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AN ORDINANCE authorizing the establishment and implementation of a program to fund city projects to reduce energy demand; and amending Ordinance 17166, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 18.50.010.

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STATEMENT OF FACTS:

1.  Climate change is one of the paramount challenges of our generation and will have long-term consequences for the economy, the environment, and public health and safety in King County.  The county is already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, including warming temperatures, acidifying marine waters, rising seas, increasing flooding risk, decreasing mountain snowpack and less water in the summer.

2.  King County has a long record of innovation, leadership and investment in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the impacts of climate change.  Consideration of climate change impacts and opportunities to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are deeply embedded throughout the work plans and capital investments of county departments and lines of business.

3.  The 2015 King County Strategic Climate Action Plan maps specific pathways and actions needed to achieve the ambitious countywide goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050 against a 2007 baseline with interim goals of twenty-five percent reduction by 2020 and fifty percent reduction by 2030.

4.  The plan establishes goals, targets, measures and priority actions in five goal areas:  transportation and land use; building and facilities energy; green building; consumption and materials management; and forestry and agriculture.

5.  The plan establishes energy use reduction goals for county operations of five percent by 2020 and ten percent by 2025 below 2014 levels and countywide energy use reduction goals of twenty-five percent reduction below 2012 levels by 2030.

6.  While King County surpassed its internal efficiency goal for 2015 and is actively pursuing additional energy reductions by 2020, countywide energy use in existing buildings declined by six and four-tenth percent from 2012 to 2015.

7.  Significant action will be necessary to meet the countywide energy use reduction target of twenty-five percent by 2020.

8.  The plan includes a priority action recommending the county work with stakeholders to develop loans, legislative action and financial tools that reduce the costs of implementing resource efficiency and renewable energy projects.

9.  This priority action also recommends development of a program such as a county-supported loan program to be available for cities within King County to complete resource efficiency or renewable energy projects in their facilities.  Resource efficiency projects can reduce energy consumption and provide positive economic benefit from reduced energy costs.

10.  Consistent with the plan recommendation, the county developed the fund to reduce energy demand for cities program, advancing the plan's policy goals and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the extension of loans to cities for energy efficiency and renewable energy production projects.

11.  The program is intended to help overcome common financing barriers to implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects by providing capital to cities with qualifying projects, to be paid back over time.

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  A program to fund city projects to reduce energy demand is hereby established and the King County executive is authorized to develop and implement the program as generally described in Attachment A to this ordinance.

                     SECTION 2.  As part of the implementation of the program, the executive is authorized to execute loan agreements, substantially in the form of Attachment B to this ordinance, with participating cities.

                     SECTION 3.  The executive shall report to the council on the program as part of the report on the county's major environmental sustainability programs required by K.C.C. 18.50.010.  The report shall include:  a list of all projects and loan amounts; the status of the financed projects including any defaults; the annual energy savings or renewable energy production from each completed project; and the additional costs, if any, to the county in administering the program.

                     SECTION 4.  Ordinance 17166, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 18.50.010 are each amended to read as follows:

                     The executive shall transmit by June 30 of every other year a report on the county's major environmental sustainability programs intended to reduce energy use, climate emissions and resource use and prepare for the impacts of climate change, as required in subsections A., B. and C. of this section.  The executive shall transmit the report to council, filed in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff and the lead staff for the transportation economy and environment committee or its successor.  The report shall be structured in a way that links actual performance to established goals and indicators and can inform policy choices, program priorities and investments in capital projects.  The report should address the following:

                     A.  Greenhouse gas emissions reductions, including:

                       1.  Progress towards achieving the overarching greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for both county government operations and the county as a whole;

                       2.  Progress against targets and measures and updates on the implementation of strategies and priority actions in five goal areas for the strategic climate action plan: transportation and land use; building and facilities energy; green building; consumption and materials management, including the environmental purchasing program; and forestry and agriculture; and

                       3.  A summary of major expenses associated with the climate impacts research, community-scale emissions inventories, climate change community engagement, and climate change and energy efficiency partnerships with businesses and cities;

                     B.  An update on implementation of climate preparedness strategies and priority actions recommended in the current strategic climate action plan, as required in K.C.C. 18.255.010.A.6; ((and))

                     C.  The green building program, as required in K.C.C. 18.17.020.M.1; and

                     D.  The program to fund city projects to reduce energy demand, as required in section 3 of this ordinance.