Alaska Taps PACE for Emissions Reductions and Resiliency as State Programs Evolve

With the passing of an amendment to state PACE legislation today (HB 227), Alaska has added resiliency measures to its list of PACE eligible property improvements. The program joins a growing list of states expanding PACE eligible projects to include resiliency – a move recognizing the needs of commercial property owners and the success of PACE programs to improve the built environment through a public-private partnership that utilizes private capital to serve the common good.

California and Florida were among the first states to enable PACE financing for resiliency measures. Wind resistance improvements have been eligible in Florida since 2012 and CounterpointeSRE has been financing seismic strengthening improvements as the financing partner of the City of San Francisco since the launch of the City’s soft-story retrofit program in 2015. More recently, many other states have added flood mitigation, stormwater management, fire resistance, and other resiliency measures to the list of PACE eligible measures. Washington State underscored the need for commercial property resiliency by titling their program, “C-PACER” and appending the “R” (for resiliency) to the PACE program name. Additional programs with resiliency include those denoted in blue below.

Beyond resiliency, the Alaskan legislature is addressing local air quality. Alaska joins Tennessee to be among the first states in the nation that allow PACE financing specifically for projects that target reduced emissions in addition to traditional PACE eligible measures of energy efficiency and production.

The Alaskan legislation adds local air quality to a long list of PACE-eligible measures that include seismic, stormwater, flood mitigation and protection, fire hardening, wind resistance, snow load management, backup power generation, and even EV charging stations.

Meanwhile, Indoor Air Quality, a topic that rose to prominence during the COVID pandemic is a measure being considered to become PACE eligible in several states including the Pennsylvania legislature.

Commercial PACE programs (by state) with eligible resliency measures as of June 30, 2022. Source: CSRE  

The Alaska legislation was signed into law by Governor Dunleavy today, June 30, 2022. The bill (HB 227) was sponsored by Representative Calvin Schrage.  For more information on the legislation, please read this announcement from the Anchorage Mayor’s Office.