Herald recommends yes vote on Florida's solar power amendment

This is the Sunshine State. However, the use of solar energy — dependent on sunlight, which we have in abundance, and not on nuclear or fossil fuel — is still sporadic and contentiously debated.

Despite that bountiful supply of sunlight, Florida lags behind 13 other states for cumulative solar energy installed, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. But the state ranks third in solar potential. The placement of Amendment 4 on the Aug. 30 primary ballot could be a game-changer on those numbers.

That’s when Florida’s voters will have the opportunity to approve the almost universally supported constitutional amendment that will reduce the cost of installing solar panels — more incentivizing — and certainly not punitive, like the controversial utility-driven amendment on November’s ballot opposed by renewable energy proponents.

The biggest barrier to solar panels is the upfront cost. Even though the cost of solar-panel installation has been dropping — by 80 percent over the past decade, according to the the International Renewable Energy Agency — it still is an expensive endeavor for many property owners, even with the current 30 percent federal tax credit on installation costs.

Amendment 4 would provide a tax exemption that makes it less costly to go solar over the long run. It would extend a tax break for residential property owners who have installed solar or equipment for other renewable energy since Jan. 1, 2013. The tax exemptions would begin in 2018 and continue for 20 years.

In addition, the amendment would establish a new exemption for businesses. Right now, if a business installs solar panels, it gets hit with a “tangible tax,” an assessment for equipment, fixtures and furniture that an enterprise or rental property uses. But as the ballot language says, the constitutional amendment would authorize the state Legislature to “exempt from ad valorem taxation the assessed value of solar or renewable energy source devices subject to tangible personal property tax, and … prohibit consideration of such devices in assessing the value of real property for ad valorem taxation purposes.”

This measure will allow Florida to get closer to realizing the full potential of solar energy. Consumers can trim energy costs; encourage energy independence and tamp down on fossil fuels’ contribution to climate change.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Floridians use 40 percent more electricity than the national average. No surprise there, with air conditioners running almost year-round. So, yes, we can do much better.

Unlike other constitutional amendments, placed on the ballot through petition drives because state lawmakers preferred to punt rather than take legislative action, Amendment 4 reached the ballot via a unanimous vote in the Legislature.

The state cannot abate local taxes without going through the Florida Constitution. Lawmakers, this time, were following mandated process. And Amendment 4’s backers are a wide-ranging bunch, including, according to the League of Women Voters of Florida — itself a supporter — The Nature Conservancy and the Florida Tea Party; The Sierra Club and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Amendment 4 not only would expand the use of clean energy, beneficial for Florida’s singular environment, it would add to the 6,500 solar jobs currently in the state and strengthen the economy while lowering solar consumers’ energy costs.

On Amendment 4, the Bradenton Herald Editorial Board recommends a yes vote.

This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Herald recommends yes vote on Florida's solar power amendment."