Committee hears bill to raise PUD self-performance thresholds and speed renewable projects

Committee staff told lawmakers Substitute Senate Bill 6076 would make several changes to the authority of consumer-owned utilities — primarily public utility districts (PUDs) — to self-perform certain public-works projects and to waive competitive bidding for certain energy-related purchases through 2045. "First, until 2045, for projects up to $500,000 in value, PUDs would not be required to contract for work that relates to non-emitting electric generation, energy storage, or transmission and distribution projects," staff said.

Rob Hatfield, staff to the committee, explained the bill also raises the industry-practice self-performance threshold from $300,000 to $1,000,000 and modifies bidding and procurement procedures for materials and supplies related to renewable generation and distribution.

Jason Hudson, government affairs director for IBEW Local 77, testified in support, saying the state has "a massive backlog of energy infrastructure work" and that material and transformer costs have risen since the current thresholds were set. "It's time to update thresholds to make a match with modern realities so that we can get this work done faster," Hudson said.

Matt Harris, senior policy analyst for Grama PUD, also supported the bill, describing procurement delays of "up to 60 plus days" in bidding and saying SSB 6076 would help speed both maintenance and construction. Harris told the committee the bill would not change land-acquisition rules: "This bill would not touch land acquisition — this is really the components of what we need to buy to then build."

Staff noted a fiscal note is on file: no state operating or capital impact was projected for Commerce or the Utilities and Transportation Commission, while a local-government fiscal note indicated indeterminate impacts related to training and procurement updates for consumer-owned utilities. No formal vote was taken on SSB 6076 at the hearing.