A case for the Local Solar Access Fund

The legislative session is almost over. New Mexicans have reasonable expectations that our elected officials will be good stewards of our state and our people. Our elected leaders should look at how proposed bills benefit constituents, our communities’ sustainability and resilience, and our economies.

Good bills like House Bill 108 have been made with careful crafting, consideration, and community and agency input. HB 108 will create a Local Solar Access Fund that will fund solar and storage systems that power public buildings and infrastructure owned by counties, municipalities, tribes and school districts. This great legislation passes the litmus test for good governance and community empowerment. It should become law.

The Local Solar Access Fund will help communities across our state, particularly our rural communities, access the benefits of solar and storage, including reduced costs, safety, security and resilience through projects that ensure critical infrastructure and community buildings do not lose power during brownouts, blackouts, emergencies, storms and wildfires. The fund not only can be swiftly deployed to fund shovel-ready projects, it can also be used to help communities plan these projects and hire funding experts who can help apply for and leverage time-sensitive federal funding opportunities. New Mexico currently has a windfall of resources to support this bill, which will invest in our communities’ infrastructure with benefits that last decades, and we should do it now.

As a former Santa Fe County commissioner, I know this fund will yield positive returns on investment for the recipients of these grants and all of us taxpayers. Stakeholders across the state have expressed the beneficial impacts this bill could have on their communities’ budgets and security. This bill would address many of our state’s needs.

HB 108 is popular across the political divide, with dozens of endorsements from around the state, including the state’s Municipal League and our Association of Counties, local governments, tribal governments and school districts, among others. The need and desire for a policy like this is great.

The Local Solar Access Fund will be established at the New Mexico Finance Authority, which in its 30-plus-year history has financed projects in every county of the state to more than 250 cities, counties, tribal entities and public school districts. They have more than 20 programs and have financed projects in excess of $4 billion. They are wellequipped to deploy this fund, and can have applications open by the end of the year, if we pass HB 108.

Please support HB 108 and make it a reality this year. We can’t afford to wait. Too many communities are missing out on time-sensitive federal funding, and this bill will help fill in the gaps and leverage investment into our state, while bringing all the other benefits of solar to our communities: resilience, sustainability, health and prosperity.