Energy Bond Bills Advance

Two energy bond bills sponsored by California Treasurer Bill Lockyer were approved Monday in their first Assembly hearings. It’s an important milestone, as this week is the deadline for bills to clear policy committees.

Both bills had already cleared the Senate.

The Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee voted 7 to 1 in favor of a bill that would ask voters to approve a $2 billion bond measure to finance projects at state government facilities to make them more energy efficient. The bill was referred to the Committee on Business and Professions.

The measure is designed to save taxpayers more in reduced energy bills than it would cost in debt service, according to the treasurer’s office.

The Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee voted unanimously for a bill that would authorize the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority — which is run out of the treasurer’s office — to issue energy prepayment bonds to help state agencies and schools install renewable energy systems. That bill moves on to the Appropriations Committee.

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