Amendment #1104 to H5500

C-PACE Program

Mr. Vitolo of Brookline moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:-

Chapter 23M of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out sections 3 subsections (b) and (e), as appearing in the 2024 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following subsections:-

(b) The agency, working in conjunction with the department, shall develop program guidelines governing the terms and conditions under which financing for commercial PACE projects may be made available to the commercial sustainable energy program. The agency or special purpose entity: (1) shall provide information as requested by the department regarding the expected financing costs for commercial PACE projects; (2) may serve as an aggregating entity for the purpose of securing state or private third-party financing for commercial energy improvements pursuant to this section; (3) may establish a loan loss, liquidity reserve or credit enhancement program to support PACE bonds issued under this section; and (4) may use the services of one or more private, public or quasi-public third-party administrators to administer, provide support or obtain financing for commercial PACE projects under the commercial sustainable energy program.

(e) Before the betterment assessment is made, the agency or special purpose entity shall set the term and amortization schedule, the fixed or variable rate of interest for the repayment of the betterment assessment amount, and any required closing fees and costs, and disclose this information to the participating property owner in writing. The amortization schedule shall provide for an amortization period of no longer than the lesser of: (1) the weighted average useful life of the commercial energy improvements comprising the commercial PACE project financed by such betterment assessment; or (2) 30 years. The calculation of the total amount of financing of the commercial energy improvements secured by the property shall be determined by calculating the reasonable expected stabilized value of the property with the proposed energy improvements installed and the agency or special purpose entity shall allow financing of up to thirty-five percent (35%) of the stabilized value of the property. The interest rate, which may be supplemented with state or federal funding, shall be sufficient to pay the principal and interest and shall be calculated to include the agency's fees, financing and administrative costs of the commercial sustainable energy program, including delinquencies. The property owner shall acknowledge in writing receipt of the disclosure.