Int. No. 846
By Council Members Richards, Constantinides, Mendez and Rodriguez
A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to creation of an office of solar energy
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of the New York city charter, is amended to add a new section 20.1 read as follows:
§ 20.1. Office of solar energy. a. The mayor shall establish an office of solar energy. Such office may, but need not, be established in the executive office of the mayor and may be established as a separate office or within any other office of the mayor or within any department the head of which is appointed by the mayor. Such office shall be headed by a director who shall be appointed by the mayor or by the head of such department. For the purposes of this section only, "director" shall mean the director of the office of solar energy.
b. Powers and duties. The director shall have the power and the duty to:
1. develop, recommend and coordinate the implementation of policies, programs and actions for encouraging the use of solar energy in the city, including, but not limited to, identifying and coordinating opportunities for installation of solar power systems; expanding access to solar power systems by targeting assistance to communities that have historically had limited access to such power systems due to financial hardship, technical constraints, or other reasons; and expanding innovative solar power programs, including, but not limited to, community-based group purchasing and shared solar power programs, to provide more New Yorkers with the opportunity to benefit from solar power systems;
2. develop measurable indicators for assessing the city's progress in achieving broader adoption of solar energy use citywide; and
3. take actions to increase public awareness and education regarding solar energy use.
c. Solar energy use progress reports. By no later than December 31, 2016, and in each year thereafter, the director shall report to the mayor and the speaker of the council, and shall make publicly available online, the following information, at a minimum, provided that such report may, but need not, be provided as part of the mayor’s management report under section 12 of the charter:
1. a set of indicators to assess and track the city’s progress in achieving broader adoption of solar energy use citywide;
2. barriers encountered by communities that have historically not had access to solar power systems due to financial hardship, technical constraints, or other reasons, and steps taken by the city to address such barriers.
d. Long-term solar energy implementation plan. 1. The director shall develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive, long-term plan to increase the city’s use of solar energy and installation of solar power systems, and to ensure that, by 2030, solar power systems are installed on all building roofs suitable for such installation. Such plan shall, at a minimum, identify and analyze barriers to increasing the city’s use of solar energy and installation of solar power systems, and shall include recommendations for overcoming or lessening the effects of such barriers.
2. Such plan shall be provided to the mayor and the speaker of the council, and made publicly available online, by no later than April of 2016.
3. Such plan shall be updated as needed, but at least once in every four year period, and such updated plans shall be provided to the mayor and the speaker of the council, and made publicly available online, as soon as practicable, and shall include the following, at a minimum and in addition to the information required by paragraph 1 of this subdivision:
(a) a description of the city’s progress toward accomplishing each objective set forth in the immediately preceding plan; and
(b) where any objective set forth in the immediately preceding plan has been changed or removed in the updated plan, the updated plan shall include the reason for such change or removal.
4. In developing a plan under this subdivision, the director shall seek public input and shall include in such plan a description of the efforts to obtain such input, the input received and the manner in which such input was used for such plan.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.
LS 3379
SS
6/10/15 12:10PM