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Senate approves bill to accelerate electric transmission projects with added PSC oversight
Summary
The Montana Senate amended and passed Senate Bill 301 to speed construction of electric transmission lines while clarifying review authority for the Public Service Commission over project costs and overruns.
Senators on the floor approved Senate Bill 301 after adopting an amendment that expands the Public Service Commission’s authority to review project costs.
Senator Zollnikov, the bill sponsor, told the Committee of the Whole the measure is intended to “build transmission in a faster route with proper oversight of the public service commission,” and said stakeholders across the political spectrum had worked on the proposal.
The adopted amendment—listed in the transcript as SB0301.003.001—clarifies that when the commission reviews cost deviations it may consider the project’s full cost picture, not just individual overruns. Zollnikov said the change ensures ratepayers do not bear the cost of overruns without the commission accounting for underruns elsewhere on the project: "[The PSC] gets to look at the whole picture." The amendment was adopted on a 50-0 recorded vote.
After no further amendments were offered, the committee reported the bill as recommended. The Senate then voted to pass Senate Bill 301 as amended, with a recorded vote of 50-0.
The Senate’s action moves the bill forward in the legislative process; the measure includes an immediate effective date in its text as presented on second reading.
Votes at a glance in the transcript record: the amendment to SB 301 passed 50-0 and the bill passed as amended 50-0.
Ending: The Senate report placed SB 301 among bills the committee recommended do pass when the committee report was adopted later in the session.
