Groups sue House GOP over solar bill secrecy

Three nonprofit groups are suing Indiana House Republicans, saying they improperly hid correspondence with utility companies over a controversial solar energy bill.

The Citizen Action Coalition, Common Cause of Indiana and the Energy and Policy Institute filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Marion Superior Court.

Named as defendants were the Indiana House Republican Caucus and State Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford), chair of the House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee.

The plaintiffs say the House GOP and Koch violated the Indiana Access to Public Records Act when they refused to turn over correspondence between Koch and utility companies earlier this year. The plaintiffs are asking the court to order the correspondence be made public.

Koch had sponsored a bill that critics said would slow or kill the growth of small-scale and home-based solar projects in Indiana. The bill, HB 1320, would cut the amount power companies must pay when they buy excess energy generated by home systems.

The bill was later pulled and appears dead this session.

The Energy and Policy Institute, a clean-energy think tank based in Washington, submitted public records requests in January and February, seeking copies of correspondence between Koch, his staff and investor-owned utilities in Indiana, along with the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade association.

On both occasions, Jill Carnell, chief counsel for the House Republican Caucus, denied the requests, saying that the Indiana lawmakers are not covered by open-records laws.

The groups filed a complaint with the Indiana Public Access Counselor. He issued a non-binding opinion on March 6 that the Indiana General Assembly is subject to the Access to Public Records Act.

Subsequently, the Energy and Policy Institute, along with Citizen Action Coalition, submitted another records request in March, seeking similar records. The GOP caucus denied that request as well, saying it "was lacking in specificity and sought 'work product' of the Indiana General Assembly," the lawsuit said.

The Public Access Counselor issued another opinion on April 1, saying the plaintiffs' records requests "seemingly satisfied" the law's requirements and standards.

The opinion further stated: "As Indiana Public Access Counselor, I humbly and respectfully request the Caucus reconsider its position on the blanket inapplicability of the Access to Public Records Act and treat public records requests in a manner consistent with the spirit of transparency and openness."

Call Star reporter John Russell at (317) 444-6283 and follow him on Twitter @johnrussell99.