WRAL Reports: NC House passes major energy bill during rare midnight session
July 15, 2021
Travis Fain, WRAL Statehouse Reporter has posted an article that covers the North Carolina House passing HB 951 – Short Title: Modernize Energy Generation, in a late-night session just after midnight today (Jul 15). The bill passed the house 57 – 49 with mostly Republicans moving it forward to the NC Senate.
As Travis Fain explains, House rules require two votes to move the bill to the Senate and Democrats objected to holding the votes one after another. House Republican leadership decided to satisfy the next-day requirement at 12:01 AM. House Speaker Tim Moore said some lawmakers who voted yes after the second reading had travel plans Thursday and wouldn’t be available for a daylight session.
The bill is controversial and favors Duke Energy’s wishes to replace retiring coal-fired electricity plans with natural gas, allow multi-year rate cases, and marginalize the North Carolina Utilities Commission’s decision-making authority.
Governor Cooper issued a press release the day before the vote saying, “The House Republican energy legislation as currently written weakens the Utilities Commission’s ability to prevent unfair, higher electricity rates on consumers in the short run. And in the long run, this bill falls short on clean energy, which will create jobs and contain costs. The Governor encourages legislators to oppose this bill unless important changes are made to fix these significant problems.” The Governor is expected to veto the bill in its current form.
LINKS
NC House passes major energy bill during rare midnight session
by Travis Fain • WRAL • July 15, 2021
HB 951 bill History and Links
NC Legislature Website • Bill Lookup H951