I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3664 

To provide local communities with tools to make solar permitting more 

efficient, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 14, 2011 

Mr. BILBRAY (for himself and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in 

addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide local communities with tools to make solar 

permitting more efficient, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Solar Energy Regu5 latory Relief Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) BEST PRACTICES FOR SOLAR PERMIT2 TING.—The term ‘‘best practices for solar permit3 ting’’ means 1 or more practices— 

4 (A) defined by the Secretary by regulation 

5 as— 

6 (i) promoting standardization and 

7 uniformity for local permitting require8 ments for solar energy across jurisdictions; 

9 and 

10 (ii)(I) lowering the solar energy sys11 tem installation costs associated with local 

12 permitting; or 

13 (II) expediting the local permitting 

14 process for solar energy; and 

15 (B) identified by the Secretary through 

16 consultation with— 

17 (i) local governments, including each 

18 local government that participates in the 

19 Rooftop Solar Challenge or other appro20 priate solar energy program of the Depart21 ment of Energy; and 

22 (ii) members of the solar energy in23 dustry. 

24 (2) CHALLENGE GRANT.—The term ‘‘challenge 

25 grant’’ means a grant awarded under a competitive 


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1 program to 1 or more applicants that achieve imple2 mentation of best practices for solar permitting. 

3 (3) COMMITMENT TO ADOPT BEST PRACTICES

4 FOR SOLAR PERMITTING.—The term ‘‘commitment 

5 to adopt best practices for solar permitting’’ means 

6 an agreement or memorandum of understanding be7 tween the head of a local government and the Sec8 retary that contains— 

9 (A) an outline of steps that the local gov10 ernment commits to take to adopt best prac11 tices for solar permitting; and 

12 (B) a timeline for implementation of the 

13 steps described in subparagraph (A). 

14 (4) INSTALLED NAMEPLATE CAPACITY.—The 

15 term ‘‘installed nameplate capacity’’ means the max16 imum output of a solar electric system under specific 

17 conditions designated by the manufacturer of the 

18 solar electric system. 

19 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of Energy. 

21 (6) SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘solar 

22 energy system’’ means rooftop or ground-mounted 

23 solar equipment— 

24 (A) that is used to generate electricity or 

25 heat water in the United States; and 


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1 (B) with an installed nameplate capacity 

2 not exceeding 1 megawatt or the thermal equiv3 alent of 1 megawatt. 

4 SEC. 3. TOOLS FOR EFFICIENT INSTALLATION OF SOLAR 

5 ENERGY SYSTEMS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish 

8 a program under which the Secretary shall provide com9 petitive grants or challenge grants, or both, to local gov10 ernments or consortia of local governments that have 

11 adopted or offer a commitment to adopt best practices for 

12 solar permitting for properties located in the United 

13 States. 

14 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

15 (1) SOLAR CERTIFICATIONS.—The Secretary 

16 shall provide voluntary certification and recognition 

17 for local governments (including local governments 

18 that receive grants under paragraph (2)) that indi19 cate that the local government has adopted best 

20 practices for solar permitting. 

21 (2) COMPETITIVE GRANTS AND CHALLENGE

22 GRANTS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, 

24 the Secretary shall award competitive grants or 

25 challenge grants, or both, to local governments 


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1 and consortia of local governments to be used 

2 in accordance with this section. 

3 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall 

4 adopt and implement criteria for awarding com5 petitive grants or challenge grants, or both, 

6 under subparagraph (A) to local governments 

7 and consortia of local governments— 

8 (i) to promote greater standardiza9 tion, efficiency, and uniformity for solar 

10 energy permitting across jurisdictions; and 

11 (ii) that would— 

12 (I) require that grant awards are 

13 provided only to local governments or 

14 consortia of local governments that 

15 have— 

16 (aa) adopted or offer a com17 mitment to adopt best practices 

18 for solar permitting; and 

19 (bb) provided quantitative 

20 metrics to measure success; 

21 (II) ensure that grants are 

22 awarded to a diversity of geographic 

23 locations and recipients with different 

24 population sizes; and 


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1 (III) provide a preference for 

2 grant applicants that have partnered 

3 with States, public utility commis4 sions, or other stakeholders to adopt 

5 or enhance standards and policies to 

6 overcome other barriers to distributed 

7 generation (including interconnection 

8 and net metering). 

9 (3) AUTHORIZED USE OF FUNDS FOR COMPETI10 TIVE GRANTS.—Subject to subsection (c), competi11 tive grants provided under this section may be used 

12 for— 

13 (A) training for making, to the maximum 

14 extent practicable, the local permitting process 

15 for solar energy systems more standardized, ef16 ficient, and less expensive; 

17 (B) the development of materials, Internet18 based tools and application processes, and other 

19 tools or information to make, to the maximum 

20 extent practicable, the local permitting process 

21 for solar energy systems more standardized, ef22 ficient, and less expensive; 

23 (C) solar energy system deployment 

24 projects or programs to pilot new permitting 

25 strategies or processes; and 


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1 (D) other programs or projects to achieve 

2 the objectives described in subparagraphs (A) 

3 through (C), as determined by the Secretary. 

4 (4) AUTHORIZED USE OF FUNDS FOR CHAL5 LENGE GRANTS.—Subject to subsection (c), chal6 lenge grants provided under this section may be 

7 used for— 

8 (A) solar energy system deployment 

9 projects; and 

10 (B) programs to pilot new permitting 

11 strategies or processes. 

12 (c) RESCISSION FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Sec13 retary shall rescind any amount of grant funds that the 

14 Secretary considers to be appropriate that is provided to 

15 any grant recipient that— 

16 (1) receives funds based on a commitment to 

17 adopt best practices for solar permitting; but 

18 (2) is unable to implement the steps necessary 

19 to adopt the best practices for solar permitting. 

20 (d) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The Secretary shall re21 quire that each entity that receives grant funds under this 

22 section shall be responsible for a matching amount (in23 cluding in-kind services)— 

24 (1) established by the Secretary for each fiscal 

25 year for which funds are authorized; and 


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1 (2) not to exceed 50 percent of the amount of 

2 the provided funds. 

3 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 5 percent of 

5 the amounts made available for each fiscal year 

6 under this section may be used to pay the adminis7 trative expenses of the Department of Energy that 

8 the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry 

9 out this Act (including expenses arising from moni10 toring and evaluation). 

11 (2) GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Grant recipients may 

12 use not more than 5 percent of the amounts made 

13 available for each fiscal year under this section to 

14 pay for administrative expenses. 

15 (f) COORDINATION; CONSULTATION.—To the max16 imum extent practicable, the Secretary shall consult with 

17 the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chief Executive of 

18 each grant recipient that receives funds under this section 

19 to ensure that each program or project carried out by each 

20 grant recipient through the use of the funds is coordinated 

21 with each other applicable incentive or financing program 

22 of the Federal Government or any other applicable pro23 gram. 


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1 (g) GOALS.—The goals of the United States, through 

2 this Act and any additional or existing incentive or re3 search and development program, are— 

4 (1) to reduce local regulatory burdens and ease 

5 private investment in small solar technologies; and 

6 (2) to achieve cost reductions in the price of 

7 solar energy by December 31, 2020, consistent with 

8 the SunShot Roof Top Solar Challenge at the De9 partment of Energy. 

10 (h) REPORTS.— 

11 (1) REPORT REGARDING ADDITIONAL REC12 OMMENDATIONS.—Not later than 270 days after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

14 submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

15 Resources of the Senate and the Committee on En16 ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 

17 a report that contains additional recommendations 

18 that the Secretary determines to be necessary to 

19 achieve each goal described in subsection (g). 

20 (2) REPORT REGARDING PROGRESS OF GRANT

21 RECIPIENTS.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

22 on which funds are first made available under this 

23 section, the Secretary shall submit to the appro24 priate committees of Congress a report that contains 

25 a description of the progress of grant recipients 


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1 under this section in implementing and maintaining 

2 best practices for solar permitting. 

3 (i) FUNDING.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts authorized 

5 to be appropriated under section 641(p)(3) of the 

6 Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 

7 U.S.C. 17231(p)(3)), the Secretary may use to carry 

8 out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

9 2012 through 2016. 

10 (2) TERMINATION.—Paragraph (1) shall termi11 nate on October 1, 2016. 

Æ 


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