Excellent news for solar in Arizona: late last week, the State Legislature put the final kibosh on a bill that would have permanently capped the amount of clean energy used by Arizonans. With your help we’ve been working to defeat the dangerous and misguided HB 2789, which would have prevented any future increase in the state’s clean energy standard.
The bill squeaked out of the House earlier this spring, but never gained enough steam in the State Senate to get a floor vote, thanks to an outpouring of opposition from Vote Solar members, solar companies and others. Thousands of emails and phone calls went to legislators, reminding them that approving the bill would send a message that the state wasn’t serious about being a clean energy leader and would be bad for the state’s economy. A huge high five to everyone who participated in stopping a disaster in its tracks!
Overall, this was a great year for solar legislation in Arizona, despite ardent efforts from clean energy opponents. As we noted in an earlier blogpost, Governor Brewer signed two pro-solar bills into law in April: HB 2830 removes the 2013 sunset date on school districts’ ability to install solar and other energy-saving measures, and 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.
