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News & Notes
Energy Legislation Unveiled
Both the House and the Senate unveiled first drafts of their major energy package this week. SB 1544 by Senator Saunders was work shopped in Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation on Thursday afternoon. The Senate version is the Governor’s package. PCB-ENRC-08-01 (ENRC1) was work shopped in House Energy on Wednesday morning. Both bills have been described as first drafts, with many more changes to come. The House plans to unveil a second round of additional Energy language next week.
Both bills contain language regarding telecommuting, green building, hotel lodging, vehicle procurement, and guaranteed energy performance savings contracts (ESCO’s) that apply to “state government entities.” The definition of this term does not currently appear to apply to local government, but the intent of the language was to include cities and counties, so the definition of this term will likely be further revised. Additionally, the House version contains numerous provisions regarding the power plant siting act. Those provisions do not appear to be detrimental to counties.