BILL NUMBER:  S4386A

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the public authorities law, in
relation to establishing the school energy efficiency collaborative
act of 2016

 PURPOSE :

This legislation will create a mechanism by which schools looking to
install energy efficiency technologies can do one stop shopping to
acquire the technical, financial and regulatory processes that will
help with the efficient implementation of public school energy
projects across New York State.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISION :

Section 1 - Short title, the "School Energy Efficiency Collaborative
Act of 2016"

Section 2 - The Public Authorities' Law is amended by adding a new
section 1882 to read as follows: "To ensure an efficient collaborative
school energy program, the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority shall work in partnership with the New York
Power Authority, the Long Island Power Authority, the State Education
Department, the New York Association of School Business Officials, the
New York State School Boards Association, energy service companies,
              

utility programs and other school administrators."

Subsection 3: The authority will serve as a lead agency in creating
collaborative programs by November 1st, 2017 and shall serve as the
lead contact for all public schools interested in pursuing energy
efficiency projects.

Subsection 4: The collaborative program may provide support on: (a)
developing technical aspects of energy projects; (b) sharing case
studies and other information on completed projects; (c) developing
demonstrations; (d) providing training opportunities for building
operators; (e) providing a comprehensive catalog of Informational and
financial resources available to schools pursuing energy projects; and
(f) anything else the collaborative deems appropriate in furthering
their purpose.

Subsection 5: The authority shall provide updated information
regarding the program for further distribution to all collaborative
members. The State Education Department may, through regular
communications with school districts, promote the existence of the
collaboration.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Each year, over $1 billion dollars are spent on energy costs by school
districts all across New York State. Costs vary by school district,
with smaller school districts incurring costs of several million
dollars per year and larger school districts like New York City have
costs totaling over $300 million per year to heat and light their
school buildings.

As energy costs continue to rise and as school budgets are facing
increasing constraints leading to cuts in enrichment programs,
increased class sizes, reduction of support staff and cuts in teaching
staff, it is important that practical and tangible opportunities to
institute cost savings are given our highest priority. While the
discussion of best practice program designs from other states and
economic sectors presents solutions to the majority of market barriers
facing NYS schools, it does not address all barriers. This legislation
is intended to address these NYS-specific barriers and spur additional
program development activities to better meet the unique energy
conservation and energy cost reduction needs of schools in New York
State.

As most schools are consumed by the day-to-day requirements of
providing a quality education, there are little remaining resources
for identifying and pursuing energy projects, even though many such
projects may present very desirable cost savings. New York State
already has significant resources for pursing energy efficiency in
schools; however, these resources are not well integrated statewide in
order to integrate available resources and provide school districts
with one-stop shopping to address their energy management and energy
efficiency goals that will help free up hundreds of millions of
dollars in annual energy costs and allow redirection of these funds to
improve student academic achievement.

This legislation begins that process by developing a multidisciplinary
approach to identify and develop energy efficiency projects in schools
in collaboration with N Y State Education Dept., NYS Association of
School Business Officials, NYS School Boards Assn, NY Power Authority,
LI Power Authority, NYSERDA, energy service companies (ESCOs), and
utility programs. The collaborative will serve to provide support on
developing the technical aspects of projects, share case studies and
other information on completed projects, develop demonstrations,
provide training opportunities for building operators, and provide a
comprehensive catalog of informational and financial resources
available to schools pursing energy projects.  Such a collaborative
would reduce redundancies, raise awareness, and promote the efficient
implementation of energy projects across the state. The Collaborative
will identify opportunities for energy savings by gathering data on
current use.

A complete understanding of energy usage and improvement options can
help schools to prioritize and plan for capital improvements in
addition to simpler no- and low-cost measures.

In 2012, the Legislature authorized, and the Governor approved, a
review of how new energy efficiency and green technologies could help
schools reduce and eventually eliminate their huge and rising energy
costs. The review required a set of recommendations. This legislation
is a direct by-product of that review and is one of the
recommendations that were provided to help schools free up funding
that could be put to use to directly help student academic
achievement.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2014 - A.9984 -- Assembly Corporations
2015 - S.4386/A.5991 - ENERGY/Corporations

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None. In fact this legislation will help school districts save
hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs by facilitating access
to technical support and financing to make energy improvement projects
realistic and achievable through the one-stop shopping established as
a mechanism in this bill.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.