In the ad you see here, Assembly member Noreen Evans talks about Mark Leno's commitment to solar power. Over the years, Leno has passed several pieces of legislation aimed at encouraging the distribution and installation of solar panels. In order to offer a bit more information about this, here's a review of some of those bills.

In the current 2007-2008 Session, Mark is fighting to pass AB 1451, which would exempt new solar installations from property tax assesments. However, that's not the only work he's done on solar energy.

Read more here.

Back in 2003, Assembly member Leno passed Assembly Bills 1684 and 1685.  Both of these bills encouraged solar installations.  AB 1684 corrected an insertion by California utility companies in a bill from 2002 that allowed the utilities to charge "exit fees" to customers who use net metering to deliver power from their house to the electrical grid.  AB 1684 ended these exit fees for solar customers.  AB 1685 reauthorized a very successful program to provide financial incentives to produce solar power. Most of the large solar projects in California, including the $7.4 million solar rooftop at the Moscone Center, have received this subsidy.

In 2004, Leno campaigned for, and then helped impliment San Franciscio's Proposition B, the solar revenue bond. AB 594 allows the City of San Francisco to build projects on remote government properties and supply power through net-metering, expanding the possibilities for building solar power facilities.

In 2005, Mark continued to focus on solar power by passing AB 1099.  This bill removes the sunset clause on a tax exemption for the construction or addition of solar energy systems on public or private buildings. He followed up in 2006 with AB 2573, the San Francisco Solar Power Expansion, which authorizes a power exchange between municipal solar power facilities with excess solar generation capacity and new municipal development sites which can use the excess solar-generated electricity.

Mark Leno understands the critical importance of alternative energy and is taking the lead on building that industry in California.  All the while the solar installations bulid green jobs for the region and all of California.  That's why Asm.  Evans said that:

"Thanks to Mark Leno more homeowners and businesses can now afford to install solar panels."