JEFFERSON CTY, Mo. – Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, is hoping the fourth time is the charm on a bill that would prohibit home owners’ associations (HOAs) from keeping home owners from installing solar panels on their residences.
Holsman introduced a bill to committee Tuesday afternoon that would do such a thing, as he has done the past three years. He argues that these associations, which sometimes consist of self-appointed volunteers, oftentimes stifle the ability for people to use solar panels if they so choose.
“We’re not asking for a subsidy,” Holsman said in his testimony. “We’re asking to remove barriers for the private free market to work. This is one more way the free market can help citizens.”
Steve Jeffrey, an environmental lawyer, noted that people have gotten involved in extensive litigation and eventually stopped pursuing solar energy altogether because of that process.
“Those people decided the process was just too burdensome, too cumbersome, so they just abandoned their solar plans,” Jeffrey said. “Two of my clients can personally talk about the hardships they’ve experienced. These problems are worthy of a legislative solution.”
One of those involved in litigation was Francis Bibb, a woman from Clarkson Valley, Missouri who described herself as a diehard Republican and not at all an environmentalist. She has spent nearly five years in litigation with her HOA, spending over $100,000 dollars in legal fees.
“I’m just a home owner that has gone through hell like you have no concept of,” she said in emotional testimony. “There are people standing on top of their bathtubs complaining about how ugly my solar panels are ad I’m still involved in litigation. What I’d like for you all to do is prevent people from going through the hell that I’ve experienced.”
Another witness had spent a similar amount of time and nearly $65,000 in legal fees, and those two are not alone.
Caleb Parker, president of Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association, testified that hundreds of people in Missouri each year could be discouraged from pursuing an installation of their own arrays due to restrictive HOA.
Others testified that this prohibition presented environmental harms since solar energy is a clean form of energy.
However, Holsman did include provisions that allowed HOA to make guidelines as to how and where solar panels may be placed on property. His bill just prohibits the ban of the devices outright.
