Capital News Service
April 24, 2012
RICHMOND — The General Assembly has upheld Gov. Bob McDonnell’s veto of legislation that would have ended homeowner associations’ ability to ban solar panels.
Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, the bill’s sponsor, expressed disappointment that his “solar freedom” bill will not become law. He said the bill would have allowed all Virginians who live in homeowners associations to lower their electricity bills and qualify for federal tax credits by installing solar panels on their houses.
Some community associations traditionally have prohibited or restricted solar panels for aesthetic and property-value reasons. In 2008, the General Assembly passed a bill proposed by Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, to address that situation.
Wagner’s measure said that after July 1, 2008, community associations could not impose rules to “prohibit an owner from installing or using a solar energy collection device on that owner’s property. However, a community association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of such solar energy collection devices.”
Because of a grandfather clause, that law did not affect solar-panel prohibitions that had been in place before July 1, 2008. That’s why Petersen introduced his bill.
“Ninety-nine percent of the homeowner associations’ covenants were unaffected by the law in 2008 because the restrictions already existed,” Petersen said. “My bill struck out the grandfather clause and said this will be the state law across the board and prohibitions on solar panels are not enforceable in Virginia.”
During the General Assembly’s regular session, the Senate passed SB 627 on a 31-8 vote, and the House approved it 74-24.
But on April 9, McDonnell vetoed the bill.
The governor said the 2008 law provided community associations with more than enough opportunities to change previous covenants regarding solar panels. Petersen’s bill was an attempt to retroactively enforce that law, McDonnell said. He said it would have violated both Virginia and United States laws.
