments. Revisions replace the 60-day minimum with a 60-day maximum process and establish limits to the frequency with which electric utilities may request adjustments. The bill was sent to Governor Abbott on May 29.

The Republicans in control of the state Capitol ignored the root causes of the state’s grid instability — a fossil-gas delivery network that remains vulnerable to extreme cold and heat waves, and a dearth of programs that would help energy consumers reduce the power they use to limit strains on the grid. Instead, the legislators spent the session arguing over bills that would make renewable energy harder to build while providing multi-billion-dollar payouts to companies to construct new gas-fired power plants.

With investments in solar power exceeding investments in oil development for the first time in 2022, CBS News reported that the world has reached a major milestone in the shift from carbon-based fuels to renewable energy. "For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy. Five years ago, this ratio was one-to-one," said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. Of the $2.8 trillion invested in the energy sector, $1.7 trillion went to "clean" sources.

Texas politicians and lobby groups came to a resolution late Sunday night, May 28, which amends recently filed legislation from SB 624 designed to set severe restrictions on the permitting of wind, solar and clean energy assets in the coming year. The resolution, however, could still throw a wrench into the progress Texas has made in vying for the top state for renewable energy development after California.

Republicans in the Texas legislature have turned hard against renewable energy, with a raft of proposed measures that would subsidize fossil fuels, impose restrictions that might block many renewable energy projects and maybe even shut down many existing facilities. The worst of these measures don’t seem to have made it into the latest legislation, but even so, that legislation strongly favors fossil fuels over an industry that arguably reflects Texas’s energy future.

Texas will subsidize the construction of new methane gas power plants, while raising costs for wind and solar energy, under legislation approved by the Legislature this week.

How the environment fared at the Texas legislature 88^th regular session

Historic progress on state parks; embarrassing list of anti-renewables, anti-energy-efficiency and pro-pollution legislation.

TXSES is seeking a marketing and membership outreach coordinator to help grow our membership and act as the liaison between us and our members. Experience in clean energy, climate, environment or related sector preferred. The full-time position is remote but must live in Texas (Austin preferred). Applications accepted on a rolling basis until June 30 or until the position is filled. Candidates will submit two samples of marketing and promotional materials. Send resumé and writing samples to pparsons@txses.org. Read full job description.

About TXSES: A membership-based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization for nearly 40 years, TXSES’s unique niche is exemplified in our well-established local chapters in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. Having boots on the ground in these major metropolitan cities, which represent nearly a quarter of Texas’s 29 million citizens, enables our gifted, dedicated members to disseminate fact-based, relevant solar information to all Texans. www.txses.org

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