Senate committee hears FORGE Act to create revolving clean-energy financing entity

Sen. Janine Sullivan (for the record), appearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment on Feb. 4, described Senate Bill 15 26 — the FORGE Act — as a phased framework directing the Oregon Department of Energy to seek grant funding to convene a founding board that would establish a nonprofit financing entity and a revolving loan program to finance clean-energy and resilience projects.

“This bill is about both economic development to get funds, projects funded and to and people,” Sullivan said, arguing the structure would let Oregon deliver projects at scale without committing state general fund dollars and while preserving legislative oversight.

Supporters testified that a state-backed revolving fund could fill capital gaps, mobilize private investment and lower the cost of resilience projects. Bennett Beyerly, director of finance at S2 Strategies, said, “A fund like this can help fill market gaps and attract private capital to invest in projects that are otherwise not getting built.” Reid Mayfield, vice president at Beneficial State Bank, said flexible capital would make previously nonbankable projects bankable and noted his bank has financed more than 17,000 affordable housing units and deployed over $166,000,000 in renewable energy financing.

Environmental and conservation groups, workforce and tribal organizations also supported the bill, saying the fund could catalyze local jobs, contractor readiness and equitable access to projects in rural and small cities. Ben Brent of the Oregon Environmental Council pointed to nearly 60,000 clean-energy jobs in Oregon and urged tools to retain and grow the sector.

Not everyone supported the bill. Tom Holt of the Cascade Policy Institute argued SB 15 26 duplicates existing private and nonprofit efforts and raised concerns about extending bonding authority to a new entity. “There’s a lot of exciting things happening in clean energy development, and from Cascade’s perspective a lot more would need to be done on this before moving it forward,” Holt said.

Committee counsel clarified that an independent nonprofit board created under the bill would not have authority to change existing public-purpose charges or the energy supplier assessment. Committee members discussed pending technical amendments — including adding a labor representative to the board, clarifying municipal utility concerns and ensuring the board’s independence from the Department of Energy — and then closed the public hearing.

If the committee advances the measure, it will be referred to ways and means for fiscal review.