In today’s Spotlight on the 87th Legislative Session, we look back on legislation that protected subsidies for unreliable wind and solar energy. House Bill 1607 was authored by State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) and was passed out of the House with a wide margin of support.
HB 1607 sought to deal with the failures of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) during the severe winter storm of 2021 which left millions of Texans without power. Although ERCOT is still in need of reform, the solution is never more government. The legislation ultimately endeavored to keep in place energy subsidies that included both wind and solar energy. TFR opposes subsidies regardless of what type of energy is produced, as it ultimately picks winners and losers and stifles free enterprise. There has been a concerted effort by the Texas legislature to dole out corporate welfare to “green energy” which has been proven to be unreliable time and time again and largely dependent on advantageous weather conditions.
Texas certainly should not be in the business of handing out corporate welfare to those that would seek to destroy our oil-based economy with gimmicks favored by leftists. Despite the Republican platform opposing subsidies, a majority of House Republican lawmakers chose to support providing additional corporate welfare for progressive companies and passed this legislation out of the chamber with only 23 Republicans standing in opposition.
Fortunately, the more conservative Texas Senate chose not to take up and consider the legislation, ending its legislative prospects. Will Texas taxpayers continue to elect Representatives that work against limited government and fiscally responsible policies? We will find out on March 1st!
Texas taxpayers should be aware of the tremendous resource made available to them in the Fiscal Responsibility Index. TFR spent hundreds of hours analyzing votes that your lawmakers take and we have condensed them into an easily understandable metric that is available for anyone to use. We recommend you look at how fiscally responsible your lawmaker is before casting your ballot in the upcoming primary election.
Stay tuned, additional spotlights are to come!
