The New Jersey Assembly’s Environment and Solid Waste Committee. will consider two pieces of legislation sponsored by 33rd District Assemblyman Raj Mukherji on Monday.
The first bill, A2374, would direct the EDA to establish a program for public or private financing of certain renewable energy, water, and storm resiliency projects through use by municipalities of voluntary special assessments for certain property owners. It would establish a “NJPACE” program, which stands for “property assessed clean energy.”
“This bill is important to help homeowners, builders, and others have more green energy and green building projects. This is a financing mechanism for resiliency projects and renewable energy projects. This allows people to use green building technologies, energy efficiency, cleaning up stormwater, and elevating buildings, which makes our communities more resilient and sustainable. It allows homeowners to get low-cost loans for resiliency projects and repay them with a small assessment on their property, almost like a second mortgage,” said New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel. “This PACE bill will help the average New Jersey homeowner go green and make their homes energy efficient and flood resistant. It will not only help residents to put solar panels on their homes and save money on energy bills, but will help communities become more sustainable and create thousands of jobs in New Jersey.”
The second piece of legislation sponsored by Mukherji being considered by the committee on Monday is A2152. This bill provides for priority consideration, by DCA, DEP, DOT, and municipalities, of permit applications for green building projects.
Tittel says, “This legislation will help make green buildings a reality through the permitting process. Making permits easier for green building will not only reduce greenhouse gasses in the state but will also help to stimulate New Jersey’s economy by promoting new industry and creating jobs. Jobs will be generated to produce the green building products and in construction.”