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Senate Bill 825 would remove duplicative state reporting and outdated loan reporting requirements
Summary
Senate Bill 825 would eliminate parts of the State Energy Efficient Design program (SEED) that duplicate the new Building Performance Standard and would remove annual reporting requirements for the closed Small-Scale Local Energy Loan Program (SELP), ODOE said in a committee hearing.
Senate Bill 825 would make targeted statutory changes to streamline state energy programs, the Oregon Department of Energy told the Senate Energy and Environment Committee.
"This bill comes from that work and the discovery that some efficiencies required statutory adjustments," Christy Split, ODOE government relations coordinator, said. The bill would remove SEED reporting requirements that duplicate new obligations under the Building Performance Standard (BPS), and it would eliminate an obsolete reference to earlier state energy-reduction goals.
Split said the bill would also remove annual reporting requirements for the Small-Scale Local Energy Loan Program (SELP), which has been closed to new applicants since 2015. "We really think that having somebody have to work on a report for a closed program every year doesn't make a lot of sense," Split told the committee.
ODOE staff told the committee the changes are intended to free staff time to focus on implementation of building energy-efficiency work rather than duplicative reporting. Split said the bill does not have a fiscal or personnel impact.
Why it matters: The changes would simplify statutory reporting burdens across state agencies and align agency work with the new BPS created under House Bill 3409. Supporters described the bill as administrative and efficiency-focused rather than a new policy or funding commitment.
No votes or motions were taken at the hearing. Committee members asked clarifying questions about fiscal effects and were told the measure is intended as a technical cleanup and efficiency measure.
