House panel advances bill to make public EV charger status and create regulatory working group

Chair opened the House Transportation committee and turned discussion to proposed language aimed at improving public electric-vehicle (EV) charging visibility and regulatory clarity. Representative Couch framed the package as two linked pieces: a requirement that network providers or station operators make real-time charger data available to third-party software developers, and a working group to map existing statutes and rules that affect public chargers.

Damian Leonard of the Office of Legislative Council read the bill text and defined key terms such as "charging network provider," "charging station operator," "connector," "port," and levels of chargers. Leonard said the bill would require providers or operators to make, free of charge, the data necessary for third-party apps to show whether a station is available, its power-delivery rating and the price, and to include geographic coordinates suitable for…