SD Serious About Paperwork, Not Renewable Energy

When a bill has 74 sponsors (out of 105 members of the Legislature), you know it's fluff: House Bill 1123 makes a less than bold call for a mere 10% of all electricity sold in South Dakota come from renewable and recycled energy resources by 2015. But don't worry, PP-disciples, this isn't some nanny-state requirement telling people what kind of electricity they have to make. HB 1123 isn't a mandate; it's an "objective." The difference? As Section 1 of HB 1123 states, "This objective is voluntary, and there is no penalty or sanction for a retail provider of electricity that fails to meet this objective" [emphasis mine].

The only thing the bill does require is an expenditure of more energy -- bureaucratic energy, as retailers of electricity must send the Public Utilities Commission annual reports on how much of their electricity comes from renewable/recyclable resources. The PUC must then put those reports for all of us online. Thus, the only practical effect of this bill is to make work for electricity providers and a few bureaucrats (until Dec. 1, 2017, when this bill gently expires, as this bill will have made everything right with the world by then).

All three of our District's legislators -- Olson, Gassman, and Sutton -- or listed as co-sponsors. Rep. Olson once said his goal was to get rid of unnecessary legislation, not clutter up the books with a bunch of new laws. This useless HB 1123 looks like a perfect bill on which to exercise that old-fashioned conservative philosophy. If a law is all talk and bureaucracy, let's not waste our time with it.