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Senate approves energy omnibus after lawmakers faulted the package for stripped bipartisan policy
Summary
Senate File 2, an energy, utilities and climate omnibus, passed after contentious debate over process and removal of bipartisan policy that sponsors said would have reduced ratepayer costs. Final passage was 35–32.
The Minnesota Senate on special session passed Senate File 2, an energy omnibus bill funding commerce and the Public Utilities Commission and setting policy provisions for energy and renewable programs.
Senator Frentz, the bill’s chief author, described the package as a product of months of work and said it funds operating adjustments for the Department of Commerce and the Public Utilities Commission while recovering costs from ratepayers. “This bill is back before you members with none of the policy that the Senate brought forward to save ratepayers money,” Frentz said on the floor, adding that the House provided no renewable development account funding in negotiations.
Several Republican senators said the bill lost critical bipartisan policy items that had been in the committee bill — policy they argued would have lowered costs for ratepayers. “We did have a bipartisan bill that came out of the committee and has done nothing but go downhill ever since,” said Senator Matthews, the GOP energy lead, who called out the lack of transparency and the limited public process for final negotiations. Senator Gruenhagen warned that Minnesota is seeing more households struggle to pay energy bills.
Senators debated community solar and net metering reforms, data center exemptions, backup generation, and policy proposals such as B100 biofuel and hydropower provisions. Sponsors said some policy items (including community solar sunset and net metering modifications) were removed in conference negotiations and that the bill retained funding for agency operations.
The Senate suspended the rules to consider the bill and recorded a roll-call vote after floor debate. The final passage tally recorded 35 ayes and 32 noes; Senate File 2 passed and its title was agreed to.
