Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

Kansas Senate Bill SB233 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	Session of 2025
2	2	SENATE BILL No. 233
3	3	By Committee on Federal and State Affairs
4	4	2-6
5	5	AN ACT concerning energy; relating to commercial wind and solar energy
6	6	facilities; establishing requirements for the decommissioning of such
7	7	facilities; requiring a county to enter into a decommissioning agreement
8	8	with a facility owner prior to construction of any such facility;
9	9	requiring the facility owner to provide financial assurance in an amount
10	10	sufficient to cover the costs of decommissioning; requiring
11	11	decommissioning costs to be paid by affected landowners under certain
12	12	circumstances.
13	13	Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
14	14	Section 1. (a) (1) Prior to the construction of any commercial solar
15	15	energy facility or commercial wind energy facility in this state, the board
16	16	of county commissioners of the county where such proposed facility will
17	17	be located shall require the facility owner to enter into a decommissioning
18	18	agreement with the county. The decommissioning agreement shall
19	19	establish a sufficient, efficient and enforceable decommissioning plan for
20	20	the facility. The decommissioning plan shall require a facility owner to
21	21	decommission all generating units and applicable supporting facilities and
22	22	materially return and restore any land disturbed or changed as a result of
23	23	the construction, operation and decommissioning of the facility to the
24	24	condition that such land existed prior to such construction, operation and
25	25	decommissioning.
26	26	(2) The decommissioning plan shall be prepared by an independent,
27	27	third-party engineer licensed under the laws of this state. Such plan shall
28	28	include an estimate and description of the amount of financial assurance
29	29	that shall be sufficient for the facility owner to implement the
30	30	decommissioning plan. Such financial assurance cost estimate shall be
31	31	updated by such an engineer at least once every five years to account for
32	32	any inflation adjustments or other factors. The facility owner shall
33	33	reimburse the county for any costs borne by the county to contract with an
34	34	engineer pursuant to this section.
35	35	(3) The facility owner shall provide the financial assurance
36	36	determined pursuant to paragraph (2) in the form of an irrevocable standby
37	37	letter of credit, performance bond, surety bond or unconditional payment
38	38	guarantee executed by a parent company of the facility owner only if such
39	39	parent company maintains an investment grade credit rating. The county
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76	76	shall have the sole authority to determine the form of financial assurance
77	77	required pursuant to a decommissioning plan and may, from time to time
78	78	and as conditions may require, revise the form of financial assurance
79	79	required. Such financial assurance shall at all times be accessible by such
80	80	county so that the county may initiate decommissioning of the facility in
81	81	accordance with the terms and conditions of the decommissioning
82	82	agreement.
83	83	(b) Upon any change of ownership of a commercial solar energy
84	84	facility or commercial wind energy facility, a decommissioning agreement
85	85	entered into pursuant to this section shall be transferred to and all such
86	86	rights and obligations assumed by the subsequent facility owner.
87	87	(c) If a facility owner indicates an inability to complete
88	88	decommissioning, or is no longer in business, and the county is unable to
89	89	access the financial assurance to complete decommissioning in accordance
90	90	with a decommissioning plan entered into pursuant to this section, the
91	91	county shall decommission such facility in accordance with the
92	92	decommissioning plan and shall assess against any landowner who is
93	93	subject to a lease or easement relating to such facility the costs borne by
94	94	the county to decommission any such facility on such landowner's land.
95	95	Prior to the county bearing the costs to decommissioning any such facility
96	96	and assessing such costs against landowners as provided in this subsection,
97	97	the county may authorize any landowner to decommission any such
98	98	facility and may establish reasonable time limitations for the landowner's
99	99	completion of such decommissioning.
100	100	(d) Any decommissioning agreement entered into pursuant to this
101	101	section shall include meaningful remedy and penalty provisions for a
102	102	facility owner's noncompliance with such agreement, including a
103	103	requirement that when the county commences a civil action against a
104	104	facility owner with respect to the enforcement or interpretation of a
105	105	decommissioning agreement, the county shall be entitled to an award of
106	106	the county's costs of such litigation, including reasonable attorney fees,
107	107	from the facility owner. The county shall have authority to enforce a
108	108	decommissioning agreement by mandamus or other appropriate
109	109	proceeding at law or equity.
110	110	(e) As used in this section:
111	111	(1) "Commercial solar energy facility" means any device or assembly
112	112	of devices and supporting facilities that has a nameplate capacity of a least
113	113	one megawatt and uses solar energy to generate electricity for the primary
114	114	purpose of wholesale or retail sale.
115	115	(2) "Commercial wind energy facility" means any device or assembly
116	116	of devices and supporting facilities that has a nameplate capacity of at
117	117	least one megawatt and uses kinetic energy from the wind to generate
118	118	electricity for the primary purpose of wholesale or retail sale.
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162	162	(3) "Facility owner" means any person who has a direct ownership
163	163	interest in or who is acting as the developer or operator of a commercial
164	164	solar energy facility or commercial wind energy facility.
165	165	Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
166	166	publication in the statute book.
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