A provision that would have repealed statutory exceptions to the domestic content requirement for elective payment was not included in the text of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA) released by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over the weekend.
An earlier version of the tax title of the budget reconciliation bill would have repealed those exceptions and APPA last week asked its members to contact Senate Republican offices to urge that the provision be struck.
The Senate on Monday began voting on the bill after debate occurred on the legislation over the weekend, so what will be included in the final Senate bill remains in flux.
In addition, other than provisions relating to spaceports and low-income housing, the bill does not alter that tax treatment of municipal bonds. Maintaining elective payment and the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds are APPA’s top legislative priorities for the 119th Congress.
However, the bill being considered Monday retains a provision precluding energy tax credits from going to entities with more than a certain percentage of their debt held by certain foreign entities.
APPA had expressed concerns about this debt provision because of the difficulty of ascertaining ownership of publicly traded municipal bonds and then determining whether the owner is a foreign entity of concern.
Wind/Solar Credit Phaseout Date May Affect Public Power Projects
For projects construction of which begins after the date of enactment, OBBBA would prohibit the investment tax credit (ITC) and production tax credit (PTC) from going to wind and solar projects placed in service after 2027. This could be problematic for projects for which a substantial financial commitment has been made, but on which construction has not been made.
APPA has identified a number of public power utilities facing this dilemma and is working to provide that information to Senate offices.
One possible fix would be an amendment to OBBBA filed by Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) which would amend the phaseout of the ITC and PTC to be effective for projects construction of which begins after 2027.
That amendment could get a vote on Monday, could be wrapped into a broader “managers” amendment, but may not be brought to a vote at all.
Assuming the final overall bill passes the Senate, it will then need to pass the House. President Trump has stated that he wants to be able to sign the measure into law by July 4.
