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House Energy & Environment

Wednesday, March 25, 2026·▶ Watch / Listen

The House Energy & Environment Committee advanced HB26-1225, a bill to speed community solar development ahead of a 2029 federal tax-credit deadline, sending it to Finance over a rare bipartisan objection driven by a fierce fight with electrical unions and Xcel Energy.

Key Actions

·Distributed Energy Resources RequirementsPassed

Notable Quotes

The vast majority of that time is not actually doing the work, but waiting in line to do the work. It's kind of like Disneyland, but there's no wait line music or mascots to look at.

Mike Foote (SunShare) · witnessThe proponents' central complaint — that Xcel's interconnection queue, not the labor itself, is the bottleneck delaying community solar projects.

+ 5 more quotes

Votes

Referred to Committee on FinanceAction
Yes (9)Manny Rutinel, Lesley Smith, Jenny Willford, Elizabeth Velasco, Alex Valdez, Ken DeGraaf, Jamie Jackson, Junie Joseph, Lori Goldstein
No (4)Scott Slaugh, Dan Woog, Carlos Barron, Amy Paschal
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TranscriptPreview
Energy and Environment will come to order. Ms. Falco, please call the roll. Representatives Barone. Presente. DeGraff. Excused. Goldstein. Here. Jackson. I see Rep. DeGraff is here now. Joseph. Pascal. Here. Grudineau. Excused. Saw. Excused. Smith. Wilford. Luke. He is here. In the back there. Velasco. Excused. And Mr. Chair, I'm here. Welcome. We're going to hear one bill today. We apologize for our delay. It's. It's not that time of year, but it's getting there. We have today before us 1225 and our sponsors are joining us here at the dais. Hello. Welcome. You all look familiar. Do I know you're from somewhere? Tell us about it. Tell us about your bill. Yeah, tell us about it. Tell us about your bill. Who'd like to begin? Representative smith. Thank you, Mr. Chair and esteemed committee members. I'm happy to introduce House Bill 1225 alongside my good colleague Representative Wilford. HB 261225 is designed to accelerate community solar development before federal tax credits expire at the end of 2029. Community solar is a form of distributed distributed generation that expands access to clean energy for renters and households that cannot install rooftop solar benefits low income ratepayers through bill savings
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