RECHARGE Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2241 To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require States to consider measures to promote greater electrification of the transportation sector, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Mr. HICKENLOOPER (for himself and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require States to consider measures to promote great- er electrification of the transportation sector, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Responsibly and Equi- 4 tably Change How Auto-charging Rates Get Evaluated 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘RECHARGE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2241.IS S2241 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2241 IS SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION OF MEASURES TO PROMOTE 1 GREATER ELECTRIFICATION OF THE TRANS- 2 PORTATION SECTOR. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 111(d) of the Public Util- 4 ity Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) 5 is amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(20) ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING PRO- 7 GRAMS.—Each State shall consider measures to pro- 8 mote greater electrification of the transportation sec- 9 tor, including the establishment of rates that— 10 ‘‘(A) promote affordable and equitable 11 electric vehicle charging options for residential, 12 commercial, and public electric vehicle charging 13 infrastructure; 14 ‘‘(B) improve the customer experience as- 15 sociated with electric vehicle charging, including 16 by reducing charging times for light-, medium- 17 , and heavy-duty vehicles; 18 ‘‘(C) accelerate both third-party investment 19 and investments by electric utilities in electric 20 vehicle charging stations for light-, medium-, 21 and heavy-duty vehicles; and 22 ‘‘(D) appropriately recover the marginal 23 costs of delivering electricity to electric vehicles 24 and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.’’. 25 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2241.IS S2241 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2241 IS (1) TIME LIMITATION.—Section 112(b) of the 1 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 2 U.S.C. 2622(b)) is amended by adding at the end 3 the following: 4 ‘‘(7)(A) Not later than 1 year after the date of 5 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 6 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 7 which the State has ratemaking authority) and each 8 nonregulated utility shall commence consideration 9 under section 111, or set a hearing date for consid- 10 eration, with respect to the standard established by 11 paragraph (20) of section 111(d). 12 ‘‘(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of 13 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 14 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 15 which the State has ratemaking authority), and each 16 nonregulated electric utility shall complete the con- 17 sideration and make the determination under section 18 111 with respect to the standard established by 19 paragraph (20) of section 111(d).’’. 20 (2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Section 112(c) of 21 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 22 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended by adding at the 23 end the following: ‘‘In the case of the standard es- 24 tablished by paragraph (20) of section 111(d), the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2241.IS S2241 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2241 IS reference contained in this subsection to the date of 1 enactment of this Act shall be deemed to be a ref- 2 erence to the date of enactment of that paragraph.’’. 3 (3) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the 5 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 6 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended by adding at the 7 end the following: 8 ‘‘(g) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.—Subsections (b) and 9 (c) shall not apply to the standard established by para- 10 graph (20) of section 111(d) in the case of any electric 11 utility in a State if, before the date of enactment of this 12 subsection— 13 ‘‘(1) the State has implemented for the electric 14 utility the standard (or a comparable standard); 15 ‘‘(2) the State regulatory authority for the 16 State or the relevant nonregulated electric utility has 17 conducted a proceeding to consider implementation 18 of the standard (or a comparable standard) for the 19 electric utility; or 20 ‘‘(3) the State legislature has voted on the im- 21 plementation of the standard (or a comparable 22 standard) for the electric utility during the 3-year 23 period ending on that date of enactment.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2241.IS S2241 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2241 IS (B) CROSS-REFERENCE.—Section 124 of 1 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 2 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2634) is amended— 3 (i) by striking ‘‘this subsection’’ each 4 place it appears and inserting ‘‘this sec- 5 tion’’; and 6 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: ‘‘In the case of the standard estab- 8 lished by paragraph (20) of section 111(d), 9 the reference contained in this section to 10 the date of enactment of this Act shall be 11 deemed to be a reference to the date of en- 12 actment of that paragraph.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2241.IS S2241 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS