Committee advances House Bill 1007 after hours of debate over small modular reactor incentives and ratepayer protections

House Bill 1007, a broad package that would create a 20% state tax credit for expenditures to build manufacturing plants for small modular reactors (SMRs) and expand utility preconstruction cost recovery (so-called QIP), advanced out of the Tax and Fiscal Committee on a 10-3 vote after more than two hours of questioning and three public witnesses opposing the measure.

Representative Saluday, who presented the measure, told the committee, “This is an important bill, it's a lot of pages, but there are about 5 things that need to be addressed,” and outlined provisions ranging from a 20% manufacturing tax credit to changes to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) review process for plant closures and a new process for large-load customers seeking 150 megawatts or more.

Why it matters: The bill would use state tax incentives to encourage SMR manufacturing in Indiana, and it would let utilities recover certain engineering and predevelopment costs through a QIP mechanism the sponsors say lowers financing costs for construction. Opponents told the committee that the technology is unproven or commercially limited in the U.S., that project development costs can balloon, and that the QIP and other recovery mechanisms could shift substantial financial risk to…