To All Concerned About Senate Commerce Committee Action This Week in the
Iowa Senate:
Yes, the facts of Rep. Whitakerıs email are quite accurate. And, we do have
a lot of work to do yet in the Senate on this whole issue. But, letıs
clarify this a bit.
The amendment in the committee was a tactical amendment agreed to by and
supported by both the Republicans and Democrats unanimously. It was tactical
in order to bring the bill out without actually have much subcommittee and
committee work done on it to get it on the Calendar and avoid the bill
Funnel deadline of Friday next week which ends new bills from committee
(exclusive of Appropriations and Ways & Means bills.)
All of the committee agreed that getting the bill on the Calendar was to
keep it very much alive, and all issues contained therein "on the table" for
discussion. Indeed, the primary reason the Democrats agreed to this maneuver
is because the bill is such a high priority in the Governorıs agenda and he
too has not agreed to an RPS mandate as yet. His is a goal, so to be
relevant at this moment they needed to agree with this also.
Those of us who lobby on our side of this issue have been systematically
working the committee members and leadership and are quite clear in our
organizationsı support for the RPS standard. Legislators at this point in
time are still very much in a learning mode on this issue and as we are able
to make clear the need for this and how it creates markets, just as for
ethanol years ago, then they begin to see how it can work.
ACTION: So, do make your contacts with legislators. That is very important.
Do go to their town meetings on weekends, take friends, and bring up this
issue. Do it in a very informative and educational approach, engage them in
a conversation about it, and I think you will even be able to engage other
community persons at those meetings in it as well. There is lots of public
support for this and those conversations will help to demonstrate that.
Remember the ethanol model of how we created that market in much the same
way over the years with government subsidy and lesser gasoline gallon tax.
Also, another major sticking point issue is whether this is to apply to
municipal utilities and RECıs as well. You will hear legislators bring that
up. The coalition we are in has been officially neutral on this, up to this
point. Clearly, we all would like the same result from all energy producers
and it is an open question whether this will apply to those in the final
bill. In addition, there is some question of whether the state has such
authority on that issue. So, handle this part of the conversation carefully,
keep the conversation open on it, and let this one develop as time goes on.
I hope this is helpful, albeit long! But we do need to keep a level head on
this issue. The public is generally with us. There is still a very high
likelihood of success generally on this issue this year, and our communal
approach needs to be very positive, educational and open, on how to achieve
the success we want.
Thanks for reading.
Lyle Krewson
____________________________________________
Lyle Krewson
Professional Lobbying Services
6403 Aurora Avenue #3
Des Moines, IA 50322-2862
[log in to unmask]
515/276-8947 - Ofc/Res
515/238-7113 - Cel
____________________________________________
On 3/5/03 10:59 p, "Philip Scott" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Everyone needs to call their state senator today and protest this
> action. These twits shouldn't be able to get away with this crap!
> Phil
> On Wednesday, March 5, 2003, at 01:24 PM, Jack Eastman wrote:
>
>>
>> ----------
>> From: "Whitaker, John" <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 13:01:13 -0600
>>
>> Senate File 117 - A bill for an act providing annual purchase or
>> generation requirements for certain electric utilities from alternate
>> energy production facilities, requiring establishment of a system of
>> alternate energy credit trading, making related changes, and providing
>> an effective date.
>>
>> Note:
>> This bill was drastically changed in the Committee on Commerce in the
>> Senate. The increase to the renewable standard to 10% was removed by
>> amendment, but the subsections on allowing trading of the renewable
>> energy credits continue, so we really need to do some major work on
>> this if it comes out of the full Senate in this form. In this form it
>> actually would be less that what we have today. Full text of the
>> bill and amendment can be found at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/, then
>> Legislative Database Information, then Information by Bill: Display a
>> Bill and Amendments (Bill Book).
>>
>> John Whitaker
>> State Representative
>>
>
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