Only the Senate is in session this week. After this week, both the House and Senate adjourn until April 9
th for the House, April 10
th for the Senate. On to it...
SB3005 is not expected to receive additional activity this week. However, when the bill moved through Committee two weeks ago, we were told the same and then the sponsor chose to move it a day before the hearing. An amendment was also offered an hour before the hearing, which we anticipated. SB3005 Amdt2 passed Committee by 10-2 with a promise to hold it on second and return the bill to Committee.
We expect another amendment to be offered and the sponsor has promised to bring it back to Committee. However, the bill is on the floor and could technically receive a floor amendment instead, despite the sponsors promises. The Chamber has been working with coalition members in opposition of this legislation and drafted the
attached opposition one-pager.
There is a strong coalition of organizations opposed to the bill.
Senate Judiciary
is scheduled for 3.15pm Tuesday.
Senate Environment is scheduled for Thursday at 11am. So far, we understand that
SB2643 (McConchie), which affects vehicle inspection stations and
SB3017 (Rezin), which is a cleanup bill for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, are expected to be called.
SB3156 (Aquino), which requires the EPA to refer all environmental violations to the Attorney General, is being held. The other bills listed currently remain unknown of their chances to move this week. Of note:
SB3055 (Steans) and
SB3101 (Castro), both bills that would affect Illinois VW Settlement Fund proceedings. As I mentioned last week, the Illinois EPA has released its
draft Beneficiary Mitigation Plan, which the Chamber supports. SB3055 would specify that 15% of the VW settlement money be spent on "Light Duty Zero Emission Vehicle Supply Equipment" i.e. charging states and that the rest must be spent on replacing fossil fueled vehicles with electric, but it is limited to large trucks, buses and medium trucks.
SB3101 sets up a VW settlement fund task force. Currently, the Task Force does not include members of the business community. We oppose both bills.
SB3174 (Koehler) would prohibit wells that utilize horizontal or directional extensions from a vertical bore hole from classifying as confidential. Currently, Illinois allows these wells to be classified as confidential for two years. The bill is an initiative of People's Action, the Sierra Club, and the Illinois Environmental Council. I am told that Senator Koehler would like to move the bill to second reading and hold it for discussions. No word yet, however, if the bill will move this week.
SB3214 (Barickman) would allow solar sites to claim as a "pollinator-friendly" site through IDNR if they implement certain site management practices that provide native vegetation and habitat and reduce storm water runoff and erosion. This is a voluntary program.
Senate Energy and Public Utilities is also scheduled for Thursday. At this time, staff anticipates all bills posted to be considered.
SB2914 (Mulroe) and
SB3051 (Mulroe) are also posted. SB2914 shall require that the Office of Retail Market Development's annual report shall include the combined value of products and services offered by the competitive retail electricity market. SB3051 provides that the ICC establish a program to promote the expanded use of energy saving programs for residential and small business customers.
SB3577 (Harmon) requires that retail suppliers, a part of the application and certification process, to disclose any formal complaints that seek a determination from a state or federal regulator and verifies it is not a basis for denying the certificate of service authority. The ICC is also required to conduct compliance training annually.
SB3131 (Rezin) has received an amendment that is still in Assignments, but would change the bill to affect cable and video providers.
FERC Grid Resilience: What did our RTO's Say?
Grid operators delivered their responses to FERC last Friday. As we know, FERC rejected the Department of Energy NOPR in January on grid resiliency pricing, which sought to provide assistance for nuclear and coal plants for maintaining grid resiliency. Instead, FERC asked grid operators to review a list of questions about improving power systems resilience and the challenges with resilience for their regional grids. If you're interested,
MISO and
PJM's responses are here.
MISO: MISO suggests not limiting this conversation to just the RTO's and encourages FERC to include other stakeholders like state regulators; suggests opportunities to enhance resilience include ensuring extensive use of Information Technology Tools and finding ways to more effectively identify and value resilience attributes in transmission planning and power coordination.
PJM: PJM asks FERC to direct operators to update market compensation for power plants to reflect resilience attributes. This is noticeably different than other RTO's responses, who largely suggested resilience could be improved within existing stakeholder processes.
ILLINOIS CHAMBER HOSTS INAUGURAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE - March 27th
Illinois women are Second to No One. On March 27, 2018 join the Illinois Chamber of Commerce at our inaugural conference to harness the experiences, leadership, and aspirations of women in business, politics, and the nonprofit world to explore what it takes to put more cracks in that glass ceiling. Hear from inspiring women who've been through it and take away that energy to blaze your own path. This conference aims to empower our already Strong Women for a Stronger Illinois.
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