Committee says SB112FN language was incorporated into Reggie bill, votes 14-0 not to recommend separate legislation

The New Hampshire House Science, Technology and Energy committee voted 14-0 on June 2 to recommend no further legislation on Senate Bill 112FN, which addresses multi-year purchase power agreements for electric distribution utilities.

Committee members said much of SB112FN's language had already been negotiated into the committee-of-conference report on House Bill 1738, the Reggie reauthorization bill. Chair and committee members described HB1738 as having absorbed the purchase-power language and said that if the conference report is accepted by both chambers, the policy will be placed into statute without a separate SB112FN.

Representative Thomas moved the committee's disposition and the motion was seconded; the clerk called the roll and recorded a unanimous 14-0 vote to not recommend further legislation on SB112FN. Vice Chair Thomas was asked to draft the committee report, and members agreed to place the report on the consent calendar.

During discussion, Representative Harrington reiterated a substantive concern about a portion of the bill that allowed investor-owned electric distribution utilities and the Department of Energy to issue requests for proposals for multi-year energy agreements, saying the provision suggested the state could act as a broker to buy power plants — an involvement he opposed. "This would have the state of New Hampshire being some kind of a broker to buy power plants, which is a function the state should just not be involved in," he said.

Committee members explained that the SB112FN provisions that both bodies favored had been combined into HB1738, improving the chances that the policy language will reach statute through the conference report expected to move on Thursday. The committee closed the executive session on SB112FN after adopting the motion; the committee's reports will be drafted and placed on consent.