(1) The purpose of the district is to help provide the special benefits of new energy improvements to owners of eligible real property who voluntarily join the district by establishing, developing, financing, and administering a new energy improvement program through which the district can provide assistance to such owners in completing new energy improvements. The district may exercise any of the powers granted to the district in this article before any eligible real property is included within the boundaries of the district; except that the district shall exercise the powers to levy special assessments and issue special assessment bonds only after eligible real property is included within the boundaries of the district. (2) In order to allow the district to achieve its purpose, in addition to any other powers and duties of the district specified in this article, the district shall have the following general powers and duties: (a) To have perpetual existence; (b) To have and use a corporate seal; (c) To adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and conduct of its business; (d) To set an annual budget; (e) To sue and be sued and to be a party to suits, actions, and proceedings; (f) To enter into contracts and agreements needed for its functions or operations; (g) To acquire, dispose of, and encumber real and personal property needed for its functions or operations; (h) To borrow money for the purpose of defraying district expenses, including, but not limited to, the funding of appropriate loss reserves, or for any other purpose deemed appropriate by the board; (i) To invest any moneys of the district in accordance with part 6 of article 75 of title 24, C.R.S.; (j) (I) To hire and set the compensation of a program administrator and to appoint, hire, retain, and set the compensation of other agents and employees and contract for professional services. (II) The board may delegate any of the powers and duties of the district that specifically pertain to the establishment, development, financing, and administration of the program to any program administrator the district hires; except that the district shall not delegate the power to establish assessment units, the power to determine the method of calculating special assessments, or the power to issue special assessment bonds. (k) In accordance with sections 32-20-106 to 32-20-108, to establish special assessment units, levy and collect special assessments on eligible real property specially benefited by a renewable energy improvement for which the district made reimbursement or a direct payment, and issue special assessment bonds; (l) To accept gifts and donations and apply for and accept grants upon such terms or conditions as the board may approve; and (m) To have and exercise all rights and powers necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers granted to the district by this article. Such specific powers shall not be considered as a limitation upon any power necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and intent of this article. (3) The district shall establish, develop, finance, and administer a new energy improvement program. However, the district may conduct the program within any given county only if the board of county commissioners of the county has adopted a resolution authorizing the district to conduct the program within the county. If a county adopts a resolution authorizing the district to conduct the program within the county, the county treasurer shall retain a collection fee as specified in section 30-1-102 (1)(c) for each special assessment that it collects as part of the program. The board of county commissioners of any county that has adopted a resolution authorizing the district to conduct the program within the county may subsequently adopt a resolution deauthorizing the district from conducting the program within the county. However, if the county adopts a deauthorizing resolution, the county shall continue to meet all of its obligations under this article 20 as to program financing obligations existing on the effective date of the deauthorization until any and all special assessments within the county have been paid in full and remitted to the district. The district shall design the program to allow an owner of eligible real property to apply to join the district, receive reimbursement or a direct payment from the district, and consent to the levying of a special assessment on the eligible real property specially benefited by a new energy improvement for which the district makes reimbursement or a direct payment. The district shall establish an application process for the program that allows an owner of eligible real property to become a qualified applicant by submitting an application to the district and that may include one or more deadlines for the filing of an application. Except as specified in section 32-20-111, the application process must require the applicant to submit with the application a commitment of title insurance issued by a duly licensed Colorado title insurance company within thirty days before the date the application is submitted. The district may charge program application fees. In order to administer the program, the district, acting directly or through a program administrator or other agents, employees, or professionals as the district may appoint, hire, retain, or contract with, may aggregate qualified applicants into one or more bond issues and shall: (a) Market the program to owners of eligible real property, encourage such owners to obtain the special benefits of completing new energy improvements to their property by providing more attractive and accessible means of funding the completion of new energy improvements, and accept and process program applications from any such owners who are qualified applicants; (b) Specify the information to be included in a program application. The district shall require an owner of eligible real property who submits a program application to include, at a minimum, a postal address or electronic mail address at which the district may contact the owner, the name and postal or electronic mailing address of any person holding a lien against the eligible real property, and any information that the district requires to verify that the owner will complete a new energy improvement, verify the cost of completing the new energy improvement, determine the appropriate amount of reimbursement or a direct payment to be made to the applicant or a contractor after the new energy improvement has been completed, and estimate the value of the special benefit provided by the completed new energy improvement to the applicant's eligible real property. (c) Establish such standards, guidelines, and procedures, including but not limited to standards of credit-worthiness for qualification of program applicants, as are necessary to ensure the financial stability of the program and otherwise prevent fraud and abuse; (d) Encourage or require, as determined by the district, any qualified applicant to obtain an energy audit in order to ensure the efficient use of new energy improvement funding pursuant to this article; (e) Inform prospective program applicants and qualified applicants of private financing options not provided by the district, including, as appropriate, home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, commercial loans, and commercial lines of credit that may, with respect to a particular applicant, represent viable alternatives for financing new energy improvements; (f) Take appropriate steps to establish qualifications for the certification of contractors to construct or install new energy improvements; and (g) Take appropriate steps to monitor the quality of new energy improvements for which the district has made reimbursement or a direct payment if deemed necessary by the board, measure the total energy savings achieved by the program, monitor the total number of program participants, the total amount paid to contractors, the number of jobs created by the program, the number of defaults by program participants, and the total losses from the defaults, and calculate the total amount of bonds issued by the district. On or before March 1, 2014, and on or before each subsequent March 1, the district shall report to the state, veterans, and military affairs committees of the general assembly, or any successor committees, regarding the information obtained as required by this paragraph (g); (h) Develop program guidelines governing the terms and conditions under which private third-party financing, other than that obtained through issuance of a district bond, is available to qualified applicants through the program and, in connection therewith, may serve as an aggregating entity for the purpose of securing private third-party financing for new energy improvements pursuant to this article; and (i) In connection with the financing of new energy improvements either by third parties pursuant to paragraph (h) of this subsection (3) or district bonds and in consultation with representatives from the banking industry and property owners, develop the processes to ensure that mortgage holder consent is obtained in all cases for all eligible real property participating in the program to subordinate the priority of such mortgages to the priority of the lien established in section 32-20-107. (4) The district shall establish underwriting guidelines that consider program applicants' qualifications, credit-worthiness, home or commercial building equity, and other appropriate factors, including credit reports, credit scores, and loan-to-value ratios, consistent with good and customary lending practices, and as required in order for the district or third parties to obtain a bond rating necessary for a successful bond sale. The district shall also arrange for an appropriate loss reserve in order to obtain the necessary bond rating.
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