HB1378 - Relating to municipal and county regulation of certain electric energy storage.

      By: Virdell H.B. No. 1378       A BILL TO BE ENTITLED   AN ACT   relating to municipal and county regulation of certain electric   energy storage.          BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:          SECTION 1.  Chapter 247, Local Government Code, as added by   Chapter 19 (S.B. 1017), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular   Session, 2023, is amended by adding Section 247.004 to read as   follows:           Sec.   247.004.     REGULATION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY STORAGE. (a)   This section applies only to electric energy storage intended to be   used to sell at wholesale energy or ancillary services, as defined   by Section 35.004, Utilities Code.           (b)     A municipality by ordinance and a county by order shall   prohibit the installation of electric energy storage within 500   yards of real property owned by a person other than the owner or   operator of the proposed storage unless the owner or operator of the   proposed storage obtains written consent from each owner of the   real property.           (c)     For the purposes of this section, the measurement of   distance between an electric energy storage structure and a   property line shall be taken from the point on the structure that is   nearest to the nearest point on the property line.           (d)     A county may not regulate under Subsection (b) the   installation of electric energy storage within the corporate   boundaries of a municipality.          SECTION 2.  Not later than October 1, 2025, a municipality by   ordinance and a county by order shall adopt a prohibition on the   installation of electric energy storage as required by Section   247.004, Local Government Code, as added by this Act. The ordinance   or order may not require the removal of any electric energy storage   the installation of which began before the effective date of the   ordinance or order.          SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.