The House and Senate adjourned their Spring Session on Thursday night. A bipartisan budget for 2019 was approved and the Governor has committed to signing it. The Energy Association had a successful Spring. No legislation was approved that would have significant adverse effects on the Industry.
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The bipartisan budget that was approved on Thursday should provide adequate funding for the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois Power Agency. In addition, the budget provides sufficient appropriations authority for the LIHEAP program. No significant changes were made to the bill backlog, so companies should not expect the State to pay their bills in a more timely fashion.
The Energy Association spent most of the last week of Session working on the Attorney General’s proposals to alter energy supplier regulations. The Attorney General’s office negotiated a total of 6 amendments to SB 1531 (Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago). The amendments were able to resolve some of the utility concerns, but did not remove opposition from the energy suppliers. SB 1531 failed to pass on a vote of 56-54 and is on postponed consideration in the House. The Attorney General’s office has indicated that they would like to work on this measure during Veto Session.
Natural gas storage fields above the Mahomet Aquifer could have new regulations. HB 4746 (Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana) would impose annual inspection and leak notification requirements on natural gas storage fields above the Aquifer. The Sponsor worked with the impacted gas storage field and there was no opposition to the final version of HB 4746. The bill passed both Houses and will be sent to the Governor.
The county assessors and solar farm developers forged an agreement on property tax treatment. SB 486 (Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park) creates a statewide standard for property tax assessments on commercial solar installations. This new standard would place a real property value of $218,000 per megawatt of nameplate capacity. This agreement will make it easier for developers to deploy new solar installations throughout the State.
The House and Senate will now take a Summer break and are not scheduled to return to Springfield until after the next general election. Both Chambers are scheduled to reconvene in Springfield on November 13th.
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