An omnibus bill governing some statewide energy initiatives will have to wait just a little longer.
Senate File 4504 — authored by Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato — is an omnibus bill with a number of sections pertaining to nuclear energy, Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program and local data centers.
The discussion was moving along without much complication before the introduction of amendment A8, which would, in short, make it slightly easier for data centers to move forward. The amendment was originally proposed as a bill, but failed to make it out of the Senate.
Much of the frustrations from the members of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment and Climate surrounding this bill came from the controversial nature of data centers.
“We passed data center provisions last year and we had people on both sides who (were) very unhappy,” Frentz said. “The community of North Mankato, where I live, had a data center on the drawing board (and it) got knocked out. … The impacts on the city of North Mankato property tax base are so profound that I’ll get in trouble with my city council if I actually tell you how much money it is.”
The amendment was ultimately denied by a 5-4 vote.
Other, less controversial measures in the omnibus bill include funding for the energy assistance program, often used by residents to avoid disconnections.
“We get calls from many Minnesotans who are unable to keep up with their energy costs,” Annie Levenson-Falk, with the Citizen’s Utility Board, said. “CUB’s team might speak with more than 1,000 people this year about utility disconnections, but unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans are in these situations.”
The omnibus bill would appropriate $15 million to the program. While she’s appreciative of the funding, Levenson-Falk noted that it won’t be enough to fund the program fully or allow the energy assistance program to continue through the summer, when most home disconnections happen.
After nearly three hours of discussion, the committee tabled the omnibus bill and discussion of all other attached amendments until Monday due to a time constraint on the room the committee was meeting in. It’s an unfortunate reality of how the process works sometimes.
“Members of the public, I’m sorry for the disappointment that this bill process is taking. But this happens sometimes. We want to get this right more than we want to get it in a hurry,” Frentz said.