Senate Resumes Considering S 2012

Yesterday the Senate resumed consideration of S 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015. There were 27 amendments considered en bloc and passed by unanimous consent. Four additional amendments (including the substitute language) were approved and four were rejected; all by voice votes. A unanimous consent agreement was reached to schedule a final vote on the bill for today.

Provisions of Interest

The language in the substitute amendment included two specific provisions that could be of specific interest to readers of this bill (described previously here):

• Critical Electric Infrastructure Information; and

• Enhanced Grid Security

Only six of the large number of amendments offered to this bill could have been of interest to readers of this blog. None of those were considered in yesterday’s actions. Those amendments were:

SA 2997 – Sen. WYDEN (D,OR) – Internet of Things;

SA 3163 – Sen. FISCHER (R,NE) – Pipes Act;

SA 3186 – Sen. FISCHER – OSHA Retail Facility Exemption;

SA 3196 – Sen. Mr. KIRK (R,IL) – Large Scale Cyber Incidents;

SA 3197 – Sen. COLLINS (R,ME) – Critical Electric Infrastructure at Greatest Risk;

SA 3236 – Sen. WYDEN – Energy Train Data Collection;

Moving Forward

It is being reported on Twitter that the bill passed this morning by a vote of 85 – 12; as expected a significant bipartisan majority. The question now is whether the House will take up this bill or whether the House will insist on the language in HR 8 that passed along a party-line vote and that the President has threatened to veto. The later choice would lead to a conference committee to work out the differences between the two bills.

NOTE: HR 636 passed yesterday, as expected, by a vote of 95 – 3.