Long debate over bill to create 50% dispatchable‑generation goal and credits for new builds

Vice Chair Sarah King’s Senate Bill 388 prompted a multi‑hour committee debate on Oct. 12, 2025, over whether Texas should convert its 1999 natural‑gas generation goal into a forward‑looking 50% dispatchable goal for new generation and use a credit‑trading mechanism to enforce it.

King told the Committee on Business & Commerce the bill updates a statutory goal originally written for natural gas and excludes renewables from the accounting. SB 388 would count renewables when assessing whether a year’s new generation met a 50% dispatchable threshold; "2026 will be the first year of the snapshot," King said, explaining how the Public Utility Commission (PUC) would review new capacity built in 2026 on Jan. 1, 2027.

The bill’s stated purpose is to incentivize more dispatchable resources — natural gas, firmed renewables or batteries — by creating an additional revenue stream for dispatchable generation through tradable credits. King described…