Committee clears IURC agency bill that raises pipeline‑safety penalty caps to federal levels

Senate Bill 421, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s agency bill, advanced from the House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee after a staff presentation and stakeholder testimony. The measure contains several housekeeping provisions and a substantive change to pipeline safety enforcement: it raises state civil-penalty maximums for pipeline safety violations so the state law conforms with federal maximums.

Luke Wilson of the IURC summarized the bill’s main provisions, saying it adds a definition of court reporter that conforms with Indiana court rules, clarifies publication of notice on newspapers’ websites for publications that print fewer than three times weekly, repeals an unused program chapter and raises pipeline‑safety penalties to match federal maximums. Wilson told the committee the federal government notified the state over the summer that the federal Pipeline and…