Bill author: Assembly Member Lloyd Levine (D-40)

SUMMARY
This bill is intended to make contractual assessment financing for energy-generating installations or energy efficiency improvements available to all cities and counties statewide and to authorize them to secure the loans made by the programs with superior priority liens. It authorizes all cities and counties in California to designate areas within which city officials and willing property owners may enter into contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements.

WHY IT MATTERS
California is the 12th largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, making any possible avenue for reducing emissions pertinent.

Making improvements to residential, commercial and industrial buildings for the purpose of increasing energy efficiency and addressing global climate change can have high up-front costs.

THE GOALS OF AB 811 INCLUDE:
• Furthering the public interest goal of addressing climate change through energy conservation efforts by authorizing cities to provide up-front financing to property owners to install solar or other renewable energy-generating devices or make specified energy efficiency improvements to their properties through a system of contractual assessments.

• The underlying purpose is to create a means by which a project that provides both a public benefit and an incidental benefit to particular property owners can be financed without imposing the cost on property owners in other parts of the city who derive no benefit.

• This bill is intended to make contractual assessment financing for energy-generating installations or energy efficiency improvements available to all cities and counties statewide and to authorize them to secure the loans made by the programs with superior priority liens.

• According to the author, this bill will make California the first state in the nation to help thousands of residents afford solar energy and help California reach its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2025.