# 119-s-3947: REWIRE Act

119-s-3947, REWIRE Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3947
- As of: 2026-09-10
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-3947
- Congress: 119
- Title: REWIRE Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2026-02-26
- Sponsor: Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Energy
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-10

## Summary

**Clear path to faster transmission upgrades inside existing rights‑of‑way.** This bill would accelerate reconductoring and the deployment of grid‑enhancing technologies, create rules to better reward investment in advanced conductors, expand state funding eligibility, and fund lab modeling plus technical assistance. - Households and consumers would get more reliable transmission and fewer local outages as lines are rebuilt and smart equipment is added. - Utilities and developers would get a new return‑on‑equity framework aimed at improving investment incentives while protecting customers. The Commission would have 1 year to issue rules and advanced conductors are defined to deliver about 70% greater capacity than traditional lines. - States, researchers, and project developers would gain access to State Energy Program funding for reconductoring, a National Laboratory probabilistic modeling program with regional collaboratives, and a federal technical assistance clearinghouse with an application guide within 1 year.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT), 2026-02-26T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- National labs grid modeling program: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would direct the Secretary of Energy to have national labs build probabilistic models for transmission planning, resource adequacy, and integrated resource planning. Labs would work with FERC and the reliability organization. Models would include weather, congestion, outages, c…
- Help and funding for grid upgrades: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would let State Energy Program funds pay for reconductoring with advanced conductors and for grid-enhancing technologies. The Secretary of Energy would have to publish an application guide within one year and update it each year. The Secretary would also provide technical assis…
- Higher returns for transmission investors: mixed, high. If enacted, the bill would require FERC to issue new or revised rules within one year to improve return on equity for investments in advanced transmission conductors. The bill also defines an "advanced transmission conductor" by explicit technical tests: at least 10% lower DC resistance, at least 7…
- Faster permitting for grid upgrades: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would let certain grid capacity work inside existing rights-of-way or on previously disturbed land skip full NEPA review. The exclusion would cover repair, replacement, upgrades, minor relocations, adding storage, reconductoring, and installing grid-enhancing tech. The change w…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2120: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-s-836: Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act
- 119-s-2904: SHADOW Fleet Sanctions Act of 2026
- 119-s-278: Kids Off Social Media Act

## Sources
- [119-s-3947 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3947)

## Related
- [119-s-2120: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2120)
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541)
- [119-s-836: Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-836)
- [119-s-2904: SHADOW Fleet Sanctions Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2904)
- [119-s-278: Kids Off Social Media Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-278)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3947 (as of 2026-09-10).