Pennsylvania Solar Energy Industries Association

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Update from Harrisburg June 16, 2011

Representative Chris Ross continues to seek co-sponsors for House bill #1580. The good news is we hit a whopping 66 co-sponsors yesterday and that’s a lot of persistent work on your part! Keep it up.

Please check it against the House members you are in touch with and see if your Representative or ones you have spoken with are listed and if not, please get back to them. If you are a PASEIA member, you can email paseia@mseia.net to request the updated co-sponsor list.

The legislative session will recess some time on or before June 30, 2011 and they are likely to pass the budget and pass a severance or impact fee on Marcellus Shale gas before they leave Harrisburg. There were about 325 people gathered in Harrisburg visiting legislators on the gas tax last week and I believe that effort has helped move the gas tax issue just as your efforts on May 24th and beyond has moved our solar issues. Once the budget is passed and the Marcellus Shale gas tax passed, I think we can get the legislature to move the Ross’s bill. It will be up to us to continue to seek co-sponsors to demonstrate to leadership and the Governor’s office that there is support for the Ross legislation.

We will need to work over the summer on building momentum for Fall passage which starts mid-September and usually runs to around Thanksgiving depending on what they are trying to accomplish before the end of the year. This gives us more time to expand our reaches to solar advocates, solar customers, supportive unions, students, business associations and anyone else we can get to support our legislative campaign. We will be working with Vote Solar’s Peter Olmsted to help expand on the “team leader” approach we established leading up to our May 24th lobby day. By working through a regional network, we can effectively work with interested solar businesses and advocates to continue to build awareness and work on “yes” votes for a swift Fall campaign.

We continue to get very strong press on our solar issue, particularly the Philadelphia Inquirer but other papers too. You can access these stories on this site, below. Over the summer, please try to get your local press to write articles and author letters to the editor which will serve to build awareness and keep the pressure on. Talking points, sample letters, press release and other materials are available on the site for your reference. In addition, Photon USA is doing a comprehensive story in their July edition of their magazine and several other solar trade magazines and on line services have covered the story.

Finally, these campaigns are expensive to run and are hard to finance with member dues alone. If you aren’t a PASEIA member or you or your customers would simply like to make a contribution without joining but want to stay informed, that information is also in the website and do so today if this victory is important to you.

Submitted by Maureen Mulligan

Government relations and lobbyist PASEIA

Pledge Your Support For Saving Solar in PA!

Recently Published Articles:

Allentown Morning Call

Published: June 12, 2011

Media: Op-Ed written by Ron Celentano

Title: “PA Proposal Would Boost Solar Business”

http://discussions.mcall.com/20/allnews/mc-solar-energy-yv-0613-20110612/10

Central Pennsylvania Business Journal

Published: May 27, 2011

Media: Article written by Jason Scott