Chairman Lager says bill needs more work before it is sent to the floor
Jefferson City, Mo. – Senate Bill 207, the ISRS legislation, was not passed out of the Senate Utilities Committee Tuesday afternoon, as was previously 
planned.
“The bill needs some more work before we send it to the floor,” Committee Chairman and Sen. Brad Lager, R-12, said. “This is a complicated piece of legislation with many interested stakeholders, and it is taking longer to make sure we find something everyone can live with.”
Currently, the bill would raise utility rates while authorizing utility companies to make more investments in infrastructure at lower costs. It would also lead to substantial changes in how utility companies interact with the Public Service Commission leading to a great deal of deregulation.
Last week there were nearly three hours of debate in a standing room only hearing room ending with many questions about the legislation.
“This is one bill where the hearing truly mattered,” Lager said. “The senators on the committee had more questions after the meeting than before.”
Though the bill is still in committee, conservative opposition is building. The American Conservative Union announced its opposition to SB207 last week in a statement sent to its members.
“Missouri’s electric companies are government-granted monopolies and are not real businesses in the sense that they have no competition and are guaranteed a profit by government regulators,” wrote Larry Hart, government relations director for the group. “There is never a good time to increase the burden on businesses and the citizens of Missouri, but this is the absolute worst time”.
Americans for Prosperity is holding a press conference Wednesday morning to voice their opposition.
“Last week, Americans for Prosperity the state’s leading advocate for low taxes and fiscal responsibility asked its 51,000 member activists what they thought about SB207,” said Patrick Werner, their State Director, in a statement to The Missouri Times. “From the several hundred responses we received back, an overwhelming majority do not want to see another surcharge on their electric bill. Many of our members are not immune to the prolonged economic slump we have been experiencing as a nation for the past four years and asking Missourians to pay more of their hard earned dollars or from their fix incomes doesn’t seem to make good economic sense right now.”
During his Monday media availability meeting, House Speaker Tim Jones said the bill would “need a lot of work to move in the House.”
“We are pretty comfortable with where the legislation is at this point,” Irl Scissors, executive director of Missourians for Balanced Energy Future, said. “It is completely understandable that with an issue as complex as this one, that a little more time could be needed.”
Scissors said in an effort to streamline regulations should be supported by groups who are conservative.
“Since when is a deregulation bill not a conservative issue?” Scissors asked.
One Senator, on the condition of anonymity, suggested the bill that was introduced was a much larger package than was previously discussed, and one Senate staffer indicated that Kansas City Power and Light was unhappy that a key provision they supported was left out of the final bill.
This week, Lager said he intends to host intense meetings with key senators in hopes of finding a compromise with a goal of passing the bill out of committee next Tuesday.
“It is my goal to pass the bill out of committee next Tuesday, but if it isn’t ready then we will continue working,” Lager concluded.
