PACE Bonds

House Bill 2643: HB 2643 would have allowed homeowners to tap into State bond funding for the purpose of installing renewable energy systems on their properties. Homeowners would then repay the State over time through added assessment on their property taxes. These are known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Bonds. As the Blue Planet Foundation astutely noted: “Residents benefit by having a lower total cost of home ownership immediately; the State benefits with an increase in efficiency and clean energy; and the economy benefits from having steady growth in high-tech clean energy and efficiency jobs.”

The Harvard Business Review called PACE bond financing one of the “top ten breakthrough ideas for 2010,” and opined, “As opt-in solutions, they raise taxes only for property owners who choose to take loans. Other constituents’ pocketbooks are unaffected...what politician would not want to lay claim to a program that increased property values, lowered monthly utility costs, and created jobs?” Many of my colleagues and I shared these sentiments.

House Bill 2643 passed the House unanimously, a clear indication of the idea’s merit. It was then amended in the Senate, and ultimately died in Conference Committee, with members of the Legislature agreeing instead to “study” the idea. While disappointed at the bill’s failure, I am highly optimistic that this legislation will pass in the coming year, and view it as an innovative mechanism to assist homeowners in becoming energy self-sufficient.

Left: Representative Cynthia Thielen at the White House in January. Thielen traveled to Washington, D.C. as a leading member of CLEAN (Coalition of Legislators for Renewable Energy Now) to urge President Obama and members of Congress to pass comprehensive renewable energy legislation.

Representative Thielen met with President Obama’s energy team in the White House Roosevelt Room and later gave a keynote speech to “Clean Energy Now” groups on Capitol Hill. Over 1,200 state legislators from across the nation have joined CLEAN. 

Representative Cynthia Thielen • State Capitol, Room 443 • 415 South Beretania Street • Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 • Phone: (808) 586-6480