The state Assembly has passed a bill that could allow municipalities to qualify for grants to homeowners for weatherizing their homes and allow for loan repayments to be included on local property tax bills.
Any warm-and-cozy sense of accomplishment, however, is nowhere in sight.
The bill still needs to pass through New York”™s dysfunctional Legislature, requiring passage by the divided state Senate and passage from the governor at a time when leaders of all three chambers are wrestling with closing a multibillion-dollar budget gap this year and in future years.
The legislation called Extraordinary Session Assembly Bill A.4 would allow municipalities to establish the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program in order to apply for more than $400 million in federal funds to be issued as loans to qualifying homeowners and businesses to install energy efficient retrofits and renewable energy systems.
Energy efficiency improvements contained in the legislation include window and door replacements, insulation and heating and cooling system upgrades. Renewable energy systems covered in the bill include solar, thermal, geothermal, wind and fuel cell technologies. ?The PACE program will help New York meeting its ambitious greenhouse emission reduction goals, according to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “By authorizing counties, cities, towns and villages to tap into this source of federal funds we can encourage increased participation of homeowners and businesses and further develop a green economy.” ?The legislation would also simplify and streamline the repayment of the loans by authorizing municipalities to include the loans on annual property tax bills.
The PACE loans are a significant further incentive for municipalities to get involved in encouraging energy efficiency for homeowners and businesses, said Assembly Environmental Conservation committee Chairman Robert K. Sweeney, D-Lindenhurst. “It is important that New York tap into these important federal resources to continue toward its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Sweeney.
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“Energy efficiency programs help decrease electricity and heating fuel demand,” he said. “This program will help homeowners to go green while saving green. This is a win for the pocketbook, the environment and job creation.” ?“The PACE program provides the perfect compliment to the leadership already shown in the Green Jobs/Green Homes initiative,” said Assembly energy committee Chairman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston. “PACE provides another means for New York to take the lead in encouraging energy efficient homes and has the added benefit of tapping into an important source of federal funds. It is another means by which we can tap into federal money, It”™s another step we can take to make New York the greenest state.”
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The legislation also directs the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop standards for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy systems efficiency improvements. Under the bill, municipalities would be permitted to certify contractors for the performance of energy audits and renewable energy system feasibility studies based on the NYSERDA criteria.
Silver also noted in passing that the state faces huge fiscal problems: “The Assembly continues to work with Governor Paterson and the Senate to agree on a deficit reduction plan to close this year”™s $3 billion budget gap,” Silver said in a November press release trumpeting the passage of the PACE legislation.
Thus far, however, PACE has not advanced in the state Senate and the budget wrangling continues unabated in Albany.
