Office of the Mayor
City of Santa Rosa
100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Room 10
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
June 15, 2022
The Honorable Scott Wiener
State Senate
1021 O Street, Suite 6630
Sacramento, California 95814
RE: Senate Bill 379 – SUPPORT
Dear Senator Wiener:
The City of Santa Rosa is pleased to support your SB 379 which would require local governments to implement an online permitting platform for residential solar energy systems. Santa Rosa has been at the forefront of addressing the impacts of climate change, from passing an emergency climate resolution, passing an all-electric reach code ordinance to creating a Climate Action Subcommittee. We are excited to see this legislation address how best to bring additional solar energy systems online.
California needs to accelerate its transition to clean energy in order to increase local resilience and meet its climate emissions targets by 2045. While rooftop solar systems have been a major driving force behind California’s ongoing transition, the potential growth of these systems has been diminished by administrative burdens.
Across the state, rooftop solar and storage permitting processes are often inefficient and time- consuming, and can add thousands of dollars to the cost of installing solar. As a result, fewer Californians add solar to their roofs than the number that otherwise would. Increasing the availability of technology helps address these permit requests and support local officials in handling these requests.
We are grateful for your willingness to tackle such an important issue. For these reasons, the City of Santa Rosa supports your SB 379. Should you have any questions please contact our legislative advocate, Sharon Gonsalves, with the Renne Public Policy Group, at (916) 974-9270.
Sincerely,
Chris Rogers, Mayor