The Committee on Judiciary proposes the following amendment (SJ-3309.BJ0010S):

Amend the bill, by striking all after the title but before the enacting words and inserting:

Amend the bill further, SECTION 4, by striking Section 58-4-10(B) and inserting:

 (B) Unless and until it chooses not to participate, the Office of Regulatory Staff must be considered a party of record in all filings, applications, or proceedings before the commission. The regulatory staff must represent the public interest of South Carolina before the commission as it pertains to the matters below:. For purposes of this chapter only, "public interest" means
  (1) the concerns of the using and consuming public with respect to public utility services, regardless of the class of customer,;
  (2) economic development and job attraction and retention in South Carolina; and
  (3) preservation of the continued investment in and maintenance of utility facilities so as to provide reliable and high quality utility services.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 5, by striking Section 58-4-150(C)(8)(c) and inserting:

   (c) recommendations to address any barriers identified in items (a) and (b) in a manner that is consistent with the public interest and which is not duly impactful to nonparticipating customers as it pertains to rate and system impacts, and which is not unduly impactful to entities providing public utility services; and.
  (9) an analysis of the potential for the South Carolina Public Service Authority and the state's electric utilities to construct generation facilities utilizing domestic wood products from South Carolina as a primary or auxiliary fuel source.
 (C)(D) In preparing the plan the Office of Regulatory Staff may retain an outside expert to assist with compiling this report.
 (D)(E) In addition to the information required by this section, the plan must include recommendations for legislative, regulatory, or other public and private actions to best ensure a reliable and reasonably priced energy supply in South Carolina that supports the continued growth and success of this State. In forming these recommendations, the Office of Regulatory Staff must confer with the stakeholder group to ensure the recommendations would likely achieve the intended result for the electric grid, electric generation, and natural gas resources serving South Carolina customers.
 (E)(F) The plan must be submitted to the Public Utilities Review Committee for approval.
 (F)(G) The provisions of this section are subject to funding.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 6, by striking Section 58-38-20 and inserting:

 (3) The EPI shall collaborate across South Carolina in coordination with energy utility providers, private industry, and workforce development to deliver advice on policy creation aligned with the state's distinctive needs and opportunities.
 (4) The EPI shall collaborate with the Energy Center at Clemson University to identify research funding opportunities to meet the urgent needs for energy technology innovation in South Carolina, develop curriculum to ensure relevant academic programming for the future jobs and leadership roles in the new energy industry, provide energy-related training programs to meet the increasing demand for skilled workers in the new energy industry, and promote technology innovation, translational research, and rapid technology transfer from research labs to industry.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 7, by striking Section 58-33-195(D) and inserting:

 (D) The General Assembly encourages the Public Service Authority and the state's electric utilities to complete evaluations for constructing generation facilities utilizing domestic wood products from South Carolina as a primary or auxiliary fuel source.
 (D)(1)(E)(1) In the event any of the projects described in subsections (A), (B), or (C) are approved, the Office of Regulatory Staff, using its authority provided in Title 58, must continuously monitor the project or projects. This includes, but is not limited to, a review of the construction in progress, such as meeting projected timelines and financial projections are met. The Office of Regulatory Staff must provide monthly updates, in writing, to the commission and to the members of the General Assembly. Each electrical utility and the Public Service Authority must cooperate to the fullest extent with the Office of Regulatory Staff.
  (2) The commission may, on its own motion, schedule a hearing to address concerns raised by the Office of Regulatory Staff in its written monthly review to the commission.
  (3) The commission shall consider the Office of Regulatory Staff's written monthly reviews in any future matters concerning any facility described in this section.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 8, by striking Section 58-31-205(A) and inserting:

 (A) The Public Service Authority shall have the power to jointly own, as tenants-in-common or through a limited liability company, with investor-owned electric utilities of electrical generation and transmission facilitiesDominion Energy South Carolina, Inc., one or more natural gas-fired generation facilities, and related transmission facilities, to be constructed on a site at or near Dominion Energy South Carolina, Inc.'s former Canadys coal-fired generation station in Colleton County, the power to plan, finance, acquire, own, operate, and maintain an interest in such plants and facilities necessary or incidental to the generation and transmission of electric power and the power to make plans and enter into such contracts as are necessary or convenient for the planning, financing, acquisition, construction, ownership, operation, and maintenance of such plants and facilities. However, the Public Service Authority shall own a percentage of such plants and facilities equal to the percentage of the money furnished or the value of property supplied by the Public Service Authority for the acquisition and construction of the plants and facilities. The Public Service Authority shall also own and control a like percentage of the electrical output thereof.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 9, by striking Section 13-7-820(5) and inserting:

 (5) to engage stakeholders and develop a strategic plan to advance the development of nuclear generation, including advanced nuclear generation such as small modular reactors, molten salt reactors, fusion energy, and spent nuclear fuel recycling facilities and fusion energy to serve customers in this State in the most economical manner at the earliest reasonable time possible.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 11, by striking Section 58-37-70(C), (D), (E), (F), and (G) and inserting:

 (C) The commission may establish a small modular nuclear reactor pilot program, if such a program is endorsed by the Nuclear Advisory Council. A pilot program must include the following requirements:
  (1) any entity that holds a current license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct or operate at least one existing nuclear electrical generating facility at the time of the application may apply to the commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity pursuant to the Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act;
  (2) a certificate may be granted if obtaining a certification of public convenience and necessity would permit the applicant to apply for, use, or leverage at least thirty percent of the construction costs of the small modular nuclear reactor by utilizing any benefits or incentives available to lower the capital or operating costs including, but not limited to, governmental funds, tax credits, grants, and loan guarantees;
  (3) the costs and benefits of a small modular nuclear reactor are reasonable and prudent compared to the levelized costs of electricity generation from other resources, applying any governmental tax credits and incentives. Factors that must be considered in levelized costs include fuel factors, economic and environmental benefits, and costs associated with any relative externalities;
  (4) no more than three small modular nuclear reactors may receive a permit pursuant to this pilot program.
 (D) An application for this pilot program must include:
  (1) if the project's location:
   (a) is on or adjacent to an existing or former coal electrical generation site;
   (b) is on or adjacent to an existing nuclear facility;
   (c) enables coal plant retirement or emissions reduction in the electrical utility's or the South Carolina Public Service Authority's balancing area; or
   (d) supports diversity in energy production, reliability, and energy security;
  (2) if the project is subject to competitive procurement or solicitation for services and equipment;
  (3) a demonstration that the program's costs and benefits are reasonable and prudent and in the interest of South Carolina customers; and
  (4) any other information the commission may wish to include in the application.
Nothing in this subsection limits any factors that the commission may consider in its determination of an application.
 (E)(1) Reasonable and prudent costs incurred for a small modular nuclear reactor approved pursuant to this section shall be recoverable. In the event an electrical utility abandons a small modular nuclear reactor approved by the commission before its commercial operation, the electrical utility must provide a fulsome accounting to the commission of the circumstances of abandonment. Capital costs may only be recovered if the commission determines that the decision to abandon was reasonable, prudent, and in the public interest; however, these costs shall not include a rate of return. The commission may impose conditions it determines to be necessary to protect customers against unreasonable construction, development, or operational risk including, but not limited to, reporting, inspection, and the potential of requiring the utility to hire an independent third-party construction monitor to evaluate the prudency of the utility's actions and associated expense during the development of the project and construction of the reactor.
  (2) The commission must not allow any cost recovery related to a small modular nuclear reactor outside of a rate case.
 (F)(1)(C)(1) In addition to the small modular nuclear facility pilot program, eElectrical utilities and the South Carolina Public Service Authority are encouraged to shall evaluate the potential for deploying small modular nuclear facilities at suitable sites within this State. A "suitable site" may include sites of current nuclear facilities, sites where nuclear facilities have been proposed but not constructed, and brownfield sites, such as coal generation sites.
  (2) Such an evaluation may include cost estimates of further studies related to a potential small modular nuclear facility to serve customers in South Carolina. This includes, but is not limited to, planning, licensing, and project development, the anticipated timeline of an early site permit, current possibilities or barriers to co-ownership of such facilities, and available federal benefits which may defray costs of these facilities.
  (3) Electric utilities and the Public Service Authority must provide reports on such evaluations to the Public Utilities Review Committee, the Nuclear Advisory Council, and the Public Service Commission by December 31, 2027.When evaluating the potential of a nuclear facility, the applicant must provide notice and annual progress reports to the Public Utilities Review Committee, the Nuclear Advisory Council, and the commission. When available, the applicant must also provide cost estimates of the studies related to a potential nuclear facility to serve customers in South Carolina. This includes, but is not limited to, planning, licensing, and project development, the anticipated timeline of an early site permit, and current possibilities or barriers to co-ownership of such facilities, and available federal benefits which may defray costs of these facilities.
  (3) In the event the commission finds cost estimates provided by an electric utility pursuant to item (2) are reasonable and prudent, the costs may be recoverable through rates, even if an application for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public convenience and necessity have not been filed. However, these costs shall not include a rate of return.
 (G) Nothing in this section relieves an electrical utility or the South Carolina Public Service Authority of the burden of filing for a certificate pursuant to this article and obtaining appropriate approvals from the commission before commencing construction.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 12.A., by striking Section 58-37-110(B) and (C) and inserting:

 (B) All state agencies are instructed to give expedited review of applications for energy infrastructure projects, to provide reasonable and constructive assistance to applicants to allow the applicants to comply with state any law and regulatory requirements as expeditiously as possible, and to be guided by the policy goals established in subsection (A).
 (C) All state agencies are instructed to give due weight to the reduction in the environmental, aesthetic, and socioeconomic impacts that are incurred to support the safe, reliable, and economic provision of energy to the people of South Carolina when energy infrastructure projects can be located in existing energy corridors or on brownfield energy sites, and shall consider the relative reductions in such impacts compared to greenfield projects in evaluating projects in existing energy corridors or on brownfield energy sites.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 12.A., by striking Section 58-37-130 and inserting:

 Section 58-37-130. The applicant or any person whose private rights are affected by an agency decision or action on an application for a permit for any energy infrastructure project may appeal that decision or action to the South Carolina Supreme Court. The Supreme Court shall hear these appeals as a direct appeal in accordance with the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules Rule 203. The Court shall provide for an expedited briefing and hearing of the appeal, in preference to all other nonemergency matters on its docket, and decide such appeals on an expedited basis. Any agency decision or action that is subject to a contested case review before the Administrative Law Court, pursuant to Section 1-23-600 et. seq., shall be appealable under this section upon issuance of an appealable order by the Administrative Law Court.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 16, by striking Section 58-41-20(I) and (J) and inserting:

 (I) The commission is authorized to employ, through contract or otherwise, third-party consultants and experts in carrying out its duties under this section, including, but not limited to, evaluating avoided cost rates, methodologies, terms, calculations, and conditions under this section. The commission is exempt from complying with the State Procurement Code in the selection and hiring of a third-party consultant or expert authorized by this subsection. The commission shall engage, for each utility, a qualified independent third party to submit a report that includes the third party's independently derived conclusions as to that third party's opinion of each utility's calculation of avoided costs for purposes of proceedings conducted pursuant to this section. The qualified independent third party is subject to the same ex parte prohibitions contained in Chapter 3, Title 58 as all other parties. The qualified independent third party shall submit all requests for documents and information necessary to their analysis under the authority of the commission and the commission shall have full authority to compel response to the requests. The qualified independent third party's duty will be to the commission. Any conclusions based on the evidence in the record and included in the report are intended to be used by the commission along with all other evidence submitted during the proceeding to inform its ultimate decision setting the avoided costs for each electrical utility. The utilities may require confidentiality agreements with the independent third party that do not impede the third-party analysis. The utilities shall be responsive in providing all documents, information, and items necessary for the completion of the report. The independent third party shall also include in the report a statement assessing the level of cooperation received from the utility during the development of the report and whether there were any material information requests that were not adequately fulfilled by the electrical utility. Any party to this proceeding shall be able to review the report including the confidential portions of the report upon entering into an appropriate confidentiality agreement. The commission and the Office of Regulatory Staff may not hire the same third-party consultant or expert in the same proceeding or to address the same or similar issues in different proceedings.
 (J) Each electrical utility's avoided cost filing must be reasonably transparent so that underlying assumptions, data, and results can be independently reviewed and verified by the parties and the commission. The commission may approve any confidentiality protections necessary to allow for independent review and verification of the avoided cost filing.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 20, by striking Section 58-37-40(B)(1)(j) and inserting:

   (j) a report addressing updates to the utility's transmission plan under the utility's open-access transmission tariff pursuant to the federal jurisdiction planning process. In this report, the utility shall describe if applicable planned transmission improvements may enable specific siting of new resources or provide expected and planned impacts to other resource interconnection constraints or operations of the systems. The utility shall also describe how it evaluated alternate transmission technologies when developing solutions for identified transmission needs for interconnecting resources.a report addressing updates to the utility's transmission plan under the utility's open access transmission tariff pursuant to the federal jurisdictional planning process. In this report, the utility shall, when applicable, describe planned transmission improvements specific to siting of new resources expected to impact interconnection constraints or other operations of the systems. The utility shall also describe how it evaluated alternate transmission technologies when developing solutions for identified transmission needs for interconnecting resources. The utility's transmission report must include how the utility evaluates transmission investments, including:
    (i) a description of how the utility evaluated a range of transmission solutions, including non-wires alternatives, joint projects with neighboring and other regional utilities, other upgrades to existing facilities, and other best practices. Modeling may consider, as appropriate, grid-enhancing technologies and alternate transmission technologies such as static synchronous compensators, static Volt-Ampere Reactive (VAR) compensators, advanced power flow control devices, transmission switching, synchronous condensers, voltage source converters, advanced conductors, switchable reactors, and tower lifting in a manner consistent with common utility practice;
    (ii) a description of how transmission factored into the utility's evaluation of the range of future scenarios included in the fifteen-year time period of the utility's resource plan, including significant continued economic growth and the retirement of the utility's coal generation;
    (iii) a discussion of transmission considerations for facilities included in the utility's preferred resource plan for which there are particular sites specified;
    (iv) information such that intervenors and stakeholders can pursue participation in local transmission planning collaborative activities which are held pursuant to orders from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and
    (v) any other information that the utility believes is relevant to its resource plan or future transmission investments.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 23, by striking Section 58-33-310(C) and inserting:

 (C) Any final order on the merits issued pursuant to this chapter shall be immediately appealable to the Supreme Court of South Carolina in accordance with South Carolina Appellate Court Rule 203,. The Supreme Court shall provide for expedited briefing and hearing of the appeal in preference to all other nonemergency matters. The commission must not be a party to an appeal.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 30.A., by striking Section 58-3-70 and inserting:

 Section 58-3-70. The chairman and members of the commission shall receive annual salaries payable in the same manner as the salaries of other state officers are paid. The commission members shall receive a salary in an amount equal to ninety percent of the salary fixed for the circuit court judgesAssociate Justices of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Each commissioner must devote full time to his duties as a commissioner and must not engage in any other employment, business, profession, or vocation during the normal business hours of the commission.

Amend the bill further, by striking SECTION 30.B and inserting:

B.  This section is effective beginning with the fiscal year immediately following the next Public Service Commission election after the effective date of this act.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 31, by striking Section 58-41-50(B)(1) and inserting:

 (B)(1) An electrical utility may file a proposed agreement regarding co-located resources between the utility and a customer or multiple customers with an electric load in excess of 25 megawatts for the commission's consideration. The proposed agreement must contain at least one of the following requirements:
   (a) co-location of electric generation or storage on the customer's property provides bulk system benefits for all customers and benefits for the host customer;
   (b) co-location of renewable electric generation resources on the customer's property provides bulk system benefits for all customers and the renewable attributes associated with such generation can be allocated to the host customer;
   (c) co-location of electric generation on the customer's property would result in permitting and siting efficiencies to enable electric generation to come online earlier than otherwise could occur; or
   (d) co-location of electric generation resources on the customer's property could be utilized as resiliency resources to serve the electric grid in times of need.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 31, by striking Section 58-41-50(B)(2)(a), (b), (c), and (d) and inserting:

   (a) how the resource helps to serve resource needs identified in the electrical utility's most recent integrated resource plan filing;
   (b)(a) credit and ratepayer protections included in the agreement;
   (c)(b) the contractual terms that preserves the electrical utility's operation of resources; and
   (d)(c) how costs and benefits associated with the agreement would be allocated among the customer who is a party to the agreement and other customers in the electrical utility's balancing area.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 31, by striking Section 58-41-50(C)(1) and inserting:

  (1) the proposed program was voluntarily agreed upon by the electrical utility and the customer or multiple customers,

Amend the bill further, SECTION 31, by striking Section 58-41-50(D) and inserting:

 (D) For purposes of this section, "co-located" or "co-location" includes electric generation, storage, renewables, and associated facilities on a customer's site as well as any location where the connection to the electrical utility is in such proximity to the customer's site that enables resilient power supply to support the development of power supply to meet the customer's needs. An agreement regarding co-location may also include potential co-ownership of the electric generation and associate facilities by the electrical utility and the customer. A customer participating in a co-location or co-ownership agreement shall not be considered an electrical utility.

Amend the bill further, by adding an appropriately numbered SECTION to read:

SECTION X. Chapter 33, Title 58 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

 Section 58-33-200. For any construction project with a project budget of at least five hundred million dollars and in order to maintain the financial integrity of significant expenditures affecting ratepayers, the Office of Regulatory Staff shall retain an independent construction analyst who shall monitor the construction project on a regular basis and who shall provide to the Office of Regulatory Staff, the Public Service Commission, the Public Utilities Review Committee, and the Joint Bond Review Committee regular reports as to the status of the construction efforts as needed, but at least on a quarterly basis.

Renumber sections to conform.

Amend title to conform.