SB 465: Property Assessed Clean Energy Program: wildfire safety improvements.

Existing law, known commonly as the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, authorizes a public agency, by making specified findings, to authorize public agency officials and property owners to enter into voluntary contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy or water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property.

Existing law, the California Financing Law (CFL), requires a program administrator who administers a PACE program on behalf of, and with the written consent of, a public agency to comply with specified requirements relating to the PACE program, including requiring, commencing on January 1, 2019, a program administrator to be licensed by the Commissioner of Business Oversight under the California Financing Law.

The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 authorizes a community facilities district to finance the purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, or rehabilitation of certain facilities, including, among others, finance and refinance the acquisition, installation, and improvement of energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy improvements to or on real property and in buildings, as specified.

This bill would, until January 1, 2029, enact the Wildfire Safety Finance Act, which would expand these provisions to also authorize a legislative body that has accepted the designation of Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone to designate an area for contractual assessments to finance the installation of wildfire safety improvements that are permanently fixed to real property, in accordance with specified procedures and requirements that are similar to requirements that apply to the PACE program under existing law. The bill would define public agency, for purposes of financing the installation of wildfire safety improvements, to mean a city, county, or city and county. The bill would make conforming changes in the CFL, the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982, and other related laws to that effect.

This bill would become operative only if 2 specified provisions of AB 2063 become operative on or before January 1, 2019.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5913 of the Streets and Highways Code proposed by AB 2063 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2063 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.