CA Assembly Rejects Million Solar Roofs Bill

September 9, 2005

Political differences between Gov. Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Nunez doomed the Million Solar Roofs bill.

"We can go to the PUC and implement the policy of SB 1, and that is where we will be going."

--Richard Costigan, the Governor's lobbyist

Sacramento, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Last minute efforts to resolve the debate over prevailing wages and licensing failed to save SB 1, the Million Solar Roofs bill, in California's Assembly.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, which supported the bill throughout, lost the political struggle with California assembly and in particular Speaker Fabio Nunez, D-Los Angeles. It now appears likely that the Governor will ask the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to implement a solar program using SB 1 as a guideline.

The PUC could act on the program as early as November, according Richard Costigan, the Governor's lobbyist. "We can go to the PUC and implement the policy of SB 1, and that is where we will be going," Costigan said.

After being passed by California's Assembly Appropriations Committee with what RenewableEnergyAccess.com earlier termed "bittersweet amendment changes aimed at appeasing various interest groups."

SB 1's cost savings incentives for solar energy would have helped Californians install 3,000 MW of solar power capacity panels on homes and businesses over the next ten years, however, the amendments for prevailing wages and licensing splintered the bill's support.

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