1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

I’m writing to ask you to introduce an Assembly companion to Senate Bill S688, which would direct the Commissioner of Community Affairs to establish safe installation standards for balcony solar panel systems under the State Uniform Construction Code. New Jersey has made real progress on clean energy over the past few years — the smart permitting law, the community solar expansion, the ADI program. But there’s a gap in all of it that nobody seems to want to talk about: almost everything we’ve done assumes you own a home with a roof. If you’re a renter, if you live in an apartment or a condo, if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans who can’t put panels on a building they don’t control, the state’s clean energy progress has mostly happened around you, not for you. Balcony solar is the simplest, most direct fix for that. These are small, commercially available panels that mount to a balcony railing or sit on a patio and plug into a standard outlet. No contractor, no landlord sign-off, no permits, no five-figure installation cost. They’re already used by millions of people across Germany, the Netherlands, and the rest of Europe. The technology works. The safety record is strong. What’s missing in New Jersey is clear guidance in the building code so residents and inspectors alike know the rules. That’s all S688 does — it asks the state to write the standards. It doesn’t create a new program, it doesn’t cost the state money, and it doesn’t mandate anything on property owners. It just opens a door that’s been closed for no good reason. District 32 is exactly where this kind of leadership should come from. You represent Hoboken and Jersey City — communities defined by density, by renters, by people paying some of the highest utility rates in the region with no viable solar option available to them. A companion Assembly bill would signal that the Legislature is serious about moving this forward, not letting it stall in one chamber. It would also put District 32 at the front of a policy that a recent FDU poll shows New Jersey voters overwhelmingly support. Renters deserve a seat at the clean energy table. Introducing this bill is a concrete way to give them one. Thank you for your time.