# Maine LD 597: An Act to Direct the Public Utilities Commission to Conduct Procurements for Energy or Renewable Energy Credits Maine LD 597, An Act to Direct the Public Utilities Commission to Conduct Procurements for Energy or Renewable Energy Credits, is a 132nd Maine Legislature (2025-2026) Senate bill sponsored by Mark W. Lawrence (Democratic); status signed, last action 2025-06-20 (Signed by Governor, ACTPUB Chapter 392); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-17). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD597-132 - As of: 2026-10-17 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Maine LD 597 - State: Maine - Session: 132nd Maine Legislature (2025-2026) - Title: An Act to Direct the Public Utilities Commission to Conduct Procurements for Energy or Renewable Energy Credits - Status: signed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2025-02-19 - Last action: 2025-06-20, Signed by Governor, ACTPUB Chapter 392 - Sponsor: Mark W. Lawrence (Democratic) - Cosponsors: 0 - Subjects: ELECTRIC UTILITIES, ELECTRIC UTILITIES - PLANNING - Touches household money: yes - Economic provisions PRIA read: 5 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Stronger ratepayer protections in contracts: benefit, medium. The law blocks approval of energy contracts unless the commission finds that benefits to ratepayers are more likely than not to beat the costs. Contracts from competitive solicitations must also reduce payments to sellers for energy made when market prices are negative, unless the commission finds… - Bids must show local benefits: benefit, low. Bidders must show local benefits like jobs, taxes paid, and spending on Maine goods and services. The commission prefers projects on contaminated land and those that avoid using good farmland and forests. It must consider congestion and curtailment impacts on other renewable projects. Combined proj… - Contracts for existing renewables: mixed, medium. The utility commission runs one competitive solicitation, started by December 31, 2025, only for Class IA projects that began commercial operation on or before June 30, 2019. It buys energy or renewable credits equal to 5% of Maine’s 2023 retail electricity sales. Contracts are 10 years unless the… - Faster clean energy buying: mixed, medium. The utility commission must quickly buy energy or renewable credits equal to 5% of Maine’s 2021 retail electricity sales, plus any shortfall from earlier contracts. The commission starts this solicitation within 30 days of the law taking effect. If the first round falls short, it can run more round… - Utility commission rule cleanup: mixed, low. The law repeals two older subsections in the energy statute and lets the utility commission choose whether to adopt rules for the procurement section. These updates change how the commission manages rules but keep the main buying programs and protections in place. ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Mark W. Lawrence (Democratic), Senate ## Actions (7) - 2025-06-20: Signed by Governor, ACTPUB Chapter 392 - 2025-06-16: PASSED TO BE ENACTED - Emergency - 2/3 Elected Required, in concurrence. (Senate) - 2025-06-16: This being an emergency measure, a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to the House was necessary.PASSED TO BE ENACTED.Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH. (House) - 2025-06-16: Reports READ.On motion of Representative SACHS of Freeport, the Majority Ought to Pass as Amended Report was ACCEPTED.The Bill was READ ONCE.Committee Amendment "A" (S-401) was READ and ADOPTED.Under suspension of the rules, the Bill was given its SECOND READING without REFERENCE to the Committee on Bills in the Second Reading.The Bill was PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED as Amended by Committee Amendment "A" (S-401). In concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH. (House) - 2025-06-13: Reports READ On motion by Senator LAWRENCE of York The Majority Ought to Pass As Amended Report ACCEPTED in concurrence READ ONCE Committee Amendment "A" (S-401) READ. READ and ADOPTED Under suspension of the Rules, READ A SECOND TIME and PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED AS AMENDED by Committee Amendment "A" (S-401) Ordered sent down forthwith for concurrence (Senate) - 2025-03-21: CARRIED OVER, in the same posture, to the next special or regular session of the 132nd Legislature, pursuant to Joint Order SP 519. (Senate) - 2025-02-19: Received by the Secretary of the Senate on February 19, 2025 and REFERRED to the Committee on ENERGY, UTILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 (Senate) ## Bill text - Amendment C-A (S-401), adopted by House & Senate: [PDF](https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0281&item=2&snum=132) - Enacted: [PDF](https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0281&item=3&snum=132) - Introduced: [PDF](https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0281&item=1&snum=132) ## Related bills - LD 1522: An Act to Establish the Maine Eviction Prevention Program (failed) - LD 1665: An Act to Provide Property Tax Relief to Maine Families (failed) - LD 1872: An Act to Reinvest in the Pension Funds of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (failed) - LD 2067: An Act to Include Community Mental Health Workers Under the 1998 Special Plan for Retirement (failed) - LD 1611: An Act to Decrease the Retirement Contributions Required for Teachers and State Employees (failed) - LD 1294: An Act to Expand the Dependent Exemption Tax Credit (failed) ## Sources - [Amendment C-A (S-401), adopted by House & Senate (PDF)](https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0281&item=2&snum=132) - [Enacted (PDF)](https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0281&item=3&snum=132) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0281&item=1&snum=132) ## Related - [LD 1522: An Act to Establish the Maine Eviction Prevention Program](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD1522-132) - [LD 1665: An Act to Provide Property Tax Relief to Maine Families](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD1665-132) - [LD 1872: An Act to Reinvest in the Pension Funds of the Maine Public Employees Retiremen…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD1872-132) - [LD 2067: An Act to Include Community Mental Health Workers Under the 1998 Special Plan f…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD2067-132) - [LD 1611: An Act to Decrease the Retirement Contributions Required for Teachers and State…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD1611-132) - [LD 1294: An Act to Expand the Dependent Exemption Tax Credit](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD1294-132) - [Maine bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/maine/bills) - [Maine state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/maine) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/ME-LD597-132 (as of 2026-10-17).