Committee advances bill to require instant residential solar permitting, amid local-government concerns

The Energy & Environment Committee voted to forward House Bill 1096, as amended, to the Finance Committee with a favorable recommendation after testimony both supporting and opposing the measure. The bill would require local jurisdictions to adopt automated, “instant” permitting systems for most residential solar projects and expand an existing Colorado Energy Office grant to support implementation.

Supporters said instant permitting will shorten permitting timelines, reduce cancellations and lower soft costs for households that install rooftop solar. Opponents — including county building officials and several county commissioners — said the mandate is premature because current software does not integrate zoning and utility reviews, may not suit regional permitting structures, and could limit inspections needed to verify safe installations.

Representative Greg Brown, a prime sponsor, told the committee the bill “will help to streamline residential solar permitting” and argued it would make clean energy “more accessible for Coloradans, helping people reduce their utility bills, alleviate municipal permitting burdens, and reducing pollution.” Co-prime sponsor Representative Smith said the bill “asks local jurisdictions to offer instant permitting for residential solar” while leaving the choice of software method to each jurisdiction.

Witnesses for the bill included Paul Sherman, climate campaign manager at Conservation Colorado, who said unnecessary permit delays prevent residents from going solar and that automated systems can remove those barriers. Matthew McAllister, CEO of the SolarAPP Foundation, said his organization’s software was developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and that “we take about three weeks off the process, nationally, of getting a permit” when jurisdictions adopt automated review. Danny Katz, executive director of COPERG, and several installers and industry representatives also urged approval, citing examples from Denver, Bennett and other adopters.

Opponents included Roger Lovell, building official for the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, who said the software does not perform utility or zoning reviews that are required in his service area and that his department typically completes residential solar technical reviews “in two to five days.” Several county officials — including representatives from Boulder, Larimer and Adams counties and the CC4CA coalition — said mandatory statewide adoption is premature because local processes can differ and because software feature gaps remain for historical districts, flood zones, multi-jurisdictional permitting and combined permit types.

The bill’s sponsors offered three amendments during the hearing to address local-government concerns. Representative Smith described the first two amendments as technical cleanup that allow local jurisdictions to exclude up to 25% of permits from automated review so they can “address difficult or unusual permitting issues,” and set an annual reporting date. A third amendment revised the existing grant program to improve administration and struck a study in the bill. All three sponsor amendments (L001, L002, L003) were adopted by the committee without recorded roll-call opposition.

Committee debate examined several implementation details that committee members and witnesses flagged: the bill’s requirement that automated systems be able to process at least 75% of routine permit applications; the Colorado Energy Office grant that has funded voluntary pilots and which the office estimates could currently support roughly 30 additional local governments; reported cancellation rates for residential solar permitting (witnesses cited about 16% canceled after starting the permitting process); and software operating models (SolarAPP Plus and Symbium were both named during testimony). McAllister said his organization’s non‑profit model charges installers a fixed fee to fund operations ($35 per automated permit, $25 if a home battery is included) and that automated review reduces inspection failures in his data.

After discussion, Representative Brown moved to send HB 1096, as amended, to the Committee on Finance with a favorable recommendation; the motion was seconded by the vice chair. The committee completed a roll call on the committee motion; the measure passed 9–4. The final roll call recorded No votes from Representative Barone, Representative DeGraaf, Representative Gonzales and Representative Luke; Yes votes from Representative Brown, Representative Camacho, Representative Jackson, Representative Joseph, Representative Haskell, Representative Root, Representative Titone, Representative Velasco and Chair Valdez.

Sponsors and agency staff told the committee they will continue to work with local governments to refine implementation details and to monitor the grant funding available to support jurisdictions’ adoption of automated permitting systems. The bill now moves to the Finance Committee for further consideration.