2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 24 - Government - State
Governor's Office
Article 38.7 - Colorado Clean Energy Finance Program
Part 1 - General Provisions
§ 24-38.7-103. Colorado energy office - powers and duties - program - fund created

(1) The Colorado clean energy finance program is hereby created. The office shall oversee the program and the program administrator and shall, in addition to exercising any other powers and performing any other duties specified in this article:

(a) Select the program administrator in accordance with the provisions of the "Procurement Code", articles 101 to 112 of this title. In selecting the program administrator, the office shall consider the extent to which a potential program administrator has demonstrated experience in recruiting, training, and certifying contractors or can otherwise establish that it will be able to perform such functions.

(b) Directly market the program to the general public or contract with the program administrator for the marketing of the program to the general public;

(c) Develop and operate or contract with the program administrator for the development and operation of a quality assurance, measurement, and verification program to:

(I) Monitor the quality of clean energy improvement installations;

(II) Measure and report on energy, emissions, and gross and net cost savings resulting from clean energy improvements financed by clean energy loans; and

(III) Authorize participating lenders, certified contractors, and qualified borrowers on whose property clean energy improvements are made to use the "Colorado Clean & Green" logo or other logo and marketing materials prepared in accordance with section 24-38.7-105.

(d) Determine, in consultation with the state treasurer, when the administrative and procedural framework for the program and the available administrative and financial resources for the program are sufficiently developed to allow the office to effectively oversee the program. No clean energy loan shall be marketed to a potential qualified borrower, applied for by a potential qualified borrower, or made to a qualified borrower until the office has determined that it is ready to effectively oversee the program and instructed certified contractors to begin marketing clean energy loans.

(e) Exercise such other powers and perform such other duties necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers and duties specified in this article.

(2) (a) The clean energy program fund is hereby created in the state treasury, and the following accounts are hereby created in the fund:

(I) The loan buy-down account; and

(II) The loan loss reserve account.

(b) The program fund and the accounts of the program fund shall consist of such moneys as the general assembly may appropriate thereto from the innovative energy fund created in section 24-38.5-102.5, the clean and renewable energy fund created in section 24-38.5-102.4, and any gifts, grants, or donations that may be made to the program fund. In accordance with section 24-36-113 (1) (a), which requires the state treasurer, in making investments, to use prudence and care to preserve the principal and to secure the maximum rate of interest consistent with safety and liquidity, if the general assembly chooses not to appropriate moneys to the program fund or to the accounts of the program fund, nothing in this article shall be deemed to require the state treasurer to credit any moneys to the program fund or the accounts of the program fund. All interest and income earned on the deposit and investment of moneys in the program fund and the accounts of the program fund shall be used for the loan buy-down account and the loan loss reserve account. Moneys in the loan buy-down account and loan loss reserve account of the program fund shall remain in the accounts and shall not be transferred to the general fund or any other fund at the end of any fiscal year.

(3) (a) All moneys in the program fund are continuously appropriated to the office, and the office shall make payments from the loan buy-down account of the program fund to participating public lenders and private lenders to compensate the lenders for the reduction in the amount of future interest payments resulting from the provision of clean energy loans to first tier and second tier qualified borrowers at the below-market interest rates determined pursuant to section 24-38.7-104 (2). The office shall pay the compensation for each clean energy loan by paying to the lender a lump sum equal to the present value of the reduction in future interest payments on the date the loan closes.

(b) The office shall make payments from the loan loss reserve account of the program fund to compensate participating public lenders and private lenders for the uncollectible amount of clean energy loans any such lenders have written off. The office shall pay the compensation for each uncollectible clean energy loan by paying to the lender a lump sum equal to the present value of the uncollectible portion of the loan on the date the lender wrote it off.

(c) The state treasurer shall periodically transfer moneys from the loan buy-down account of the program fund to the loan loss reserve account of the program fund to ensure that the balance of the loan loss reserve account is at least five percent of the total principal amount of outstanding clean energy loans made by participating public lenders and private lenders. The administrator shall update the state treasurer regarding outstanding clean energy loans originated by such lenders as required by the state treasurer so that the state treasurer can accurately determine the appropriate amount and timing of transfers.

(d) The state treasurer may invest up to a total amount of forty million dollars of state moneys in bonds or notes issued by participating public or private lenders for the purpose of funding clean energy loans under this part 1 and under part 2 of this article during the 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11 fiscal years subject to the following conditions:

(I) The state treasurer may invest no more than fifteen million dollars during the 2008-09 fiscal year and no more than a total amount of twenty-five million dollars during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years; and

(II) Such investments shall be subject to the state treasurer's discretion and shall comply with the qualifications for state investments listed in section 24-36-113.