Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Dear Sun Catcher,

The renewable energy bills are coming from a very diverse group of committees. HOUSING restricts home owner associations from banning arrays and amends real property law for solar on co-ops. WAYS AND MEANS is tinkering with tax credits and wants training of inmates to install solar thermal on prisons. LOCAL GOVERNMENT is keeping the exemption from property tax increases for home owners. JUDICIARY has a shading law! INSURANCE has our favorite: sets rates for liability insurance for solar installers. FINANCE wants to extend the PV tax credit carryover period from 5 to 10 years. And many more.

On Tuesday look up your elected reps and find out which committees they are on and be ready as we approach their committees. If your rep is chair of a committee, you carry a lot of weight. That's key. We need you.

For more information, query your favorite search engine. Some like bill numbers (there are 35 related bills) and some do fine with the topic of the bill (sometimes bill numbers change).

On Wednesday, meet at 10:00 am at the Liberty Cafe on the concourse next to security at the capitol in Albany. Tom Thompson and Joanne Coons will get us up to speed with an overview and discussion. Appointments have been made with the senate and energy committees.

With the PSC churning out new visions for NY energy we can make a huge difference by showing up and voicing our approval for bills long overdue.

Please join us. If you are running late, just call 917 974 4606 and we'll let you know where we are.

Power be to those who show up. You'll learn the subtle and not so subtle art of lobbying. Get your finger on the pulse. One more month to go for this session. We may be the only group to stop by and thank the committees for bills which will make a huge difference to the growth of solar in NY.

You'll walk away knowing more about the PSC's new influence on how sausage is made.

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday.

​Wyldon​ ​ Fishman, President​ ​Tom Thompson, NYSES Policy Director​ Joanne Coons, Capital Region Section Chair