By Roy L Hales

Governor Jerry Brown did not realize how backwards California’s solar regulations were until he visited Germany in the summer of 2013. There were 500 jurisdictions back home, each with its own requirements and charges. Some are models of efficiency. Los Angeles’ web based system can spit out an approval immediately and it only takes a day in San Diego, but there are also jurisdictions where the process drags out over the course of many weeks. As a result, the soft costs of getting a solar system in California can be eight times as they are in Germany. The Germans have a single system for the entire country. Governor Brown was impressed. So impressed that he started making inquiries about how to streamline California’s permitting process. That was how AB 2188 came into being.