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Oregon Department of Energy bill would remove redundant reporting and outdated requirements
Summary
Senate Bill 825 would remove reporting duplications between state programs and delete outdated statutory references, the Oregon Department of Energy told the House Climate, Energy and Environment Committee on April 22.
Senate Bill 825 would remove reporting duplications between two state programs and strip outdated statutory language, the Oregon Department of Energy told the House Climate, Energy and Environment Committee on April 22.
Christy Splitt, government relations coordinator at the Oregon Department of Energy, said the changes come from an agency program review that identified statutory language and reporting duties that are no longer needed. “These proposed changes will free up staff resources to focus on supporting other newer, fresher state priorities that we have received from all of you,” Splitt said.
The bill targets three DoE programs: the State Energy Efficient Design (SEED) program, the Building Performance Standard (BPS) created under House Bill 3409, and the Small Scale Local Energy Loan Program (SELP). Splitt said the bill “proposes to eliminate parts of the seed program that are also required by the building performance standard” to avoid duplicative benchmarking and reporting for state agency buildings. She also said the bill would remove references to previous state energy-reduction goals “that are no longer in effect but are still hanging out in the statute.”
SELP, the loan program for small local renewable projects that stopped accepting new applicants in 2015, would have remaining reporting duties removed because the program is no longer open, Splitt said. She told committee members there is no fiscal impact to the measure and that it does not affect personnel. “Seed reporting is done by other state agencies. We just receive that information and reported out,” she said.
Committee members did not ask substantive policy questions on the floor; Chair Lively thanked the presenter and closed the public hearing. Splitt said she brought colleagues to answer technical questions if the panel wanted to “get into the weeds.” No formal action or vote on the bill was recorded in the committee transcript.
Background: Splitt said the bill stems from a DoE strategic-plan-driven program review that analyzed more than 30 programs and workstreams to ensure they meet intended purposes efficiently. The department characterized SB 825 as a statutory cleanup and streamlining measure rather than a policy expansion.
What happens next: The committee opened and then closed the public hearing on SB 825 April 22; no vote or committee action is recorded in the transcript.
