On November 7, the Senate released a manager’s amendment to the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). The amendment keeps the bill’s core transmission reforms intact and makes several of them stronger. It gives developers more ways to pay for new transmission, expands federal backstop siting authority, and broadens the deadline for federal permitting decisions. The most significant change for our recently released analysis is that the bill’s new interconnection process now applies only in regions with a regional transmission organization (RTO) or independent system operator (ISO). It no longer covers the Southeast, Florida, or most of the non-CAISO West. Even with interconnection reform applying to fewer regions, the amended bill delivers most of the benefits of our original Central Reform scenario. Compared with Business as Usual (BAU), the updated Central Reform scenario:

• Cuts emissions: Reduces power sector carbon dioxide emissions by about 127 million metric tons in 2035, about 10 percent below BAU. Cumulative reductions could reach about 1.2 gigatons through 2040.

• Lowers electricity system costs: Reduces annual system costs by about $10.7 billion in 2035, roughly 90 percent of the savings in our original analysis.