Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x2 * Proponents abandon override attempt of ‘Right of First Refusal’ bill

Posted in:

Illinois
Updated Posts

* Some background from the Tribune editorial board…

In Ameren’s downstate Illinois territory, more than $3.6 billion worth of new transmission lines is planned, Pritzker said in his veto message. The bill he vetoed would give Ameren “right of first refusal” over building and operating those, effectively elbowing out competitive bids that could lower costs for ratepayers.

A major national priority of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the measure is designed to ensure members of IBEW locals get all the work tied to the projects. It was an eleventh-hour push by Washington, D.C.-based IBEW President Kenneth Cooper, who called Illinois legislative leaders personally in the final days of the spring session, that got Springfield’s attention. Opponents were blindsided.

The bill passed the Senate with a comfortable veto-proof majority. The House sent it to the governor, but a large number of members choosing not to vote kept the margin short of the veto-proof threshold. […]

Of course, as is often the case in the utility business — dependent as it is on public officials, who must approve its rates — there’s no shortage of hypocrisy here. Ameren, whose parent company is based in St. Louis and operates throughout the Midwest, lobbied against a similar proposal seven years ago in Kansas when the incumbent utilities there wanted the monopoly and Ameren was interested in bidding on work. That was then, this is now, Ameren says.

The Trib’s editorial board has upped its game and it showed with that editorial.

* The bill only received 63 House votes, not nearly enough to override the governor. Today, the proponents acknowledged the obvious and threw in the towel. House sponsor Rep. Larry Walsh, Jr…

Rright of first refusal is basically allowing the state of Illinois to give the incumbent utility first crack at building the transmission lines that we’ve had in the state for over the last 100 years to maintain their systems. And we’re gonna have more talk about what this policy does. But in my viewpoint, the simple fact of the matter is transmission lines and the electric grid is a regulated monopoly. Has been and always will. If we allow private entities to come in to build these transmission lines, you’ll have a patchwork of these systems throughout the state. And it’d be just like the tollway, six different companies own different sets of mileage. It’s not integrated into the way we should be doing things. I think it’s bad policy.

And our purpose here today is first and foremost to announce that we’re not going to try to override the veto the amendatory veto on House Bill 3445. We’re going to go and educate members, legislators. There was an argument that this thing was done in the dark, which it wasn’t. But the process is the process. We’re going to open that door. We’re going to put subject matters out in the spring. We’re going to work with legislators, the governor’s office, the rate-payers, the community on what right of first refusal,actually is. And when they hear that they’re going, I believe, agree with us. This is the right step for Illinois.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Toward the end of the press conference, Rep. Walsh, who chairs the House Public Utilities Committee, said this…

We’re looking at doing a full education swing in the spring, introduce a bill that puts the state of Illinois as a right of first refusal state for the whole state with no sunset.

“The whole state” would include ComEd’s turf. One of the ways that legislators have defended their votes is to differentiate Ameren, which has no history of federal corruption probes here, from ComEd, which most certainly does have a history of federal corruption probes here. If you thought this has been a heavy lift for Ameren, adding in ComEd is gonna be 10 times as difficult.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Rep. Ann Williams chairs the House Energy & Environment Committee…

I agree that we must use skilled Illinois union labor for these energy-related infrastructure projects. I look forward to more conversations this spring with organized labor, Ameren and environmental advocates to consider transmission issues as part of a broader conversation about creating the infrastructure to ensure a clean energy future, build capacity, put consumers first, and address the climate crisis.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 25, 23 @ 11:20 am

Comments

Walsh is not wrong about some of the potential benefits of a ROFR. But then again, the opponents are probably right about the potential lower costs of allowing non-utilities to bid on the projects. In other words, a longer debate about the issue is not a bad thing.

Comment by TNR Wednesday, Oct 25, 23 @ 11:32 am
Whatever is eventually decided, they need to get going on the project. Costs are going up along with interest rates, as these projects are built with borrowed money.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Oct 25, 23 @ 11:58 am
Well, this should be an interesting spring. I guess Ameren and the opponents are going to be arming up for the coming battle over the next couple of months.
Billions of dollars in transmission lines and interconnection.

Comment by Frida's boss Wednesday, Oct 25, 23 @ 12:41 pm
Ameren and ComEd. Together again. Was lucrative for them both during formula rate years. Guess they’re putting the band back together.

Comment by og Wednesday, Oct 25, 23 @ 12:47 pm
So nice of Walsh to remove the mask. This isn’t a labor bill. It’s a ComEd/Ameren bill. Good luck with that.

Comment by New Day Wednesday, Oct 25, 23 @ 12:50 pm