Republican Senator Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg won big in August when voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4, his solar tax cut ballot measure.
Now, Brandes is sponsoring the implementing bill.
Perhaps nothing proved solar power’s popularity better than Amendment 4. More than 73 percent of voters thought it would be a good idea to lift taxes on solar and other renewable energy devices.
Brandes is hoping the mandate will speed passage of the implementing bill. Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s Stephen Smith says Martin and Hendry counties may ask for exemptions for existing solar projects.
“Because they may have already worked some of those projections into their budgeting, so that may be worthy of some consideration. But I think those are really the exception and they are really few and far between.”
Smith says advocates are happy, however, that the bill appears to be clean of any favors for solar energy opponents.
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