A letter of support for the passage and approval of the pending PACE bill (A1902/S1611) in New Jersey is gaining signatories from across the country and from many different stakeholder groups. The support letter reads in part:

PACE resolves the barriers that have kept private entities from making necessary clean energy, water and resiliency improvements to their properties. C-PACE allows property owners to advantageously finance renewable energy, energy efficiency and green infrastructure improvements by paying for them over the long term through a voluntary special assessment on their tax bill.

Commercial property owners and private sector capital providers pay all the costs of PACE, so that no public funds are needed to establish or expand PACE in New Jersey. PACE provides jobs, economic development and environmental benefits to the public, at no taxpayer cost.

According to the NJ Business and Industry Association, in May 2018, New Jersey’s business climate ranked last in the region. To better compete with neighboring states, many of which already offer PACE, municipalities can offer PACE to attract and maintain businesses. Since energy prices in New Jersey are among the highest in the nation, PACE is a valuable tool to reduce costs. Investment is critical to New Jersey’s economy, and private sector capital providers are poised to bring hundreds of millions of dollars of additional investment into the state. Commercial property owners, energy services contractors, local businesses and financial institutions, communities, and job seekers will be the direct beneficiaries of PACE.

Those endorsing the letter include capital providers such as CleanFund, nonprofits such as VoteSolar.org, urban mayors such as Hoboken’s Ravi Bhalla, major energy services providers such as Sieberlich Trane, and business organizations such as the New Jersey Sustainable Business Council. Additional signatories will be added as they come in, and the letter will be submitted to the Governor and key legislators in early September, when the legislature is expected to be back in session.

Addendum: Worth noting that Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Wolfe recently signed PACE legislation in PA, and legislation has been introduced in Delaware.