Committee votes to report S.50 to expand expedited registration for small solar projects

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on April 25 voted unanimously to report S.50, a bill that raises the size threshold for solar net‑metering projects that qualify for expedited registration and directs the Public Utility Commission to update related rules.

Representative Kathleen James, a member of the committee, opened discussion by saying she had reviewed the latest draft and that “unless I missed anything, I think it incorporates all the final language that we talked about.” The committee then debated several technical edits before approving draft 3.2 as amended and ordering the bill to the floor by roll call vote (9–0–0).

The bill’s key provisions in the draft discussed include replacing an existing numerical threshold of “15” with “25” (the transcript records the change as “15 to 25”; the unit or metric is not specified in the discussion), restoring statutory language that explicitly requires an expedited registration process for net‑metering projects (a provision committee counsel said had “gotten lost in the shuffle” of prior statute changes), and asking the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to align its rules with the new statutory language and allow applicants to use the expedited registration process…