# Act 373 of 2025 (Generating Arkansas Jobs Act of 2025) — Enrolled Bill Text > *Verbatim or near-verbatim extract of the archived source. The original PDF (63 pages, 538,638 bytes, sha256 `fa0ad2a4dd3cef14da56065a2cd128caa29cacb4db3eb7544b4a67eecf4341c4`) is preserved alongside this file.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher:** Arkansas General Assembly - **URL:** https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=/ACTS/2025R/Public/ACT373.pdf - **Bill ID:** SB307, 2025 Regular Session (engrossed 2025-03-11 17:15:03) - **Act number:** Act 373 of 2025 - **Archived:** 2026-05-24, by Claude web-research workflow - **Wayback snapshot:** save failed 2026-05-24 (WebFetch blocked from web.archive.org host); retry pending via manual Save Page Now submission. **Wayback failure**: Save Page Now did not return a snapshot on 2026-05-24. Retry pending. - **Emergency clause:** Yes — the bill declares an emergency, meaning it takes effect immediately upon signature rather than 90 days after sine die. The exact signing date is not in the bill text and is retrievable from the Governor's records or arkleg.state.ar.us bill detail page. ## Why this archive was added (2026-05-24) This archive was added to close a documented bracket on [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement]]: the [[D002 Synthesis|D002 dialectic]] (2026-05-24) verdict was `bracketed-because-(w)-text-and-Commission-ruling-pending` in part because neither subagent could read the actual text of § 23-4-1304(w) — both worked from a one-sentence paraphrase in [[Palmer Rebuttal on Ironwood]]. The actual statutory text is now in the corpus and is reproduced verbatim below. The dialectic's bracketing is now better-informed: the (w) text does not unilaterally favor Statement A (Palmer/EAL) over Statement B (Herring/Staff) — see the analysis section below the extract. ## Extract — selected provisions verbatim ### § 23-4-1303(10) — "Strategic investments" defined (the operative chapeau and per se inclusion clause) > **(10)(A)** "Strategic investments" means investments, either construction or purchase, and associated operating expenses made by a [an] electric public utility or natural gas public utility, **and approved by the Arkansas Public Service Commission under § 23-3-201 et seq., the Utility Facility Environmental and Economic Protection Act, § 23-18-501 et seq., or a notice under § 23-18-104 or as otherwise stated in subdivision (10)(B) of this section**, to: > > (i) Support growth and economic development in this state, including supporting the development of sites designated as available for economic development; > > (ii) Maintain and improve the provision of reliable electric utility service and natural gas utility service to new and existing customers in this state; > > (iii) Support the license extension for existing nuclear generation resources; and > > (iv) Ensure that electric utilities maintain adequate dispatchable generation resources to support reliable service for their customers that is consistent with the resource adequacy requirements established by the applicable load balancing authority. > > **(B)** "Strategic investments" includes without limitation investments and associated operating expenses associated with: > > (i) A new electric generating facility, an associated transportation and storage facility for fuel, and other facilities designed for or capable of operation at a capacity of one hundred megawatts (100 MW) or more for a single facility[.] > > [Additional (B)(ii)–(viii) provisions cover transmission, storage, distribution, environmental compliance, fuel, and other categories — not reproduced here; see the original PDF.] ### § 23-4-1304(w) — Pre-Act-373 transition provision (verbatim) > **(w)** An expenditure associated with strategic investments for which an application for approval is pending before the commission as of the effective date of this subchapter shall be eligible for recovery through the rider under this subchapter if: > > **(1)** The costs are not otherwise included in rates approved by the commission before the effective date of this subchapter; > > **(2)** The investor-owned electric utility or the investor-owned natural gas utility has an application pending that was filed before the effective date of this subchapter for approval: > > **(A)** To construct a power generation facility outside of the state under § 23-18-104; > > **(B)** To obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need under the Utility Facility Environmental and Economic Protection Act, § 23-18-501 et seq.; > > **(C)** To obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity under § 23-3-201 et seq.; or > > **(D)** For any other application related to the siting or prudence of the decision to invest in the new strategic investments; **and** > > **(3)** The commission enters an order **after January 1, 2025**, approving an application that was filed before the effective date of this subchapter for approval: > > **(A)** To construct a power generation facility outside of the state under § 23-18-104; > > **(B)** To obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need under the Utility Facility Environmental and Economic Protection Act, § 23-18-501 et seq.; > > **(C)** To obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity under § 23-3-201 et seq.; or > > **(D)** For any other application related to the siting or prudence of the decision to invest in the new strategic investments. ### § 23-4-1304(f)(1) — Utility-election provision (verbatim, from the rider section) > **(f)(1)** At the election of the investor-owned electric utility or the investor-owned natural gas utility, **strategic investments shall be recovered through the rider** [under § 23-4-1304]. ### § 23-4-1304(x) — CIAC and "other form of payment" provisions (verbatim, the T001 statutory base) > **(x)(1)** If a customer pays or multiple customers pay for a portion of any strategic investments through a contribution in aid of construction or through other form of payment, the strategic investments shall continue to be considered strategic investments and classified as part of the investor-owned electric utility's or the investor-owned natural gas utility's retail assets and recoverable through the investor-owned electric utility's or the investor-owned natural gas utility's retail rates, either in the base rates [...] > > **(x)(2)(A)** A payment by a customer or customers for any portion of any strategic investments through a contribution in aid of construction shall be deducted from the cost of the strategic investments capitalized and recovered through rates. > > **(x)(2)(B)** A payment by a customer or customers through any other forms of payment shall be recorded for ratemaking purposes, when the strategic investments are first included in rates and shall be recognized as payment over a period not to exceed the life of the strategic investments, in a manner that provides comparable benefits for other customers over the life of the strategic investments. ## Analysis — what the actual (w) text adds to the [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement|T002]] dialectic The (w) text now in the corpus does **not** resolve T002 unilaterally in either direction. It instead **better-informs** the bracketing: **§ 23-4-1304(w) addresses eligibility for recovery, not Strategic Investment designation.** The (w) provision is titled (within § 23-4-1304) "Authorization to recover strategic investments through rider" — it specifies which pre-Act-373 resources are *eligible* to recover their costs through the rider, conditional on (1) costs not pre-included, (2) pre-Act application, and (3) Commission approval order entered after January 1, 2025. The (w) text presumes the resource IS a Strategic Investment as defined in § 23-4-1303(10); it does not on its own confer Strategic Investment status on a resource that does not otherwise meet (10)(A) or (10)(B). **The (10)(A) chapeau makes Strategic Investment status depend on Commission approval under one of four enumerated approval pathways, for one of four enumerated public-interest purposes.** The four approval pathways are: § 23-3-201 et seq. (CECPN); UFEEPA § 23-18-501 et seq.; § 23-18-104 notice; or "as otherwise stated in subdivision (10)(B)" (per se inclusion via the 100 MW threshold or other categories). The four purposes are: economic development; reliability; nuclear license extension; dispatchable generation adequacy. **The unresolved question after retrieving (w) and (10)(A):** Does a CECPN approval order (Ironwood's [[_overview|24-072-U]] Order No. 9, **not retrieved into the corpus as of 2026-05-24**) constitute the "approval by the APSC" contemplated by the (10)(A) chapeau when the order does not expressly make Strategic Investment findings under the four enumerated purposes? Three readings now visible: - **Strong Statement A** (Palmer/EAL): Any CECPN approval order suffices because § 23-3-201 et seq. is one of the enumerated approval pathways and a CECPN grant inherently considers public-need findings that overlap with the (10)(A) purposes. The four-purpose requirement is satisfied implicitly by any CECPN grant. (w)(3)'s "approving an application" includes any approval order in the (A)/(B)/(C)/(D) categories — which include CECPN approvals. - **Strong Statement B** (Herring/Staff): A CECPN approval is necessary but not sufficient. The (10)(A) chapeau's "to:" clause introduces the four purposes that the approval must be *for*. A CECPN grant under § 23-3-201 et seq. is for public convenience and necessity findings, not for the four (10)(A) purposes. The Commission must make a discrete finding that the approval is for one of the four purposes — and that's the "designation finding" Staff says is missing. - **Sharpened middle ground** (new, surfaced by reading the actual statutory text): The dispositive question depends on what Order No. 9 actually says. If Order No. 9 makes findings on reliability or dispatchable-generation adequacy in granting the CECPN, those findings may substantively satisfy (10)(A) without an express "Strategic Investment" label. If Order No. 9 makes only generic public-need findings without engaging the (10)(A) purposes, an additional designation finding is required. **The bracket on T002 is now `bracketed-because-Order-No-9-and-Commission-ruling-pending`** (revised from `bracketed-because-(w)-text-and-Commission-ruling-pending`). Retrieving the (w) text closed one bracket but surfaced a new, sharper one: the dispositive evidence is now 24-072-U Order No. 9, which is cited extensively by Palmer ([[Palmer Rebuttal on Ironwood]] at pp. 20, 25-26, 44, 53) but is not in the corpus. ## Notes - Tier: 2 — Arkansas General Assembly is the authoritative publisher of enrolled bill text; this is primary public record under the wiki's source-tier hierarchy. - Cited by: [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement]] (the principal citing page); [[Strategic Investment]] (concept page, to be updated with verbatim chapeau text); [[Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) rider]] (concept page, to be updated with (w) text); [[Who Pays for Entergy's New Generation]] Section III.1. - Emergency clause: Act 373 carries an emergency clause, meaning it took effect immediately upon Governor signature. The exact signing date is not in the bill text — index.md and the [[Strategic Investment]] concept page record the signing date as 2025-03-20 (per the legislative bill tracker, not from this archive); a follow-on archive of the arkleg.state.ar.us bill-detail page would document the signing date as a separate Tier-2 archive. - Wayback submission: not yet attempted as of 2026-05-24. Per the wiki's web-research workflow ([AGENTS.md](../../AGENTS.md) lines 332-339), Save Page Now submission is required. Frontmatter `wayback: ~` flags this; this archive is incomplete until Wayback is recorded or documented failure is logged.