Press Release originally sent on July 25, 2011

"Coloradans continue to be ahead of the curve for renewable energy."

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter is pleased to announce his original co-sponsorship of the bipartisan PACE Protection Act of 2011.  PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy - a way states, counties and cities can finance renewable energy or energy efficiency upgrades for residential or commercial properties by taking a loan from local governments and repay them over time on future property tax payments.

"This bill is a common sense solution to empower local communities to help residents add renewable energy or energy efficiency upgrades now.  Many cities and counties in Colorado started PACE programs only to have them shut down by federal regulators, causing many Coloradans to put projects on hold.  I disagree with the regulators on the perceived risks of this program. With the PACE program, home and business owners have more money to pay their mortgages because they have lower energy bills, and this makes them a better credit risk," stated Perlmutter.

"Coloradans continue to be ahead of the curve in using renewable energy.  We need to encourage programs making us less dependent on foreign sources of energy while creating jobs that can't be outsourced overseas.  This bill provides responsible guidelines and equity levels to ensure PACE programs can continue, and I am proud to support it."

Starting in 2010, Rep. Perlmutter led negotiations between Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA), the Obama Administration, members of Congress and other federal agencies to work on allowing state and local PACE programs to move forward.  This bill ensures property owners can move forward with their energy efficiency upgrades in a responsible way.

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