AB 790

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs allow property owners to quickly finance certain improvements (energy and water efficiency enhancements; wildfire hardening; seismic safety) upfront and then repay the cost of those improvements through increased property tax assessments over a 10, 15, or 20-year period. PACE assessments are secured by a super priority lien on the property that has the status of a tax lien; accordingly, failure to repay the increased property taxes associated with PACE will eventually lead to the foreclosure sale of the property.

Senior citizens have been targeted by various forms of PACE fraud that place them at risk of losing their homes. Existing legal frameworks in California have made it difficult to hold the parties liable that profit from this fraud, particularly program administrators. A provision of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act was enacted in the mid-nineties to curtail home improvement scams targeted at seniors. AB 790, authored by Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, would amend that provision so that it clearly applies to PACE fraud, and can be used to hold program administrators liable for their involvement in these schemes.