California Code of Regulations › Title 10 - Investment › Chapter 3 - Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation › Subchapter 6 - California Financing Law › Article 15 - Pace Program Administrators › Section 1620.05 - Advertising Standards

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a)
				  A program administrator shall not advertise PACE financing in a manner that is
				  untrue, deceptive, or likely to mislead a property owner. A program
				  administrator shall condition remaining enrolled as a PACE solicitor or PACE
				  solicitor agent on a PACE solicitor or PACE solicitor agent refraining from
				  advertising a PACE program, directly or indirectly, in a manner that is untrue,
				  deceptive, or likely to mislead a property owner. The following is a
				  non-exclusive list of actions that constitute advertising of a PACE program in
				  a manner that is untrue, deceptive, or likely to mislead a property owner:
(1) Suggesting that the full assessment
				  payment may be tax deductible as a state or local real estate tax, unless the
				  statement is consistent with representations, statements, or opinions of the
				  Internal Revenue Service or applicable state tax agency with regard to the tax
				  treatment of PACE assessments or otherwise true.
(2) Representing that the program is a free,
				  subsidized, or government program, unless the program in fact has these
				  characteristics.
(3) Representing
				  that the program is a government program that provides a subsidy or benefit to
				  property owners because of the property owner's limited resources or income,
				  unless the PACE program includes a benefit or subsidy that is available to a
				  property owner because of the property owner's limited resources and
				  income.
(4) Representing that the
				  property owner will not be obligated to pay the assessment obligations, unless
				  the property owner will not be contractually obligated to pay the assessment
				  obligations.
(5) Suggesting an
				  efficiency improvement will pay for the PACE assessment, unless the
				  representation is supported by evidence, including being consistent with the
				  Public Utilities Commission's inputs and assumptions for calculating electric
				  utility bill savings under Public Utilities Code section
				  2854.6.
(6) Advertising PACE financing through a
				  method that violates the Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule
				  (16 C.F.R. §§
												310.1-310.9).
(7) Representing that the advertisement of
				  PACE financing is from a government entity unless the advertising is in fact
				  from a government entity or the representation is authorized by a government
				  entity.
(8) Advertising that the
				  program has an ending date, is available for a limited time, or is available to
				  a limited number of property owners, unless the program has these
				  characteristics.
(9) Engaging in
				  blind advertising for a PACE program by failing to identify the program
				  administrator or the PACE solicitor responsible for the
				  advertisement.
(10) Making any
				  written or oral communication in advertising that includes an untrue statement
				  of a material fact about a PACE program, or omitting to state a material fact
				  necessary to make the statements made about a PACE program, in the light of the
				  circumstances under which the statements were made, not
				  misleading.