Indiana’s high court takes up lawmaker’s utility email case

The Indiana Supreme Court will hear an appeal involving a lawsuit seeking a lawmaker’s emails and other correspondence with utility company officials over solar power legislation he sponsored.

Chief Justice Loretta Rush issued an order Tuesday saying the high court has assumed jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ appeal of a lower court’s dismissal of the suit. The case had been pending before the Indiana Court of Appeals.

The Citizens Action Coalition and other groups sued Republican Rep. Eric Koch of Bedford and the House GOP caucus.

They’re seeking Koch’s correspondence with utility companies regarding a bill he unsuccessfully sponsored that would have cut the amount utilities must pay when they buy excess electricity generated by home solar power systems.

The bill’s opponents argued it would have made those systems economically impractical.