Four Key Solar Bills Move Forward in CA Legislature

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Environment California

Sacramento — Today, four individual bills (listed below) designed to expand California’s successful solar market in specific, positive ways passed through key committees in the California State Legislature. Each of the bills will give more Californians the ability to invest in solar power and other forms of distributed generation, bringing cleaner air, more jobs and a more stable electricity grid to California.

“If California is to remain the country’s clean energy leader and meet its renewable energy goals—including Governor Brown’s goal to increase the local clean power market to 12 gigawatts by 2020—California policy makers must act now to truly make solar power a mainstream energy resource,” said Michelle Kinman, Environment California’s clean energy advocate. “Each of the bills that passed in committee today will take California one step closer to achieving these goals, and we urge the full Legislature to pass these bills before the end of the session.”

Environment California urges the State Legislature to support the following solar slate in its votes over the next two weeks:

Passed by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations

SB 843 (Wolk, D-Davis): This bill would enable customers who do not own a roof or whose roofs are shaded or face the wrong direction to voluntarily buy renewable power from a shared facility and receive a credit on their utility bill.

SB 1222 (Leno, D-San Francisco): This bill would reform the permitting system for solar systems by creating a cap on permitting fees, which is critical to supporting the growth of the solar industry, bringing increased economic development, additional jobs and environmental benefits to California.

Passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee

AB 1990 (Fong, D-Mountain View): This bill would bring rooftop solar installations to low-income communities throughout California through the creation of a 190 MW pilot feed-in tariff program.

AB 2249 (Buchanan, D-San Ramon): This bill would make much needed changes to the Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007 by allowing the incentive to extend to commercial pools.  It would remove up-front cost barriers that currently prevent municipalities, schools and non-profits from going solar, allow schools and non-profits to lower pool heating costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Environment California is a statewide, nonprofit, environmental advocacy organization.

www.environmentcalifornia.org