ICV Legislative Update: Week of February 14, 2025
Sometimes the headline of a news story says it all.
This past week, House lawmakers passed this anti-consumer legislation over to the Senate, which will take it up in a couple weeks.
If you haven’t already sent your elected officials a message to stop this bill, please take a few minutes to do so today!
THIRD HOUSE MEETINGS
As we enter the second half of legislative sessions, we are compiling a calendar of “third house” events, where lawmakers hold meetings in their home districts to get feedback from their constituents.
We’ll have a section on our website soon where these events will be listed. If you know of a third house event in your community, please respond to this email and let us know the details so we can include it in our list.
CROSSOVER WEEK
Monday is the last day for bills to move out of Committee and Thursday is the last day bills can move from one chamber to the other, so next week’s update will be an important one to read, as we’ll be able to break down what’s moving in the second half of the session.
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👀 BILLS WE ARE WATCHING 👀
✅ SUPPORT: Senate Bill 422: supporting technologies to make our energy grid more efficient and reliable for the future. ICV will continue to support this language in the House.
😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 4: establishing a permitting structure for significant water withdrawals. SB 4 passed out of the Senate and will be eligible for a hearing in the House after crossover.
😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 423 Small modular nuclear reactor pilot program. We are encouraged by SB 423’s pilot project model which allows multiple stakeholders to bear the financial risk and advance this new technology in Indiana. However, it contains identical language from SB 424 allowing utilities to bill ratepayers upfront for project development costs and does not require financial risk sharing between partners. ICV will continue working on this bill in the House.
🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 424 creates a pathway for utilities to bill ratepayers up front for SMR project development costs before anything is built. ICV will continue working on this bill in the House.
🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 425 Energy Production Zones. This bill includes language to incentivize land re-use for new energy projects by limiting local control of project siting. Unfortunately, on Thursday, Senate Utilities passed an amendment excluding wind and solar energy from participating in energy production zones. This bill will be eligible for second reading on Monday, Feb. 17. ICV will continue to work on this bill to ensure solar and wind energy can thrive in Indiana.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1628 includes language that limits local control of siting for energy generation facilities, water and gas pipelines, and transmission projects. On Tuesday, an amendment passed which severely impacted wind and solar siting in Indiana and did not clarify siting standards for the other projects listed. Unless the House Utilities committee reconvenes on Monday, HB 1628 will not move forward.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1007 shifts costs of small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) and outdated coal generation costs on to ratepayers and taxpayers. This bill passed out of the House on Thursday and you can see how your Representative voted here. Please thank your Representative if they voted NO on HB 1007.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1037: Stormwater management. This bill could remove the ability for localities to require stormwater permits for construction projects under an acre. This could result in significantly increased flooding and pollution and reduce water quality across the state, costing taxpayers money. HB 1037 passed out of the House and will now move to the Senate.
BILL UPDATES
✅ SUPPORT: House Bill 1371 and House Bill 1581/Senate Bill 541 legislation to enable community solar in Indiana. Unfortunately, these bills are not scheduled for a hearing in Committee before the deadline. ICV will continue to work towards enabling community solar in Indiana in 2025.
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS
🚨 Tell Indiana lawmakers consumers can’t afford to bankroll utilities + big business! 🚨
Indiana lawmakers currently are considering multiple bills that would shift the enormous potential costs of development and deployment of untested energy production onto ratepayers. One bill would even allow utilities to charge ratepayers for losses if the state forces them to keep burning dirty, expensive coal.
Contact your representative today and tell them you want utilities and big businesses to pay for their own research and development of experimental technologies. Hard-working Hoosiers can’t afford any more charges on their monthly bills!
Say no to paying for developers’ messes!
Developers are asking lawmakers to sign off on shifting cleanup costs from their messes to taxpayers. Without proper measures in place, these messes send dirt and sediment into our waterways and sewers, backing them up and causing flooding and poor water quality that end up costing YOU more money to fix. Tell your senator today that you don’t want to pay for developers’ messes!
We need your voice in the fight against PFAS!
Share your concern about the risks of PFAS and voice your support for Representative Cash’s polluter accountability and transparency bill Senate Bill 1286 with one click!
GOOD NEWS SATURDAY
Representative Matt Pierce successfully amended HB 1007 on second reading to ensure large electricity consumers pay their fair share if they need to build more power. This will protect Hoosier consumers from the risk related to increased power needs in the coming years. Share your appreciation by emailing Representative Matt Pierce.
No bills regarding PFAS were called to be heard in any committee, which means they are dead for this session. We see this as good news – the bad language is also dead, and the good bill language gets more time to be improved for next year! We will continue to work on holding PFAS producers and polluters accountable and protect our waterways from these harmful chemicals. Thank you to all of you who voiced your support for accountability and transparency legislation!
On the democracy front, we’re pleased to see that Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston recently expressed some skepticism about the numerous voting restrictions moving out of the Senate. We agree that Indiana’s elections don’t need those kinds of changes. If you’d like, take a moment to thank him for those comments.
Finally make sure to check out the Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter’s piece on Water Stewardship Day!
NEW FACEBOOK GROUP!
¡Únete a Indiana Conservation Voters en Español, un espacio para defensores del medio ambiente que hablan español y quieren hacer una diferencia en Indiana! Aquí podrás conectarte con otros activistas, recibir información sobre políticas ambientales y aprender cómo tomar acción para proteger nuestro aire, agua y comunidades. No importa si eres nuevo en el activismo o ya tienes experiencia, tu voz es importante. Para más información, comunícate con Daniela Castellanos, organizadora comunitaria de Indiana Conservation Voters, al daniela@inconservationvoters.org. ¡Te esperamos!
UPCOMING EVENTS
February 19: Conservation Day at the Statehouse 2025 (Indiana Conservation Alliance)
February 24: Indiana RSS REAP/Non-Profit Solar 101: Crawfordsville
February 24: Virtual Mid-Session Legislative Briefing on the 2025 Indiana General Assembly (Citizens Action Coalition)
February 26: Virtual Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia Solar Action Team Meeting (Solar United Neighbors)
February 28: 2025 Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference
March 10: 2025 Audubon Great Lakes: Advocacy Day at the Indiana Statehouse
