House update: Cosponsorship and support of members of the House Financial Services Committee (member list hyperlinked) are crucial to the success of the bill in the House. Rep. Perlmutter sits on that committee and already is a cosponsor. However, of the 61 committee members, only seven are current cosponsors (P. King, D. Manzullo, W. Jones, N. Hayworth, R. Dold, J. Baca, and our own Ed Perlmutter). If any BGBG members have contacts in other states with Financial Services Committee members, it would be very helpful if they could work for their support and even cosponsorship of H.R. 2599.
 
H.R. 2599 is creeping along, continuing to gather cosponsors in the House -- currently 48 cosponsors, see here  and here for a list, although the latter link is missing 3 new cosponsors. Rep. Gardner has not agreed to cosponsor the bill and is unclear whether he will support it on the House floor – his concerns hinge on the banking issues he expressed in the email response he sent to you. There is a sense that FHFA, banking industry and/or regulators are engaging in some level of opposition to the bill, although PaceNow is looking into the extent and nature of that opposition effort.
 
Senate update: Senator Bennet is taking the lead and working on attaining a Republican cosponsor for the bill in the Senate, with a present focus on Hutchison (TX), Ron Johnson (WI), and Barrasso (WY). A bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate and likely will not be until a Republican cosponsor can be secured.

The Sensible Accounting to Value Energy (SAVE) Act, S. 1737, was introduced on October 19, 2011 by Senators Bennet (D-Co.) and Isakson (R-Ga.) and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. It would direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to update its underwriting and appraisal guidelines to ensure that any home loan backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA, or other federal agencies and entities would account for the home’s energy costs. As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee around 90% of home mortgages in the United States, any such regulatory change would likely be adopted as standard practice by most domestic residential mortgage lenders.
The bill looks to improve the accuracy of mortgage underwriting used by federal mortgage agencies by ensuring that energy costs are included in the underwriting process, reducing the amount of energy consumed by homes, and facilitating the creation of energy efficiency retrofit and construction jobs. Furthermore, it’s a national policy that won’t cost taxpayers or expand the government.
Thus far, the proposal has enjoyed support from a very broad range of organizations, including the Leading Builders of America, IMT, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Appraisal Institute, the Alliance to Save Energy, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. It joins the ranks of other bipartisan energy-efficiency proposals – notably S. 1000, the Shaheen-Portman bill on building efficiency, the Bingaman-Murkowski bill on consensus standards and the Udall-Brown bill on utility bill information.
Comparable legislation has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives.

More info: www.ase.org/resources/save-act

The Boulder Green Building Guild fully supports Ballot Initiatives 2B and 2C.
 
We strongly encourage City of Boulder voters to approve both measures to provide the City with the ability to gather the information necessary to make the most informed decisions possible and to keep the City’s options open as they strive to meet clean
energy goals.  
 
In order to meet these goals we believe that additional strategies are necessary to encourage more investments than currently exist in demand side management (energy efficiency) and renewable energy sources.
 
At this time there is insufficient information to know if municipalization is a desirable path, or if a meaningful partnership with Xcel might prove to be a better choice.  Passing 2B and 2C is the only way that the City of Boulder can fully understand all the options available in their essential work towards protecting the interests of our community and future generations.
 
We look forward to seeing a variety of choices to design and negotiate our power, including potential alternative proposals from Xcel, as outcomes of the passage of Ballot Initiatives 2B & 2C.

Are you interested in ensuring housing choices exist for the City's work force?
Get involved today!
The Longmont City Council is currently recruiting for 18-20 persons to serve on the
Ad Hoc Workforce Housing Task Force. These volunteer positions will serve until approximately the end of July, 2012.

Applicants must live or work in Longmont and must fit in one or more of the following categories:

• Affordable Housing Homeowner (person who owns one of the City's Community Housing Program homes; person who has purchased a market priced home using Down Payment Assistance)
• Business Representative (work for one of Longmont's primary employers; school district representative; Chamber of Commerce member)
• Human Service Agency Representative
• Lender (commercial real estate lender; home mortgage lender with experience lending to participants in the City's Affordable Housing programs)
• Realtor/Real Estate Agent (operating in Longmont, particularly interested in someone who has sold homes in Longmont's Affordable Housing programs)
• Residential Developers/Builder(own land in Longmont and/or work for a company actively building in Longmont; for-sale or rental housing; non-profit or for-profit business)

Download the Ad Hoc Workforce Housing Task Force application 

By Laura Snider Camera Staff Writer
Boulder Daily Camera
Posted:09/10/2011 11:44:29 PM MDT

Hope of reviving Boulder County's residential ClimateSmart Loan Program -- which has been defunct for more than a year -- has been recently renewed thanks to a ruling by a federal judge in California and the introduction of U.S. legislation that's supported by both parties.

Boulder County is also nearing completion of a replacement loan program that could move forward regardless of the outcome at the federal level.

Voters approved the ClimateSmart Loan Program in 2008, allowing homeowners to borrow money from the county to pay for a wide range of energy-efficient upgrades and renewable energy systems. Borrowers were able to pay back the loans through a 15-year assessment on their properties.

During the first two rounds of residential loans, the county issued about $13 million in loans to homeowners, which provided a boon to the local economy, according to green building contractors. But just as the county was preparing to close a third round of loans last year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- quasi-federal agencies that buy secondary mortgages -- announced that they would no longer buy mortgages with attached Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, loans, such as ClimateSmart.

The ruling was confusing to governments across the country that had set up PACE loans because other federal agencies, especially the U.S. Department of Energy, had encouraged the creation of such programs. Last summer, the state of California, Sonoma and Placer counties, the city of Palm Desert and the Sierra Club joined together to sue the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Late last month, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the FHFA should have solicited public comment before deciding that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not buy mortgages with clean energy assessments on the secondary market. And though Wilken did not suspend the FHFA's rule, she did order the agency to open up the rule for public comment now in accordance with the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

This is good news for PACE programs, according to Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor, because the programs have typically enjoyed tremendous support and provided economic benefits in the communities where they've been set up.

"I think it's going to be very hard for the FHFA to come to a similar conclusion if they have to follow an open, public process that includes the ability to present an actual analysis," he said.

At the same time, a bill known as the PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2011 -- which would require the FHFA to accept mortgages with PACE assessments -- has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by two Republicans and a Democrat. Co-sponsorship of the bill has grown to more than 20 representatives from both sides of the aisle, including Jared Polis, D-Boulder.

"Our bill facilitates participation by homeowners in states with PACE programs, which will promote conservation, energy savings and job creation," said Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y., one of the bill's primary sponsors.

But Boulder County is not waiting for resolution of either of the processes unfolding at the federal level. Since the county had to suspend its ClimateSmart program last summer, staffers have been working to create an alternative loan program that could meet the same goals.

"It's been quite complicated to come up with an alternative program, but we are still moving forward on that and we believe that we have come up with a model that will work," Toor said.

Essentially, the county would like to use some of the money it has been awarded by the Department of Energy for energy-efficiency programs to finance the loans, though the DOE has not yet given final approval.

"We need to gather some additional information before we're able to move forward, but we're hopeful that in a few months we'll be able to launch a new financing program," Toor said.

But even if the program materializes, it's only a temporary fix, since the money for the loans would come form a fixed pool. By comparison, a PACE program allows a county to sell more bonds to finance the program as demand grows.

"The beauty of PACE financing -- because you have the ability to go out on the bond market to get the financing -- is it's limited only by the demand," he said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Laura Snider at 303-473-1327 or sniderl@dailycamera.com.
  

As most of you know, our local ClimateSmart Loan program was put on hold due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules prohibiting new financings, secured by a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage, on properties where there exists a property assessment for any energy efficiency or renewable energy improvements. New legislation was recetly introduced that could put this program back on track. We are confident Congressman Polis is a supporter but we want to encourage Congressman Gardner to be one too.

Please contact him ASAP. Here is some text  you can use along with your own personal story about how our local program put you to work!

Download Letter From BGBG

Dear Congressman Gardner, I urge you to support, and consider becoming a co-sponsor of ,the PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2011 (H.R. 2599), sponsored by Reps. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.), Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.). This bill will prevent federal housing regulators from adopting policies that contravene established state and local property assessed clean energy laws. This legislation guarantees the right of our community to establish a clean energy financing program, known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). We believe the PACE legislation is a great opportunity for you to continue to support your values of, and interest in, job creation, small government, local control, and energy.

Representative Gardner
213 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515

Email of Gardne’s Aid: peter.fendel@mail.house.gov

The Property Assessed Clean Energy program, which held so much promise for helping homeowners finance solar and efficiency improvements, may be resurrected. In the current uncertain political (and funding) climate, it remains a long shot. Just maybe, however, the odds are improving.

Copyright © 2009 Colorado Energy News. All rights reserved.

Negotiations between Boulder and Xcel Energy broke down on Thursday, essentially killing a proposal floated by the utility to build the city a wind farm in return for a new 20-year franchise agreement.

The two parties could not resolve differences over what choices voters should have in November. All nine members of the City Council have indicated that they are not willing to put a franchise agreement on the ballot that is not linked to the proposed wind deal. Officials at Xcel Energy, on the other hand, have been insistent that voters should have the option of approving the franchise agreement without approving Negotiations between Boulder and Xcel Energy broke down on Thursday, essentially killing a proposal floated by the utility to build the city a wind farm in return for a new 20-year franchise agreement.

The two parties could not resolve differences over what choices voters should have in November. All nine members of the City Council have indicated that they are not willing to put a franchise agreement on the ballot that is not linked to the proposed wind deal. Officials at Xcel Energy, on the other hand, have been insistent that voters should have the option of approving the franchise agreement without approving the wind deal.

"The reason we want to separate (the issues) is that anytime you acquire new renewable energy generation -- even very cheap wind -- it's going to cause a rate increase," said Paula Connelly, Xcel's managing attorney. "And so, we don't know whether our customers would be satisfied with that." Read More

By Laura Snider, Camera Staff Writer
Boulder Daily Camera

Possible energy-related ballot measures

Creation of a municipal utility: The City Council actually has the authority to create a municipal utility without voter approval, though it could not pay for it without ballot-box approval.

Municipal utility bonding: Voters would have to give the authority for the city to sell bonds to finance the start-up of a municipal utility. The exact expense for a municipal utility won't be known until the city goes through the legal process necessary to break away from Xcel. The ballot issue might have an upper limit on it.

Charter amendments: Votes may be asked to approve changes to the city charter that would set up a governance structure for a municipal utility.

Interim funding: The effort to create a municipal utility will require funding. The money, which could equal around $1 million a year for as long as five years, could be raised through an extension of the city's existing carbon tax.

Franchise agreement: Any franchise agreement between Xcel and the city would have to be approved by voters.

Xcel wind agreement: A proposal by Xcel to build a wind farm and sell the power to Boulder residents also likely would require voter approval because additional financing -- either from a tax or from selling bonds -- would probably be necessary.

City leaders need the blessing of Boulder voters on a multitude of issues before they can move forward with starting a municipal electric utility or forge ahead in a renewed relationship with Xcel Energy.

To keep voters from passing conflicting measures -- or giving just part of the necessary approval to move forward with either option -- City Council members say they'd like to see the ballot questions packaged together.

For example, this would prevent voters from passing a charter amendment that would set up a governing structure for a municipal utility while simultaneously turning down a ballot measure that allows the city to sell the necessary bonds to actually finance such a utility.

It also would prevent voters from passing a business-as-usual franchise agreement with Xcel while turning down the provision that would allow Boulder to buy bulk wind power from the utility -- essentially landing Boulder in the same position it was in before the City Council let its 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel expire last year.

At a study session last week, the City Council unanimously directed staff to create two packages of ballot-measure language for consideration at its July 19 meeting, but council members were more divided over whether both packages should make their way onto the final ballot.

Councilman Macon Cowles said he's in favor of putting only one package on the ballot.

"We've spent an extraordinary amount of time on this in the last year," he said. "We've read through hundreds if not thousands of pages of documents on things from energy efficiency and energy generation to energy rates and procedures before the (Public Utilities Commission). ... We've spent hundreds of hours on it.

"I think our job as City Council people is to make a decision about what we're going to recommend to the people of Boulder and then put that choice on the ballot."

This is the strategy the City Council used last year when leaders were considering whether to enter into another franchise agreement with Xcel, which would requires voter approval. When City Council members decided that a standard 20-year contract with Xcel would not help them meet their goals for the city -- which include using a greater percentage of renewable energy -- council members declined to put a franchise agreement on the ballot at all.

Now, the City Council is considering whether to break away from Xcel and start a municipal electric utility or whether to consider a new franchise with Xcel.

Proposed wind farm

Earlier this month, Xcel officials told the City Council that the utility would build a 200-megawatt wind farm and sell the power to Boulder customers if the city signed a new franchise agreement. Such an arrangement -- which would require Boulder to pay a premium for the wind power --likely would require voters to also approve some kind of financing mechanism, such as a tax or bonding authority.

Staffers have yet to thoroughly analyze Xcel's proposal, which involves a numbers of possible costs and savings that would be determined by such things as the future cost of natural gas compared to the future cost of wind generation. But if staffers find that the Xcel proposal is able to meet the city's goals and the creation of a municipal utility also is found to be feasible, a couple of City Council members said they'd favor putting both choices on the November ballot.

"I'm actually interested in the potential of conflicting measures because ... I don't want to get to the end of this and have nothing," Councilwoman Suzy Ageton said at Tuesday's meeting. "If we get to a point where we think the Xcel option is viable and we're also convinced that the municipal option is viable, why not let our community tell us which they prefer?"

Xcel: Don't package

Xcel Energy is asking the city to put a franchise agreement on the November ballot regardless of whether a measure related to creating a municipal utility also is on the ballot. And Xcel officials also have asked that the franchise agreement not be packaged with a measure asking voters to approve any related wind power agreement.

"Our goal and desire has always been to have the voters of Boulders have as much choice and options as possible," said Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo. "Let's let the voters decide."

The idea of separating a franchise renewal from the wind-power proposal was not well received at last week's City Council meeting.

"It's a no-brainer," said City Councilwoman Lisa Morzel. "The franchise and wind has to go together. Why wouldn't we do that?"

Contact Camera Staff Writer Laura Snider at 303-473-1327 or sniderl@dailycamera.com.