Hey, remember back in 2015 and 2016, when it seemed like there were about a thousand solar power-related amendments to the state constitution battling to get onto the election ballot? OK, well, not a thousand. But there was the activist-backed progressive one, the lobby-backed status quo one designed to confuse people who might be into the progressive one, and then the good one that nobody could really come up with a serious reason to oppose.
Remember?
Today, the State Senate passed legislation to implement the good one that nobody could really come up with a serious reason to oppose — Amendment 4 — after similar legislation passed the House yesterday.
Amendment 4 is neither the activist-backed progressive one (Floridians for Solar Choice, which failed to make the 2016 ballot) nor the lobby-backed status quo one (Consumers for Smart Solar, which made the November general-election ballot only to be resoundingly shot down by voters). Amendment 4 is the one that came relatively late to the game and was placed on the August '16 primary ballot by unanimous vote of the state legislature itself rather than citizen petition, and approved at the booth by nearly three-quarters of state voters.
"Yes on 4, No on 1"? Remember? Yeah, that Amendment 4.
Now, after being passed (again, unanimously) by both chambers of the state legislature, the bill that will formally enact the amendment is headed to Governor Rick Scott's desk — and nobody really expects him to have a problem with it, either.
So what does Amendment 4 do? Basically, two things: It gives a tax break to businesses that install solar panels on their buildings by allowing them to take the value of the equipment off the total taxable value of their property, and it exempts solar equipment from personal-property taxes as well. Rather than get into the logistics of who controls the power itself and what can be charged for it (elements that made those other two failed amendments so politically dicey), Amendment 4 is aimed squarely at incentivizing the increased use of solar by property owners, and thus building the industry within the state.
“We applaud Florida lawmakers for implementing this important constitutional amendment in the closing days of the legislative session,” Dr. Stephen A. Smith, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy's executive director (and Floridians for Solar Choice board member), said in an Alliance press release. “The importance of moving this forward cannot be overstated: with lower taxes for homeowners and businesses, solar energy development will increase allowing Floridians to lock in energy savings, create jobs, spur economic development, and bring much-needed diversity to the state’s energy mix.”
This article appears in May 4-11, 2017.