Improvement Act of 1911: contractual assessments.

Existing law, the Improvement Act of 1911, authorizes the legislative body of any public agency, as defined, to determine that it would be convenient, advantageous, and in the public interest to designate an area within the public agency, as specified, within which authorized public agency officials and property owners may enter into voluntary contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy or water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property, as specified. Existing law requires the legislative body to make these determinations by adopting a resolution indicating its intention to do so and requires that the resolution include specified information and directs an appropriate public agency official to prepare a prescribed report. This bill would define the term "permanently fixed," for purposes of financing the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources, to include systems that are attached to specified types of real property pursuant to a power purchase agreement or lease between the owner of the system and the owner of the assessed property, if the agreement satisfies prescribed criteria. This bill would prohibit a public agency from permitting a property owner to participate in a contractual assessment program if the total amount of the assessments and taxes on the property exceeds 5% of the property's market value, as specified. This bill would also require the prescribed report to include criteria for determining the underwriting requirements, as well as safeguards to be used to limit the total annual property tax and assessments on the property.