March 2012

Rep. Lesko's (R-Glendale) energy bill -- HB 2789 -- was passed yesterday by the Government Reform Committee of the Arizona Senate.  The bill was subject to a "strike everything" amendment that replaced the version of the bill that passed the House with the following single sentence: "A Public Service Corporation shall not be required to meet a renewable energy standard that is greater than the standards required in any rules in effect on January 1, 2012."  The change was presumably made to address concerns about the bill's constitutionality after both the ACC's top attorney and the legislature's own legal counsel concluded that the House version was unconstitutional.  However, this sentence seems to have the same constitutional problems as the full version. read more

The Arizona House of Representatives voted today to pass Rep. Lesko's HB 2789.  This is the bill that would require the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) to get legislative approval of "all rules or amendments to existing rules ... concerning public service corporations that are policy decisions, including rules mandating the use of specific sources of energy or imposing or increasing energy efficiency standards or renewable energy standards."  Both the ACC's legal counsel and the Legislative Council have concluded that the bill is unconstitutional (see our prior blogs here and here). read more