House approves study and briefings on grid resilience, geomagnetic threats; amendment narrows reporting, zeroes fiscal note

The House Finance Committee advanced House Bill 12-60 after sponsors amended the bill to narrow reporting and remove prescriptive equipment or procurement mandates.

Representative de Grama, the bill sponsor, said the bill seeks to collect and brief the General Assembly about the electrical system’s ability to withstand and recover from geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and related risks including intentional electromagnetic interference. The sponsor cited classified and unclassified analyses of a high-voltage transformer that raised questions about replacement timelines and equipment vulnerability and said the change is intended to inform future legislative decisions rather than to mandate purchases.

The committee adopted amendment L5, which shifts the responsibility for producing critical energy infrastructure information (CEII)-style reports to utilities that are subject to North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) jurisdiction and directs the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to relay that material at existing “SMART Act” hearings. Legislative Council Staff told the committee the amendment would substantially reduce the PUC workload described in the original fiscal note and that with L5 the bill’s fiscal impact to the state would be essentially $0 for PUC administration.

Witnesses who supported the bill said Colorado needs state-level awareness of potential shortfalls, noting that extreme geomagnetic storms can have wide-ranging effects on transformers, generation and fuel delivery and that federal funding opportunities exist to address identified shortfalls. Donna LaBelle and Glenn Rhodes said improved transparency and a public briefing would help coordinate readiness and funding requests.

Representatives of utilities and industry urged caution. Aaron Wilson of Xcel Energy and Scott Aronson of Edison Electric Institute described existing regulatory standards, monitoring and contingency planning for geomagnetic disturbances and warned that additional state mandates duplicate federal and regional reliability work and could increase costs for customers. The PUC’s director said the commission supports grid resiliency but cautioned that full hardening to eliminate all risk could require substantial investments and that wildfire-related infrastructure work is currently a high near-term priority in Colorado.

After questions about classified material, the sponsor said the bill does not force utilities to disclose classified material publicly; if some information is restricted the PUC and relevant agencies would handle that material in appropriate, nonpublic settings.

The committee voted to send House Bill 12-60, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The roll call was recorded as 8 in favor and 5 opposed.