By: Rob Bradham, director of policy
As Congress prepares to return to Washington for its lame-duck session, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) is following two important issues: permitting reform and transportation funding.
Comprehensive permitting reform offers a much-needed opportunity to bolster the nation's electricity grid amid growing demand, while ensuring all forms of energy generation are treated fairly.
Meanwhile, federal government funding and the current extension of surface transportation programs expire on December 11. As Congress considers another short-term funding extension, CICE is watching whether proposed federal electric vehicle (EV) registration fees, included in the House’s BUILD America 250 Act earlier this year, could be added to a year-end funding package rather than addressed through broader transportation legislation in 2027.
Here’s what chambers of commerce and economic development organizations should know:
Permitting Reform
In late September, a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA), a broad permitting reform package aimed at improving federal review and permitting for energy and infrastructure projects.
The bill would create greater certainty for permitted projects by protecting against any administration singling out and improperly delaying, denying, or revoking permits for particular classes of energy projects. This would help ensure that all forms of energy generation are subject to a fair and consistent permitting process, regardless of which administration is in office.
This provision, which remains under negotiation, is particularly important as the country works to meet soaring electricity demand driven by economic growth. A fair and predictable permitting process will help all technologies––including wind and solar, which have driven the majority of recent capacity growth––compete on their merits.
Other highlights of the bill include:
Requiring data centers to cover their associated transmission costs rather than passing them on to other ratepayers.
Strengthening the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) role in regional and interstate transmission permitting and planning. This could help resolve disputes between states or grid operators and accelerate projects needed to relieve congestion, expand grid capacity, and support economic growth.
Requiring public utilities to use grid-enhancing technologies to increase efficiency and capacity from existing transmission infrastructure.
Allowing certain distributed energy resources and virtual power plants to participate in wholesale electricity markets, expanding access to lower-cost power.
Requiring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to complete geothermal drilling permits within 60 days.
Setting a two-year deadline for Environmental Impact Statement reviews and a one-year deadline for Environmental Assessment reviews.
Establishing a 150-day filing deadline for certain legal challenges under the Clean Water Act (CWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and limiting certain challenges to parties that participated in the relevant comment period or Tribal consultation process.
EV Registration Fees
Federal government funding and the current extension of surface transportation programs expire on December 11. Congress must act to avoid a lapse in funding and extend these programs, potentially through another short-term continuing resolution and transportation extension.
In May, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to move a five-year surface transportation plan, the BUILD America 250 Act, towards a vote on the House floor. That bill includes the first-ever federal EV and PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid EV) registration fees of $130 and $35, respectively.
The bill’s authors argue these fees are necessary to ensure EV and PHEV owners contribute their share to the Federal Highway Trust Fund (Trust Fund), which relies primarily on federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes.
CICE agrees that all vehicle owners should contribute to the roads they use. However, a flat annual fee is not the fairest or most effective approach. Drivers of gas-powered vehicles can reduce the amount of gas tax they pay by choosing a more fuel-efficient vehicle or driving fewer miles. A flat fee offers EV and PHEV owners no such option.
Additionally, because EVs and PHEVs still make up a relatively small share of vehicles on the road (1.9% in the U.S., 2025), these fees are unlikely to meaningfully address the Trust Fund’s long-term funding challenges.
Instead, Congress should consider a data-driven approach that aligns what EV and PHEV owners pay with what comparable drivers pay in gas taxes. More broadly, Congress should address the structural deficiencies in federal transportation funding.
Federal fuel taxes have not increased since 1993 and have never been indexed to inflation. Combined with improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency, these stagnant taxes have left the Trust Fund chronically underfunded, requiring repeated transfers from the General Fund since 2008.
Potential approaches to broader transportation funding reform include:
Raising the federal gas tax and indexing it to inflation
Establishing an equitable EV charging tax
Moving to a per-mile traveled system for all types of vehicles
Charging all vehicles a flat road-access fee in lieu of gas taxes
Expanding road and highway tolling
While Congress will likely revisit transportation funding in 2027, establishing new EV fees during the lame-duck session could set a lasting precedent without addressing the underlying funding challenges.
Chambers of commerce and economic development organizations can help inform this discussion by encouraging their members of Congress to support a fair, data-driven, and dependable approach to transportation funding. Any new EV fees should be considered as part of comprehensive transportation reauthorization in 2027, rather than a short-term funding extension.