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 mapping. He said the Secretary of Transportation would adopt rules to implement the standard and that the bill allows operators to attach reasonable conditions to protect confidential business information so long as those conditions do not prevent third-party apps from using the data.

Committee members asked whether the requirement would make data available to widely used apps such as PlugShare and whether apps would be required to integrate the data. Leonard replied the bill requires the information be made available to third parties; it is up to individual developers whether they integrate it. Members raised user‑experience problems the bill does not directly address, including weak cell service at some rural chargers, user interface issues such as QR-codes in bright sun, and the variety of billing models used by networks.

The bill also would create an EV charger regulation working group chaired by the Secretary of Transportation (or a designee) with designees from the Agency of Agriculture (weights and measures), the Department of Taxes, the Public Utility Commission, Department of Commerce and Community Development, and a representative of the public power supply authority. The working group’s charge is to identify duplicative or conflicting laws and gaps—ranging from signage, inspection and certification, permissible payment methods, to tax treatment for public versus private or tenant-only chargers—and to recommend legislative or regulatory fixes. Leonard said the working group must report back by December 15 and hold an initial meeting on or before Sept. 15; the authorization would sunset on Dec. 31.

Agency staff signaled the complexity of the task. "This is crosscutting," Michelle Bower of the Agency of Transportation told the committee, noting many elements—tax policy, weights and measures, public utilities and digital infrastructure—fall outside a single agency’s sole purview. Patrick Murphy, the state policy director, agreed stakeholders need to be convened so the agencies can identify which items they are already addressing and which require new legislative action.

Committee members discussed jurisdictional options (whether the policy belongs in transportation, commerce, or energy committees), possible amendments, and next steps. Chair said the committee would circulate edited language and return at markup. The committee did not take a formal vote on the bill during the session.

The next procedural steps are for counsel to send the revised draft for editing and for the committee to consider the text at markup scheduled for 8:45 a.m. the following day. The working group language remains in the draft and, if enacted, would require the Secretary of Transportation to convene stakeholders and deliver a report by Dec. 15.