State District 44 Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, will serve as chair of the Senate Interim Study Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications to prepare for the 2024 legislative session.

This year, the committee will review the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ report on broadband deployment and briefing on the federal Broadband Equity Access Development program; study the briefing on the state of the CenterPoint Securitization Pilot Program; study the briefing on the potential impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed power emissions rulemaking; review MISO’s report on the reliability forecast and sloped demand curve during capacity auctions; study the briefing on the Purdue University and Duke Energy small modular reactor feasibility study; and review the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s report on the supply, demand and consumer price outlooks in the near and long-term future.

Legislators will meet over the summer and fall months to discuss topics approved by the bipartisan Legislative Council, which is comprised of 16 voting members — eight from the Senate and eight from the House of Representatives.

To view study committee agendas and stream hearings online, visit iga.in.gov. To view a list of topics that will be examined by the committees, visit iga.in.gov/documents/cd84f5aa.

Koch, chair of the Senate Committee on Utilities, holds a graduate certificate in energy policy planning from the University of Idaho. He serves as co-chair of the Energy Supply Task Force of the National Conference of State Legislatures and as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council on Electricity Policy.

He was a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee. He focuses on energy, water and telecommunications policy interactions in Indiana and nationally.

Koch represents Senate District 44, which includes Brown, Jackson, Lawrence and Orange counties and portions of Monroe County. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at 800-382-9467.