So Much for the Solar Session « TexasVox: The Voice of Public Citizen in Texas

So Much for the Solar Session

June 1, 2009 by citizensarah

Well, the sun has just about gone down on the so-called “solar session”. Today is Sine Die — the last day of the legislative session. Friday night, HB 1243 – solar’s last lifeline — was killed on the House floor.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Warren Chisum called for a strict enforcement of the House rules on germaneness. As you may recall, last week we were pretty excited around here that the solar and electric coop reform bills were tacked onto the net metering bill because they were related enough to be considered germane.

But they weren’t germane enough under STRICT enforcement of the rules, so the bill was killed.

I waited to break the news, because we still had a chance to amend SB 545 to the energy efficiency bill, SB 546… but that didn’t work out either. The House and Senate authors of the bill (Anchia and Fraser) simply could not agree over the size and scope of the solar and efficiency goals, so the bill never made it out of conference.

Its all rather depressing. Feel free to join my Tom Waits/ James McMurtry/ Leonard Cohen Pandora radio station and wallow in grief. Leave a comment and I’ll send you an invitation. But no need to worry about Citizen Sarah getting dangerously down in the dumps… I’ve left my Townes Van Zandt CDs in the car, and am headed out to the river tomorrow. Will be back to my chipper self before too long.

Plus… the session wasn’t a total loss. It just wasn’t all that we dared hope for. As of right now, here’s a list of bills that passed both bodies and will go to the Governor:

Green fleets legislation to promote low emissions and plug-in hybrid vehicles for fleets of major State Agencies (HB 432)
Legislation allowing cities to create financial districts to loan money for renewable power and energy efficiency (HB 1937)
Legislation setting a ‘no regrets’ strategy for greenhouse gas reduction in the State; a study of the state’s energy use to find ways to reduce our emissions and save money at the same time (SB 184)
A coordinated green jobs strategy including funds allocated for child care programs, vocational training initiatives, energy efficiency measures, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and/or any other recovery funds (passed as a Rider to Article 12)
Green fee bill passed allowing governing board of public colleges and universities to institute an environmental service fee once approved by student body election

Even now there is still good legislation pending that could maybe possibly potentially pass… but I’m just not at a point where I can get my hopes up anymore. Check in later this week for an update.

For you policy nerds out there, I’m willing to get further into the nitty gritty politics of how all this went down if you’re interested. Leave a note in the comments and let us know what you’d like to hear.

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Renewables | Tagged Global Warming, solar, Texas, Weatherization, Texas Legislature, green jobs, public citizen texas, warren chisum, fraser, green fee bill, anchia, plug-in hybrids, hb 1243, tom waits, larry mcmurtry, leonard cohen, townes van zandt, green fleets, citizen sarah, no regrets | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on June 1, 2009 at 3:41 pm Ted

So what next? Do we have to wait 2 more yeas bore another bill can be introduced or is there a chance that something might happen this time next year?
on June 1, 2009 at 3:56 pm LJ Ruiz

I believe that now we have to advocate directly to our electric co. and city council to implement and develped the loan program to finance solar systems thru property taxes, also I know that a number of city’s are looking into the 14x Stimulus program from architecture2030.org, which calls for a mortgage buy down depending on the efficiency improvement of homes, which will call for energy efficiency upgrades and the installation of solar systems… Just trying to get a second breath of hope, and get solar going in our State
on June 2, 2009 at 9:59 am Matthew Johnson

Actually, HB 432 did not pass. Just checked it online. The Senate didn’t get to it yesterday. HB 431 also did not pass the Senate. Too bad. Lucio III had some good bills there.
on June 3, 2009 at 12:41 pm citizensarah

Missing out on the solar session was a big disappointment, but there are still other ways that Texas can get more solar power and renewable energy. Just check out this solar power water treatment project down in San Benito, which is getting international attention: http://www.valleycentral.com/news/video.aspx?id=307783

Local projects and partnerships like this, and Austin’s new solar plant out at the Webberville tract, are a ray of hope for Texas’ solar future.
on June 3, 2009 at 4:44 pm citizensarah

NYTimes is all over it: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/solar-push-in-texas-fails/

PS the “disappointed environmentalist” is Citizen Andy! Follow him on twitter @citizenandy!
on June 3, 2009 at 5:23 pm LJ Ruiz

Now that is clear that most of us are dissappointed about the solar bills in texas, I received a post from I believe twitter …. anyway, it was very interesting to me, and the tittle was “Open Letter to Governor Perry on Renewable Energy”, I have to say that I already wrote and submitted my letter to the governor as well… really dont know its future but just did it anyway, dont have anytihng to lose… but the interesting part is that it got me thinking (http://www.whosplayin.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1135) Now that I have seen how thousand of texas are in favor of Solar bills and wouldnt mind paying an additional $0.20 or so monthly, why we do not collect signatures and letters from around the state and make a petition to the Governor to consider a special session to reconsider the solar bills, the bills didnt pass because they lacked support from both parties but because we rean out of time and legistlation technicalities, and because other forces that do not truly represent the voice of Texas… let me know if this sound like a good or a bad idea, I know I can help collect letters of support from City Council in my city, private sector and regular taxpayers as well, I can also contact our State representatives from my city…. if every city, countly and thousand of us with the support of the media I believe that at least we can create an issue worth or reconsidering… ….. Anyway… is this out of the question or are you all for the challenge…
on June 4, 2009 at 12:06 pm citizensarah

WSJ’s take: Texas Kills Solar Bill on Last-Minute Motion http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/06/01/texas-kills-solar-bill-on-last-minute-motion/
on June 8, 2009 at 9:02 am Eye on Williamson » Texas Blog Round Up (June 8, 2009)

[...] Citizen Sarah over at Texas Vox sheds a tear over good environmental bills lost this legislature… so much for the “solar session”. [...]
on June 8, 2009 at 8:46 pm Texas Progressive Alliance Roundup – June 8, 2009 « TruthHugger

[...] Citizen Sarah over at Texas Vox sheds a tear over good environmental bills lost this legislature…” so much for the “solar session”. [...]
on June 8, 2009 at 8:48 pm Texas Progressive Alliance Roundup – June 8, 2009 | BlueBloggin

[...] Citizen Sarah over at Texas Vox sheds a tear over good environmental bills lost this legislature…” so much for the “solar session”. [...]
on June 9, 2009 at 5:14 am Texas blog roundup for the week of June 8 – Off the Kuff

[...] Citizen Sarah over at Texas Vox sheds a tear over good environmental bills lost this legislature… so much for the “solar session”. [...]
on June 12, 2009 at 10:58 pm Texas Progressive Alliance Round-Up With Toledo Bend Dam Picture « Texas Liberal

[...] Citizen Sarah over at Texas Vox sheds a tear over good environmental bills lost this legislature … so much for the “solar session”. [...]