After heated debate, energy committee rejects DFL omnibus bill

Surprise! It’s an omnibus bill.

The House Energy Finance and Policy Committee had seven bills on its agenda Tuesday, with each of them presumably under consideration for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. But one of them turned out to be an omnibus bill itself.

HF4374 appeared to be a technical bill on Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority funding. But its sponsor, Rep. Patty Acomb (DFL-Minnetonka), the committee’s co-chair, proposed an amendment that acted as a delete-all amendment and inserted 40 provisions that had, mostly, been considered by the committee at prior hearings.

After some tense exchanges, it was rejected along party lines.

“HF4374 is a small package of bipartisan non-controversial bills that will keep our state moving forward,” Acomb said. “While there are many other provisions that I certainly would have preferred to include, as well, I recognize they are more controversial and don’t make sense at this time. This is a small but meaningful step.”

But not a large enough step for Rep. Spencer Igo (R-Wabana Township), who said a section of the amendment that would fund a study on the potential impacts of constructing and operating new nuclear-powered electric generating plants in the state included elements that weren’t in his original proposed legislation.

“In our last conversation, we talked about waiting until we saw where the Senate bill was at to try and pull provisions together to limit conference opportunity,” Igo said. “So seeing this in front of us today without having a conversation or even working on this together, that’s why I can’t support your delete-all amendment today. … We spent 18 months working on the bill that we got to right now with stakeholders and everyone involved.”

“This bill has one additional provision from what was passed in the Senate,” Acomb replied. “While I can understand your disappointment, we still have weeks left. I think us moving this bill out of committee today keeps those things alive. If we let it languish in committee, then, sadly, it will languish.”

“This committee is allowed to pass one bill out,” said the committee’s co-chair, Rep. Chris Swedzinski (R-Ghent). “I think there’s some work we can do, potentially. But I don’t think a miniature omnibus is the route to take today.”

The bill, as amended, would include provisions related to:

• expenditures from the state’s petroleum tank fund for replacing single-walled pipe;
• Public Utilities Commission processes and staffing;
• striking outdated references, language and terminology in statute;
• efficient fuel-switching programs for low-income households;
• decoupling public utilities’ energy sales from revenues;
• energy security plans;
• extensions for programs for electric school bus deployment, public buildings solar grants and residential electric panel upgrade grants;
• complying with federal match requirements;
• setting parameters for the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority;
• amending eligibility for residential heat pump rebates; and
• a $1 million appropriation from the Renewable Development Account for a study on new nuclear-powered electric generating plants.

The Renewable Development Account provides grants to projects that employ non-fossil-fuel-based energy generation, with its funds coming from fees that investor-owned utility Xcel Energy pays in order to store nuclear waste at its Prairie Island and Monticello nuclear power plants.

“The provisions are bipartisan,” Acomb said. “Where there wasn’t support, we withdrew. … It’s up to us as members of this body and of this committee to be working toward something and to be passing the things that we agree on. So my question to all of you is: What is your suggestion about how to do that? We’ve got, it looks like, about 48 hours. We’ll see what comes.”

The committee is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, with Swedzinski holding the gavel and nothing currently on the agenda. Finance bills must be passed out of committee by 5 p.m. Friday.