Bill Text: MI HB6041 | 2025-2026 | 103rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Energy: alternative sources; community solar facilities; provide for establishment of. Amends 2008 PA 295 (MCL 460.1001 - 460.1232) by adding pt. 7a.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 28)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-06-09 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 06/04/2026 [HB6041 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2025-HB6041-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL NO. 6041
A bill to amend 2008 PA 295, entitled
"Clean and renewable energy and energy waste reduction act,"
(MCL 460.1001 to 460.1232) by adding part 7a.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
PART 7a.
COMMUNITY SOLAR PROGRAM
Sec. 213. As used in this part:
(a) "Community solar facility" means a facility, which may be located on 1 or more parcels of land, that meets all of the following requirements:
(i) Generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device.
(ii) Produces for each subscriber a bill credit for the electricity generated in proportion to the size of the subscriber's subscription.
(iii) Is connected to the electric distribution grid serving this state.
(b) "Environmental impact facility" includes any of the following:
(i) A stationary source as that term is defined by 42 USC 7602.
(ii) A sludge processing facility, combustor, or incinerator.
(iii) A sewage treatment plant with a capacity of more than 50,000,000 gallons per day.
(iv) A disposal area as that term is defined in section 11503 of the natural resources and environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.11503.
(v) A disposal facility as that term is defined in section 11102 of the natural resources and environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.11102.
(vi) A storage facility as that term is defined in section 11104 of the natural resources and environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.11104.
(vii) A treatment facility as that term is defined in section 11104 of the natural resources and environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.11104.
(viii) A concentrated animal feeding operation.
(ix) A scrap metal facility.
(x) A mine.
(c) "Environmental justice community" means a municipality with existing environmental or public health stressors and to which 1 or more of the following apply:
(i) At least 35% of the households are low-income households.
(ii) At least 20% of the residents identify as members of a minority group.
(iii) At least 15% of the households have limited English proficiency.
(iv) The census block group includes land for a federally recognized tribe in this state.
(d) "Environmental or public health stressors" means any of the following:
(i) Existing and foreseeable sources of pollution, proximity to nearby sources, and the number of nearby sources. Sources of
pollution include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Mobile sources of air pollution, including, but not limited to, vehicles on major roadways and diesel truck traffic.
(B) Sound and light trespass.
(C) Contaminated sites.
(D) Environmental impact facilities that generate, treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste.
(E) Solid waste sites and transfer stations, recycling facilities, and scrapyards.
(F) Point and nonpoint sources of water pollution, including permitted and unpermitted wastewater discharges from industrial, agricultural, and commercial sources and combined sewer overflows.
(G) Impaired water bodies.
(ii) Existing public health burdens that take into consideration factors that include, but are not limited to, the population of young children, the population of individuals over the age of 64, the level of unemployment, and the housing burden.
(iii) Conditions that may, alone or synergistically, cause or exacerbate existing or potential public health burdens in an overburdened community, including, but not limited to, levels and severity of asthma, cancer, elevated blood lead levels, cardiovascular disease, low infant birth weights, infant mortality, mental health conditions, and reduced life expectancy.
(iv) Interrelated cultural, social, occupational, historical, or economic factors that may amplify the natural and physical environmental effects of the proposed action, including historical patterns of exposure to environmental hazards.
(e) "Low-income household" means a household that meets any of the following conditions:
(i) Has a household income of not more than 80% of the municipal median household income, as published by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(ii) Has a household income of less than or equal to 200% below the federal poverty guidelines revised periodically and published in the Federal Register by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services under the Secretary's authority to revise the poverty line under 42 USC 9902.
(iii) Is enrolled in a low-income program facilitated by this state or overseen by the electric utility.
(iv) Other low-income criteria as determined by the commission.
(f) "Low-income service organization" means an organization that provides services, assistance, or housing to individuals in low-income households and may include a central tribal government, or a tribally designated housing authority.
(g) "Prevailing wage" means the wage and fringe benefit rates prevailing in the locality in which work is to be performed as determined under 2023 PA 10, MCL 408.1101 to 408.1126.
(h) "Registered apprentice" means an individual who participates in an apprenticeship program registered with the United States Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship or the department of labor and economic opportunity.
(i) "Subscriber" means a retail electric customer of an electric provider that meets both of the following requirements:
(i) The subscriber owns 1 or more subscriptions to a community solar facility interconnected with and located in the service territory of the electric provider.
(ii) The subscriber's property to the electric bill of which the bill credits are applied is located in the same service territory described in subparagraph (i).
(j) "Subscriber organization" means an entity that owns or operates 1 or more community solar facilities.
(k) "Subscription" means a contract between a retail electric customer and the owner of a community solar facility under which the retail electric customer receives bill credits from the electric provider for the customer account to which the subscription is attributed.
(l) "Subscription coordinator" means a person that does 1 or more of the following:
(i) Markets community solar facilities or otherwise provides community solar facility-related services under its own brand name.
(ii) Performs any administrative actions to connect or enroll customers with community solar facilities or allocates subscriptions.
(iii) Manages interactions between a subscriber organization and an electric provider relating to subscribers.
Sec. 215. (1) The commission shall expedite review and approval of a community solar program that will maximize this state's participation in the inflation reduction act of 2022, Public Law 117-169, and prioritize community solar facilities located in or otherwise primarily benefiting environmental justice communities. Not later than 1 year after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section, the commission shall promulgate rules in accordance with the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to do all of the following:
(a) Allow for the creation and financing of community solar facilities and for subscribers to receive bill credits.
(b) Prescribe a standard customer enrollment form.
(c) Prescribe a 1-page, plain language disclosure form that must be included in all community solar subscription contracts. The disclosure form must summarize the key terms of the subscription contract, and any material term used in a subscription contract that is not included on the disclosure form is unenforceable. The disclosure form must clearly and conspicuously state all of the following:
(i) The subscription cost, including any recurring or variable charges.
(ii) The guaranteed savings, including at minimum 10% for general subscribers and 20% for low-income or moderate-income subscribers.
(iii) The contract term length and cancellation terms, which must comply with subdivision (h).
(iv) Whether any price escalators apply and, if so, the schedule of escalation.
(v) Subscriber rights and the transferability of the subscription.
(vi) Instructions for exercising the right to cancel.
(vii) Contact information for the subscriber organization, the commission, and the attorney general for questions or complaints.
(d) Require that the disclosure form described under subdivision (c) be provided to subscribers before enrollment or before being presented with a subscription agreement, including during door-to-door sales, phone-based enrollment, open enrollment, community outreach events, or any other marketing or subscription interaction, and annually for the duration of the subscriber's enrollment.
(e) Prescribe customer education information to be provided to customers along with the enrollment form. The customer education information must include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(i) Information concerning the subscriber organization.
(ii) Costs and benefits of a subscription.
(iii) Subscriber rights.
(iv) How to submit to the commission a complaint concerning the community solar facility program, including a toll-free telephone number that the commission shall maintain to receive complaints.
(v) Other actions a consumer may take to resolve a complaint concerning the program.
(f) Ensure that all customer classes have opportunities to participate as subscribers to a community solar facility.
(g) Require that not less than 40% of the electricity produced by each community solar facility be reserved for low-income households and low-income service organizations, for the life of the community solar facility.
(h) For at least 7 days after sign-up or enrollment, allow a subscriber to cancel a subscription and prohibit sign-up or cancellation fees for subscriptions.
(i) Prohibit electric utilities from imposing fees on subscribers that would reduce the guaranteed savings described in subdivision (c)(ii).
(j) Require that subscriber savings be included on a single, consolidated utility bill. The consolidated utility bill described in this subdivision must clearly list the net credit applied to the subscriber's account. An electric utility shall provide the consolidated utility bill at no additional cost to the subscriber.
(k) Require that subscription fees result in at least 10% savings on electricity costs for all subscribers and at least 20% savings on electricity costs for low-income households.
(l) Ensure that a customer's failure to pay a subscription fee does not have an adverse effect on the electric provider's services or charges to the customer, other than the potential loss of the subscription for nonpayment.
(m) Ensure that subscription costs for low-income households are not more than 75% of the value of the applicable bill credit, and for all other subscribers are not more than 90% of the value of the applicable bill credit.
(n) Prohibit an electric provider from removing a customer from the customer's applicable customer class because the customer subscribes to a community solar facility.
(o) Prohibit price escalators in community solar subscription contracts with low-income households and limit price escalators for all other subscribers to not more than 2% annually.
(p) Require that a for-profit community solar facility with a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or more contributes 5% of its gross annual revenues to the local unit of government in which the for-profit community solar facility is located.
(q) Require that, for a for-profit community solar facility with a nameplate capacity of 5 megawatts or more, 5% of the ownership of the for-profit community solar facility be offered at no cost to a designated community-based nonprofit organization, cooperative, or community trust that is located within the local unit of government in which the community solar facility is located.
(r) Provide for the transferability and portability of subscriptions, including a subscriber's retention of a subscription to a community solar facility if the subscriber moves within the same electric provider's service territory.
(s) Allow an electric provider to recover costs of administering bill credits.
(t) Modify existing interconnection standards, fees, and processes as needed to do both of the following:
(i) Facilitate the efficient and cost-effective interconnection of community solar facilities.
(ii) Allow an electric provider to recover reasonable interconnection costs for each community solar facility.
(u) Require that electric providers efficiently connect community solar facilities to the electrical distribution grid and not discriminate against community solar facilities.
(v) Ensure that prospective subscriber organizations have received interconnection agreements, have legal control of their sites, and have received all necessary nonministerial permits before applying for the program under this part.
(w) Provide for consumer protection in compliance with state and federal law.
(x) Require a notice be posted at all community solar project sites that contains the following information:
(i) The applicable prevailing wage.
(ii) Apprenticeship requirements.
(iii) Project labor agreement requirements.
(y) Ensure that all low-income subscribers are credited at a rate that is not less than the distributed generation rate established for customer-sited solar in section 177.
(z) Require a community-ownership adder in the applicable bill-credit rate to reflect the additional community, equity, and economic-development benefits provided by community-owned community solar facilities. The cost of a community-ownership adder must be recovered exclusively from commercial and industrial customer classes and not be allocated to residential customers.
(aa) Otherwise implement this part.
(2) Not later than 90 days after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section, the commission shall promulgate rules in accordance with the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to create a tiered system for community solar interconnection standards that establishes clear deadlines for each stage of the review process and time frames that are applicable to electric providers of all sizes.
(a) Result in access to subscriptions for all customer classes.
(b) Be derived from the electric provider's total aggregate retail rate on a per-customer-class basis.
Sec. 217. (1) A subscriber organization shall file with the commission a surety bond that meets all of the following requirements:
(a) Is issued by a bonding company or insurance company authorized to do business in this state.
(b) Is in a principal amount determined by the commission based on the size of the subscriber organization relative to other subscriber organizations in this state.
(c) Is in a form satisfactory to the commission, is payable to the commission for the benefit of subscribers and secures the performance of the obligations of the subscriber organization in connection with the conduct of its activities under this part.
(2) A subscriber that suffers damages as the result of an unlawful act or omission of the subscriber organization may bring an action on the bond for the amount of the damage suffered, to the extent covered by the bond.
(3) In addition to the remedies available under subsection (2), subscribers and the attorney general have a private right of action to enforce the provisions of this part, including, but not limited to, violations of savings guarantees and illegal fees or contract terms, with the right to recover damages and reasonable attorney fees.
(4) A subscriber organization is not considered to be an electric provider as a result of its ownership or operation of a community solar facility.
(5) If a community solar facility has a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or more, the subscriber organization shall do all of the following:
(a) Unless subject to a collective bargaining agreement, both of the following:
(i) Pay prevailing wage for all construction, installation, maintenance, and repair work associated with the community solar facility.
(ii) Ensure that not less than 70% of the prevailing wage is paid as direct cash wages and that travel, lodging, or per diem allowances must not be counted toward the wage minimums.
(b) Ensure that not less than 15% of total project labor hours are performed by registered apprentices.
(c) Enter into project labor agreements that cover all construction, installation, maintenance, and repair work associated with the facility.
Sec. 219. (1) A subscription coordinator shall do both of the following:
(a) Apply to the commission and obtain a commission approval number before performing the functions of a subscription coordinator. A subscription coordinator operating on the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section shall apply to the commission within 180 days after that date.
(b) Notify the commission of any community solar facility project for which the coordinator is or plans on performing any functions of a subscription coordinator.
(2) A community solar facility is exempt for all ad valorem property taxes imposed by this state or by any political subdivision, public body, or taxing district in which the community solar facility is located.
Sec. 220. (1) The commission shall maintain a publicly accessible website that includes the following:
(a) A dashboard that reports, in real-time, the status of every community solar interconnection request. The dashboard must include, but is not limited to, the application date, utility response deadlines, and completion status.
(b) A list of subscription coordinators that have filed applications under section 219.
(2) Not later than March 31 each year, the commission shall submit to the legislature a report that includes all of the following information:
(a) The number of community solar facilities approved and interconnected.
(b) The average and median interconnection timelines, including the number meeting or missing statutory deadlines.
(c) The verified subscriber savings delivered compared to guaranteed rates.
(d) The total revenue-share contributions remitted to host communities under this part.
