On September 30, 2026, Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Lee (R-UT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) released the text of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA). The bill would broadly transform permitting processes for energy infrastructure as well as the processes by which interregional transmission infrastructure assets are planned and cost allocated. In this post, we specifically analyze those transmission and grid reform provisions, found in Division B, Title I of the bill.
The transmission and grid provisions in BAAJA are ambitious, going beyond the provisions of 2024’s EPRA bill. Most importantly, BAAJA gives FERC more statutory cover to take aggressive actions on grid development.
BAAJA mitigates numerous investment barriers that create uncertainties in transmission development today. In particular, it provides a federal framework for basic permitting and cost allocation processes and sets eligibility criteria for developers to use in obtaining federal permits. It also requires grid planners to conduct interregional transmission planning. It requires the DOE to study congestion and, if it chooses, designate regions for public financing. The bill also includes numerous other significant provisions: the inclusion of distributed energy resources (DERs) in wholesale markets, mandating rulemaking to protect ratepayers from the incremental costs of large loads, and rulemaking to mandate the usage of advanced transmission technologies. If passed, the bill would constitute the most significant improvement to transmission and grid governance in decades.
This brief will lay out how BAAJA transforms permitting, cost allocation, planning, and financing processes, among others, in the interest of new interregional transmission development.
