Energy-efficiency bill would give a $2,500 tax credit

By Jim Tharpe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Trade unions like it. Republicans like it. Democrats have signed on. It would put people to work. It would help the environment.

A bill making its way through the state Legislature -- HB 1069 -- is “sorta like Christmas,” according to its sponsor, state Rep. Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs).

The bill would give Georgia residents up to a $2,500 state income tax credit for the purchase and installation of water-saving plumbing and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.

“Everyone is happy,” Wilkinson said Tuesday.

Trouble is, the bill is dependent on another injection of federal stimulus funds, which may or may not be coming down the pike.

Wilkinson’s bill is co-authored by House Democratic leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) and is backed by various trade associations and state environmentalists.

“It would give homeowners a chance to improve the efficiency of their systems and put people back to work,” said Bruce Widener, executive director of the Conditioned Air Association of Georgia. “There is practically no new construction right now. This would put some people back to work.”

The bill is being promoted as a jobs-creation measure, even by environmentalists.

“It has a positive environmental impact, but it’s more important right now to put people to work,” said Neill Herring, an environmental lobbyist at the Capitol.

Wilkinson’s proposal is separate from a federal income tax credit of up to $1,500 on energy-saving systems, which expires at the end of the year.

Some $82.5 million in federal stimulus money has been authorized for state energy programs through March 2012. But all that money has been spoken for, and it could run out before 2012, said Shane Hix, a spokesman for the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.

“It’s our understanding at this point that additional stimulus funds are unlikely,” Hix said.

However, Wilkinson said backers of the bill are still hopeful that additional stimulus money will be put in the pipeline at some point.

“We want to be sitting and ready if the 2010 funds come down,” he said.