The County Government supports the formation of a Montgomery County Green Bank to promote and support investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation activities and provide financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in the County. These activities include clean energy technologies and resiliency, sustainability, or climate adaptive projects. The Green Bank must be able to:
(a) serve and support climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in all sectors, including residential single-family homes and multifamily, commercial, industrial, non-profit, municipal governments, universities and colleges, schools, and hospitals;
(b) offer a range of financing structures, forms and techniques, such as senior loans, subordinate loans, credit enhancements, guarantees, warehousing, securitization, and other techniques that can both lower the cost of financing and increase private investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation activities;
(c) leverage private investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation activities through financing mechanisms that support, enhance, or complement private investment;
(d) consider improvements ancillary to the primary climate change mitigation and adaptation project or related to environmental health or building safety or durability;
(e) accept capital from the county, the state, the federal government, non-profits, foundations, and any other capital source that the Green Bank governance deems to be attractive and useful;
(f) recapitalize its funds through market means, including by selling whole or portions of assets (loans) through private placement or other securitization;
(g) stimulate the demand for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities that serve end-use customers;
(h) before making a loan, loan guarantee, or other form of financing support for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities, develop rules, policies, and procedures to specify borrower eligibility and any other term or condition of financial support;
(i) provide by resolution for the issuance of revenue bonds to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation activities;
(j) provide information regarding best practices for overseeing climate change mitigation and adaptation activity projects and other appropriate consumer education;
(k) recognize that equity investments carry more risk and may require longer term commitment to a project, justifying compliance with strict investment guidelines to be established by the Board of Directors;
(l) assess reasonable fees and charges on its financing activities to cover its reasonable costs and expenses, as determined by the Board of Directors appointed under Section 18A-47;
(m) make information regarding rates, terms, and conditions for all of its financing support transactions available to the public for inspection, including any formal annual reviews by both a private auditor and the Director of Finance, and provide details to the public on the Internet unless such disclosure includes a trade secret, confidential commercial information, or confidential financial information;
(n) provide leadership on environmental issues at both the County and State levels;
(o) maintain close liaison with government agencies and elected representatives at both the County and State levels to achieve the goals of the Green Bank; and
(p) undertake any other activities deemed by the Board of Directors to support the mission of the Green Bank. (2015 L.M.C., ch. 35, §1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 8, §1.)