“Enabling local governments to rely on one program administrator overseen by the Comptroller’s Office and within it the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) gives me comfort that the program will be administered ethically and with the highest underwriting and technical standards. This, too, is necessary to make the program available in areas where local governments may not have the resources to individually establish a program of this type.”
– Hon. Scott Felton, McLennan County Judge
“I support Chairman Birdwell’s bill, SB 1282, because it promotes the expansion of the PACE program in Texas while protecting counties and cities with best practices in oversight, underwriting, technical standards and also public accountability. This balance is critical and I encourage you to keep the protection of local governments in mind and not weaken the oversight of this program at our expense by allowing competing motives that could pose unnecessary risk of project failure on local governments…
SECO’s track record with the LoanSTAR program demonstrates that it will serve the best interests of local governments first. If we had the funding, SECO could administer PACE inhouse. But to avoid a fiscal note, SB 1281 calls for this oversight to be provided by an independent organization selected through a competitive RFP process. If local governments provided the PACE program inhouse we would only have one office managing oversight. It should be no different if we outsource the oversight function at the state level.
We only have one PUC and we should only have one PACE oversight administrator. The idea that businesses can shop around to see which administrator will give them the best deal threatens local governments and property owners.”
– Hon. Brigid Shea, Travis County Commissioner
“Local governments must be protected by the best single administrator selected through a competitive RFP process. I do not support the idea of multiple administrators, because they will be forced to spend their energy competing with each other in what is likely to be a race to the bottom and a focused chase for the biggest most profitable projects. Instead, SB 1281 will provide oversight as a public service, providing the highest quality service at the lowest possible cost to protect local governments and make the program available to all businesses regardless of size and location. If the administrator does not live up to this expectation, then it won’t be successful when the RFP is rebid a few years later.”
– Hon. Robert Dye, Mayor, Farmers Branch