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House amends solar-funding bill to bar forced-labor imports and require PUC rulemaking on net metering; measures approved
Summary
Members adopted an amendment requiring that equipment funded under the bill be free of forced labor and approved a separate amendment directing the PUC to address net-metering subsidies; both amendments were adopted and the bill will be reprinted as amended.
The Pennsylvania House approved two floor amendments to House Bill 362, a bill described on the floor as providing for federal money for a solar program. Lawmakers adopted an amendment offered by Representative Scott Roe that applies a forced-labor certification standard to materials subsidized by the bill and later approved an amendment from Representative Stephen Williams requiring the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission to undertake rulemaking on net metering. The bill, as amended on the floor, will be reprinted.
Representative Scott Roe (Union County) proposed an amendment referencing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and asked that the same forced-labor certification standard be applied to projects supported by the bill. Roe said the amendment would “simply apply that same standard to the provisions of this bill, ensuring that we're not economically supporting any countries who would use forced labor or child labor to produce any products and making sure that we are not using taxpayer dollars to subsidize their industries.” The House adopted Roe’s amendment 202-0.
Representative Stephen Williams (Chester County) then offered an amendment that would require the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission to undertake rulemaking to address net-metering concerns so that non-solar customers do not bear cross-subsidies for solar customers. Williams told the chamber that every time subsidized dollars for solar are spent, “we are transferring fixed cost of your utility to the non solar customer” and asked colleagues to support the change. That amendment was adopted, with the clerk recording 169 ayes and 33 nays.
Representative Kristin Fiedler (Majority Chair, Energy Committee), the maker of the underlying bill, acknowledged the sponsors of the amendments and asked for support. Representative Randy Vitale (Majority Chair, Environmental and Natural Resources Protection) opposed the Williams amendment on technical grounds, arguing it could discourage grant recipients and shift more money to utilities and concluding with an appeal for a no vote on that amendment; the amendment nevertheless passed.
Representative Mark Topper later offered and then withdrew amendments intended to reform the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority and create a generation-focused board; the chair accepted the withdrawal. The House clerk recorded that the bill as amended would be reprinted; the transcript does not show the final floor roll-call for final passage in the provided segments.
Quotations are drawn from floor remarks by members as recorded in the House transcript.
