Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) presents HB 1423 to the Indiana House Utilities and Energy Committee on 1/27/14. Photo taken by Laura Ann Arnold with an iPad.
Just in case you were wondering, HB 1423 started out life as a vehicle bill.
It is now on the Third Reading Calendar in the House.
Click here to read the bill> http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2014/bills/house/1423/#
IndianaDG supports the bill as cuirrently written.
One of Indiana's only financial incentives for residential tax payers who have solar, wind and geothermal energy systems is the ability NOT TO BE PENALIZED by paying higher property taxes resulting from an increase in their assessed value of the property after installing one of these renewable energy systems. This is now in jeopardy and it could get worse.
HB 1234 will reduce this meager financial incentive by 50%!
Ask your Indiana State Representative to oppose HB 1234 as currently written and/or tell them to ask Rep. Jeff Thompson to amend the bill if it moves to the Indiana State Senate to remove this language which will hamper solar, wind and geothermal systems for residential tax payers.
DSIREUSA Explanation of current incentive.
If HB 1234 is authored by Rep. Jeffrey Thompson (R-Lizton) See http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r28/bio.htm
If Rep. Jeff Thompson is your state legislator, please contact him h28@iga.in.gov or (317) 232-9790 (office) or (317) 994-6329 (in district).
To find out who your state representative is visit:
http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2014/legislators/
Here is part of the Synopsis for HB 1234
Synopsis: Property tax matters. Provides that for residential real
property or a mobile home that is not assessed as real property and that
is equipped with a solar, wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric heating or
cooling system, the assessed value of the property is not to be increased
if the improvement replaces a traditional heating or cooling system.
Changes the assessed value deduction amounts from 100% to 50% of
the out-of-pocket costs for solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric
devices that are placed on residential property.
SECTION 2. IC 6-1.1-4-43 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA CODE
11 AS A NEW SECTION TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
12 JANUARY 1, 2015]: Sec. 43. The assessed value of residential real
13 property or a mobile home that is not assessed as real property is
14 not to be changed as a result of an improvement that:
15 (1) consists of a solar, wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric
16 heating or cooling system; and (2) replaces an existing heating or cooling system.
...
28 (e) The percentage to be used in this section for:
29 (1) residential real property or a mobile home that is not
30 assessed as real property is fifty percent (50%); and
31 (2) any property not covered by subdivision (1) is one hundred
32 percent (100%).
The Fiscal Impact Statement for HB 1234 states:
Summary of Legislation: (Amended) Energy Systems: The bill provides that for residential real property or a mobile home that is not assessed as real property and that is equipped with a solar, wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric heating or cooling system, the assessed value of the property is not to be increased if the improvement replaces a traditional heating or cooling system. It also changes the assessed value deduction amounts from 100% to 50% of the out-of-pocket costs for solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric devices that are placed on residential property.
...
Explanation of Local Revenues: Energy Systems - Assessments: Under this provision, an assessor would be prohibited from changing the assessed value of residential property if an existing heating or cooling system is replaced with a solar, wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric heating or cooling system. If the new system is worth more than the old system, then this provision would result in a loss of new assessed value.
Energy Systems - Deductions: This provision would shift part of about $2 M in net property tax to owners of energy systems from other taxpayers. The other part of the $2 M represents a possible reduction in circuit breaker losses for some local civil units and school corporations. For residential property, this provision would limit the deduction for solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric devices to 50% of the system's cost. Currently, all property owners may deduct 100% of the system cost from the property's AV.
For taxes payable in 2013 (2012 in LaPorte County), there were 2,080 residential deductions for solar and wind systems, totaling $32.1 M. There were also 10,728 residential deductions for hydroelectric and geothermal systems, totaling $146.9 M. The total residential deduction for all energy systems was $179.1 M, or 72% of the total for energy systems deductions claimed by the owners of both residential and nonresidential property.
Under the bill, deductions would decline by $89.5 M and the tax base would rise by that amount. At an average residential tax rate, this AV equates to about $2 M in net tax.
Of you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Laura.Arnold@IndianaDG.net or call (317) 635-1701.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) Nominating Committee begins its interview process this morning in Room 319 of the Indiana State House. The interviews begin today (1/30/14) and continue tomorrow (1/31/14). The IURC Nominating Committee will conduct the interviews pursuant to the Indiana Open Door Law, therefore, the interviews are open to the public. The IURC Nominating Committee, however, is expected to go into Executive Session upon the conclusion of the interviews tomorrow. The Committee is tasked with selecting the names of six individuals to submit to Governor Pence to fill two current vacancies on the IURC.
Governor Pence is expected to appoint two Republicans for the vacancies since state law permits not more than three of the IURC members can be of the same political party as the Governor. The two vacancies were created by two Republicans leaving the IURC, namely, Larry Landis and Kari Bennett.
The Committees' proposed interview schedule is below:
| Interview: Time, Date | Name | ||||
| 8:30am 1/30/14 | Keith Beall | ||||
| 9:15am 1/30/14 | David Coker | ||||
| 10:00am 1/30/14 | Laura Cvengros | ||||
| 10:45am 1/30/14 | Carol Drake | ||||
| 11:30am 1/30/14 | Eric Hand | ||||
| 12:15pm 1/30/14 BREAK FOR LUNCH | |||||
| 12:45pm 1/30/14 | Robert Hartley | ||||
| 1:30pm 1/30/14 | James Huston | ||||
| 2:15pm 1/30/14 | Marty Irwin | ||||
| 3:00pm 1/30/14 | Richard Maultra | ||||
| 3:45pm 1/30/14 | Matthew Klein | ||||
| 4:30pm 1/30/14 | Bill Malcolm | ||||
| Interview: Time, Date | Name | ||||
| 8:30am 1/31/14 | David Yount | ||||
| 9:15am 1/31/14 | Angela Weber | ||||
| 10:00am 1/31/14 | Marcus Turner | ||||
| 10:45am 1/31/14 | Stuart Summers | ||||
| 11:30am 1/31/14 | Carol Stephan | ||||
|
12:15pm 1/31/14 BREAK FOR LUNCH |
|||||
| 12:45pm 1/31/14 | Craig Shumaker | ||||
| 1:30pm 1/31/14 | Greg Server | ||||
| 2:15pm 1/31/14 | Jim Ray | ||||
| 3:00pm 1/31/14 | Michael Musa | ||||
Rep. Steven Braun is standing at the lectern just left of the American flag in this photo taken in Room 156-A of the State House.
The Indiana House Utilities and Energy Committee met on 1/27/14 to hear testimony on HB 1162 concerning competitive procurement for utilities introduced by Rep. Steven Braun (R-Zionsville). The bill was amended in committee which substantially "watered down" the impact of the bill.
Those testifying in support of the amended version of HB 1162 included:
The IEA was the rumored author of the watered down amendment.
Those testifying against the amended version of HB 1162 and expressing considerable doubt that the amended version of the bill would really do anything included:
Click here for a copy of the amended HB 1162 >
http://iga.in.gov/static-documents/f/e/6/5/fe6504c5/HB1162.02.COMH.pdf
Click here for a copy of the introduced version of HB 1162 >
http://iga.in.gov/static-documents/c/9/7/1/c9711697/HB1162.01.INTR.pdf
HB 1162 received a DO PASS Amended vote of 7 to 2 with Rep. Kreg Battles (D-Vincennes) and Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) voting NO.
HB 1162 now awaits further action by the full Indiana House of Representatives.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) Nominating Committee announced today(1/24/14) the names of 21 people who will be interviewed as a candidate for the position of commissioner at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). The interviews will be conducted on Thursday, January 30 and Friday, January 31 in Room 319 of the State House, Indianapolis, IN. The interviews themselves will be held in public under the Indiana Open Door Law. Once the interviews are concluded on 1/31/14 the members of the IURC Nominating Committee will meet in Executive Session to select two sets of three candidates to be forwarded to Governor Mike Pence.
The candidates to be interviewed are: (listed in alphabetical order)
Many of the candidates are personally known to IndianaDG. We will monitor as many of these interviews as we can next week.