BILL NO. 178
(as introduced)
1st Session, 64th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
71 Elizabeth II, 2022
Private Member's Bill
Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Act
Carman Kerr
Annapolis
First Reading: April 21, 2022
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act to Create a Rebate for
the Purchase and Installation of
Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Act.
2 The purpose of this Act is to
(a) provide a rebate for the purchase and installation of electric vehicle chargers and infrastructure to prepare homes and businesses in the Province for increasing usage of electric vehicles; and
(b) make clean transportation more affordable and accessible for residents of the Province.
(a) "Administrator" means the Administrator appointed under Section 12;
(b) "EV-ready plan" means an EV-ready plan developed under Section 7;
(c) "Minister" means the Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables;
(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by the regulations;
(e) "recipient" means a person to whom a rebate under this Act is granted;
(f) "related person" has the same meaning as in section 251 of the Income Tax Act (Canada).
4 The Minister has the general supervision of this Act.
5 Subject to this Act and the regulations, a resident of the Province is eligible to apply for a rebate under this Act.
6 The owner or resident of a single family home, duplex, semi-detached home or townhouse may apply for a rebate for up to 50% of the cost of the purchase and installation of an electric vehicle charger that meets the prescribed requirements to a maximum of $350.
7 (1) The owner of a building containing three or more residences may apply for a rebate of up to $3,000 for the development of an EV-ready plan to install at least one electric vehicle charger per residence in the building.
(2) The developer of an EV-ready plan must
(a) meet the prescribed qualifications; and
(b) not be a related person to the applicant.
8 (1) An EV-ready plan developed under Section 7 may be submitted to the Administrator for approval.
(2) The Administrator shall approve the plan if it meets the prescribed requirements.
(3) Where the Administrator declines to approve the plan, the Administrator shall provide written reasons explaining how the plan did not meet the prescribed requirements.
9 The owner of a building containing three or more residences may apply for a rebate of up to $80,000 to implement an EV-ready plan that has been approved by the Administrator.
10 The owner of a building containing three or more residences may apply for a rebate of up to $14,000 for the cost of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle chargers that meet the prescribed requirements, whether or not the electric vehicle chargers are purchased and installed in connection with an EV-ready plan.
11 The owner of a commercial or industrial building may, in accordance with the regulations, apply for a rebate of up to $14,000 for the cost of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle chargers that meet the prescribed requirements.
12 (1) The Minister shall appoint an Administrator who has the functions and duties set out in this Act and the regulations and such other functions and duties pursuant to this Act and the regulations as the Minister may determine.
(2) The Minister may, in the absence or incapacity of the Administrator or when the office of the Administrator is vacant, authorize another person to act in the Administrator's stead.
(3) A person appointed or authorized to act under this Section must be employed under the Civil Service Act and that Act applies to that person.
13 The Administrator shall receive applications for rebates under this Act and, in accordance with this Act and the regulations,
(a) determine whether the applicant is entitled to receive a rebate under this Act; and
(b) where the applicant is so entitled, determine the amount of the rebate and, subject to Section 19, direct provision thereof.
14 The Administrator may refuse to issue a rebate under this Act if
(a) the applicant or recipient fails to provide the Administrator or the Administrator's representative with the information required to determine eligibility for the rebate; or
(b) the recipient fails to comply with any requirements under this Act or the regulations.
15 The Administrator may recover from a recipient, as a debt due by the recipient to the Province, any sum improperly paid by way of a rebate under this Act, whether as a result of non-disclosure of fact, misrepresentation or any other cause, and may deduct from any sum payable by way of a rebate under this Act any such sum.
16 (1) No person shall knowingly obtain or receive a rebate under this Act that the person is not eligible to obtain or receive under this Act and the regulations.
(2) No person shall for the purpose of qualifying for a rebate under this Act or the regulations make any false statement or misrepresentation in any application or other document or wilfully furnish any false or misleading information.
(3) No person shall knowingly aid or abet another person to obtain or receive a rebate under this Act that the other person is not eligible to obtain or receive under this Act and the regulations.
(4) Every person who violates this Section is guilty of an offence under this Act and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $5,000.
17 A prosecution for an offence under this Act may not be commenced more than three years after the later of
(a) the date on which the offence was committed; or
(b) the date on which evidence of the offence first came to the attention of the Administrator.
18 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations
(a) respecting the form and manner of making an application for a rebate under this Act;
(b) providing for inquiries to be made concerning or on behalf of applicants in order to determine their eligibility for a rebate under this Act;
(c) prescribing requirements for electric vehicle chargers;
(d) prescribing qualifications that a developer of an EV-ready plan must meet;
(e) prescribing requirements for EV-ready plans;
(f) respecting the granting of rebates to owners of commercial and industrial buildings including
- (i) further restricting the maximum amount of the rebate based on the number of parking spaces for which electric vehicle chargers are being purchased and installed,
(ii) establishing additional requirements that must be met for the granting of a rebate, and
(iii) requiring that the installation of the electric vehicle chargers be done in accordance with a plan approved by the Administrator;
(g) providing for the time and manner of granting a rebate under this Act;
(h) assigning additional functions or duties to the Administrator;
(i) defining any word or expression used but not defined in this Act;
(j) respecting any matter or thing the Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to effectively carry out the intent and purpose of this Act.
(2) The exercise by the Governor in Council of the authority contained in subsection (1) is a regulation within the meaning of the Regulations Act.
19 The money required for the purpose of this Act must be paid out of money appropriated for that purpose by the Legislature.
20 Chapter 46 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Building Code Act, is amended by adding immediately after Section 4 the following Section:
- 4A (1) In this Section,
(a) "electric vehicle supply equipment" means equipment that provides the means to charge an electrically powered vehicle from the power grid;
(b) "multi-residential building" means a building containing three or more residential units.
(2) The Minister shall, no later than January 1, 2023, amend the regulations made under Section 4 to
(a) require every new detached home, semi-detached home and townhouse to
- (i) be provided with a rough-in for future electric vehicle supply equipment, and
(ii) have an electric box installed in the garage, carport or adjacent to the driveway, that is fume-proofed from the rest of the house;
(b) require every parking space connected to a new non-residential building to
- (i) have at least 20% of parking spaces provided with electric vehicle supply equipment, and
(ii) have all other parking spaces provided with rough-ins for the future installation of electric vehicle supply equipment; and
(c) require every parking space connected to a new multi-residential building to be provided with electric vehicle supply equipment.
21 This Act comes into force on such day as the Governor in Council orders and declares by proclamation.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2022 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created April 21, 2022. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
