Legislature Boosts PACE Consumer Safeguards                  

Sacramento, State Capitol – On Friday, Assembly Bill 1284, co-authored by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and authored by Assemblymember Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills), passed out of the California State Legislature with bipartisan support.  AB 1284 strengthens California’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program by giving the state’s Department of Business Oversight responsibility for enforcing consumer protections.

The PACE program provides homeowners an effective mechanism to finance energy efficiency, water efficiency, and clean energy upgrades to their homes. Over four hundred California cities currently participate in PACE.

“PACE has successfully helped thousands of Californians finance efficiency upgrades to their homes,” said Senator Skinner, “with AB 1284 those homeowners can now have confidence that if problems arise they are protected.”

AB 1284 gives the Department of Business Oversight the responsibility to oversee PACE program administrators, giving consumers a place to go with any complaints. The bill also makes PACE administrators responsible for any negligence by the contractors and salespeople that work for them, and with the addition of underwriting provisions ensures that homeowner’s can afford a PACE assessment.

“With these added safeguards, California’s PACE program will be better than ever and continue to do good for homeowners and our environment,” State Senator Nancy Skinner. 

AB 1284 compliments Senator Skinner’s SB 242, which passed the Senate earlier this week. SB 242 made improvements to the PACE program by requiring contractors to have licenses, preventing PACE contractors from offering cash payments to homeowners, and requiring confirmation by homeowners to ensure they understand the terms of their PACE financing.

AB 1284 now moves to the desk of Governor Brown for consideration.