Senator Averitt Introduces Omnibus Air Quality, Energy Efficiency
and Climate Bill

Senator Kip Averitt (R-Waco), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, has filed an omnibus bill addressing air quality, energy efficiency and climate change (Senate Bill 16).

SB16 would provide incentives for new, point source-oriented air quality technologies, modify and enhance existing state air quality programs, and establish appliance standards and energy efficient building codes.

Below are a few highlights of this bill:

• The new legislation would build on last session’s Senate Bill 12 by modifying and enhancing the Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP) and the Low Income Vehicle Repair Assistance, Retrofit and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program (LIRAP).
  
  TERP provides grants for replacement and/or retrofitting of large, older heavy-emitting diesel engines, affecting real reductions in emissions from these heavy polluters. The LIRAP program was designed to assist low-income families in making repairs to vehicles that fail the required emissions inspection. The Chamber supports the continued appropriations of funds for these two crucial mobile source programs.
  
  
• A major component of Averitt’s clean air legislation would create a grant program designed to find and develop environmentally clean technologies. In addition, the bill includes incentives for the adoption of innovative clean air technologies including a rebate program for plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles and support for electricity storage projects related to renewable energy.
  
  
• The bill would establish the Energy Efficient Appliance Grant Program, which proposes incentives for the purchase of appliances that meet or exceed federal Energy Star standards as well as encourages the rest of the state to match energy efficient building codes that some municipalities, such as Dallas, have already established.
  
  
• Other notable components of the bill include a strategy to get Texas involved in any federal climate change discussions. Averitt’s legislation would require that the state’s agencies on environmental quality, public utilities and oil and gas regulation work together in the development of federal laws, rules and requirements related to climate change.

We will continue to monitor this bill and other legislative issues during 2009. If you have any feedback on how this bill would affect your company, please contact Meredith Armstrong at marmstrong@dallaschamber.org.