Opinion ID: 797855
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Changes in the CIP Legislation

Text: 17 By fall of 1998, Jennings was already discussing obtaining funds through the CIP and had votes lined up to pass legislation necessary to change the CIP to permit Northern Pole to obtain conservation funds. On March 15, 1999, Jennings introduced a new bill to expand the scope of the CIP to include research and development projects. Jennings told lobbyists the CIP legislation was for a constituent. As the bill's chief proponent, Jennings spoke on behalf of the bill, and it was passed out of a subcommittee of the Commerce Committee. On March 18, 1999, Jennings spoke at the full Commerce Committee meeting on behalf of the bill, and the committee members voted to send the bill for a floor vote before the full House. Given his status on the Regulated Industries Committee, as well as his expertise in the field, Jennings carried great weight with his colleagues in the area of utility regulation. On May 3, 1999, Jennings voted in the House to pass the CIP legislation. It passed 128-0, and the governor signed it into law. 18 Section 216B.241, the CIP authorizing statute, was thus amended to include two new groups of projects in the definition of energy conservation improvement: those that seek[] to provide energy savings through reclamation or recycling and that [are] used as part of the infrastructure of an electric generation, transmission, or distribution system within the state or a natural gas distribution system within the state, and those that provide[] research or development of new means of increasing energy efficiency or conserving energy or research or development of improvement of existing means of increasing energy efficiency or conserving energy. Pursuant to the amended law, [e]ach public utility . . . may spend and invest annually up to 15 percent the total amount required to be spent and invested . . . on research and development projects. At no time during the legislative process did Jennings disclose his personal financial interest in Northern Pole.