Good news in the desert Southwest: on Tuesday, Governor Jan Brewer signed two solar-friendly bills supported by Vote Solar and our Arizona partners. HB 2830 removes the 2013 sunset date on school districts’ ability to install solar and other energy-saving measures. SB 1229 clarifies that the sale of Renewable Energy Credits is not taxable – and also clarifies that customers who are reducing their energy bills through net metering pay sales tax only on the power they DO buy from the grid, not on the power they DON’T buy (you read correctly: sales tax on electricity you don’t buy. That was an actual concern). Kudos to the Governor for her continued solar leadership and to everyone who supported the bills’ passage.
Meanwhile, our coalition is still working to oppose HB 2789, Rep. Lesko’s attempt to permanently cap the amount of Arizona’s electricity that can come from renewables. (See our earlier blog posts for more info on this disastrous bill.) HB 2789 passed the House and was approved in a Senate Committee in recent months, but has yet to be brought to a vote on the Senate floor. Decision makers may have heard our message: Arizonans want a transition to renewable energy, as well as the job and other economic benefits that go with it.
It bears pointing out that it would sure be silly to for the legislature to undermine its own solar policy progress (aka: the bills signed into law earlier this week) with something as misguided and regressive as Lesko’s HB 2789.
Vote Solar is a non-profit grassroots organization working to fight climate change and foster economic opportunity by bringing solar energy into the mainstream.
