This law section mandates that anyone wanting to work as a PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) solicitor must first get enrolled through a program administrator. The administrator must have an acceptable procedure for enrolling both PACE solicitors and their agents, involving written agreements and background checks. They must ensure applicants hold appropriate licenses or registrations unless exempt.

The law also specifies that administrators cannot enroll PACE solicitors with patterns of consumer complaints, dishonesty, or non-compliance with the law. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of PACE solicitors is necessary to ensure legal compliance, and there's a system for cancelling those who don't meet standards or break the rules.

This law requires program administrators to create a training program for PACE solicitor agents that is approved by the commissioner. New PACE agents must complete an introductory training that covers specific topics and pass a test. This training has no set time requirements. Within three months of starting, agents must complete an additional six hours of education covering PACE programs and contracts, disclosures, ethics, fraud prevention, consumer protection, nondiscrimination, and senior financial abuse.

Program administrators are required to inform the commissioner about every PACE solicitor and their agents that they enroll. They must also notify the commissioner if any solicitor or agent cancels or withdraws from enrollment, following the specific rules laid out by the commissioner.

This law requires a program administrator to create and put into action a plan for quickly handling questions and complaints.

This law lists the requirements that must be met before executing an assessment contract for a home improvement project financed through a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. Key points include: property taxes must be current, no significant unpaid liens, no recent defaults or bankruptcy within the past four years (with some exceptions), current status on mortgage payments, and compliance with PACE program eligibility. The contract's financing must not exceed specific property value percentages. The property's market value should be established, and no penalties for early repayment should exist. Verification of all these criteria should be done using reasonable methods.

This law section describes how a program administrator should determine the market value of a property. They can either use automated valuation models (AVMs) or an appraisal.

If using AVMs, the models must be from third-party vendors, provide confidence scores, and be regularly calibrated. The administrator should use at least three models and choose the value with the highest confidence score or average them if unmatched confidence scores exist.

If opting for an appraisal, it must be conducted by a state-licensed appraiser and done within six months of the application, potentially including appraisals from property owners under certain conditions.

The determined market value must be disclosed to the property owner before they sign the assessment contract.

If you're handling a loan agreement for home improvements covered by a PACE assessment, you can't start work or sign that contract until you confirm the homeowner can reasonably afford the yearly payments.

This law outlines requirements for verifying a property owner's ability to pay under a PACE assessment contract, which funds home improvements. Before signing any contract, administrators must evaluate the property owner's income, assets, debts, and monthly expenses to determine if they can afford the PACE payments. They must gather reliable third-party documentation to verify income and debts, but property equity can't be counted. Special rules apply for emergency improvements, like heating or cooling systems, including specific verification and funding limits. Administrators are responsible if there's a mismatch between what an owner can pay and what's financed, unless the owner misrepresents their finances.

This law states that a program administrator must follow all the rules in the California Financial Information Privacy Act that apply to financial institutions.

This law section makes it clear that a program administrator cannot allow a PACE solicitor to get property owners to sign assessment contracts without following specific rules. It makes sure that PACE solicitors comply with all legal requirements, and the terms of the contracts must be fully disclosed.

Also, the program administrator is responsible for any legal violations done by the PACE solicitor. If either the program administrator or the PACE solicitor breaks these rules, it's considered a breach of this law.

This section outlines the process for inspecting, examining, or investigating program administrators and PACE solicitors who are involved in property assessment contracts. If there's a suspicion of rule violations, the commissioner can review relevant documents and interview witnesses.

Program administrators and PACE solicitors have the chance to respond to any findings and show they've taken corrective action. If violations continue, the commissioner can take further action like halting operations or demanding they stop their activities. Orders can be issued against violators to cease harmful activities or to prevent further violations. If solicitors don't request a hearing within the set timeframes, orders become final. Public orders can be issued for transparency.

The commissioner has flexibility in enforcement yet must follow specific steps, ensuring due process and fair treatment.

This California law requires the department to keep and update a list on their website of PACE solicitors and agents. PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy, which is related to financing energy-efficient home improvements. They must show when the list was last updated and how often they update it, starting from January 1, 2020. Also, the department must list those who have been told to stop soliciting property owners for PACE contracts, with updates shown on the site.

This law allows the commissioner to create rules that can exempt certain groups of people from following specific financial regulations. The commissioner can make these exemptions if they believe it's in the public's best interest or helps protect property owners, and these exemptions can be unconditional or have certain conditions or time limits.

This law requires a program administrator to include specific details in an annual report regarding the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. This includes how the 97% cap on total PACE and mortgage-related debt impacts property owners, the effect of using automated valuation models to assess property values, and the impact of emergency HVAC provisions. Also, it looks at the consequences of not having a minimum residual income threshold. All this information must be presented separately in the commissioner's composite annual report. The commissioner can also ask for additional information as needed.

The commissioner can require PACE program administrators to use a real-time database to track PACE assessments on properties. This system helps with regulation and enforcement, and provides information about a property's PACE assessment status. The costs to maintain this system will be shared fairly among program administrators based on how much they use it. Additionally, an independent party can handle the system's development and maintenance. The commissioner has until January 1, 2020, to decide if formal rules should be created about this requirement, but can make a decision at any time.

This law says that finance lenders, mortgage loan originators, or brokers aren’t covered by this chapter unless they also work as a program administrator, PACE solicitor, or PACE solicitor agent.

This section states that if someone breaks the rules of this chapter, they won't face criminal charges under the penalties outlined in Sections 22753 and 22780. Additionally, this rule becomes active as soon as the act comes into effect, despite what Section 22696 says.

This law states that, unless exceptions listed in specific other sections apply, the rules in this chapter officially started being in effect on January 1, 2019.

This law ensures that existing rights and solutions provided by other laws are not affected or diminished by the rules set in this chapter.