Agenda and Attachments - 02/16/10 CC/EWEB JEO

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while maintaining the tax credits as a tool for projects that would only ”pencil out” with the BETC, especially smaller community-scale projects. HB 3680 will cap projects larger than 10 megawatts (typically wind projects) at initially $3.5 million per project, and will contain overall BETC programs expenses at $300 million for the current biennium, and in advance, $150 million for the 2012 fiscal year. The proposed changes in HB 3680 would replace over $55 million in state funding to fill the remaining $100 million budget gap. Of interest to EWEB and the City of Eugene, HB 3680 preserves the ability for government and other entities without a tax burden of their own to utilize the BETC pass-through option. No changes were made to the energy efficiency portion of the BETC. HB 3680 also addresses the imminent sunset date for the Manufacturing BETC, extending the sunset to July 1, 2014. The longer sunset period is of great importance to prospective or current electric vehicle or solar manufacturers. Metal Theft HB 3695 has been introduced as a “housecleaning” bill with technical fixes for the comprehensive metal theft deterrence legislation passed in the 2009 Session, and now in effect for just over a month. EWEB and City of Eugene staff collaborated at a Feb. 5 hearing to oppose a provision of HB 3695 that would have weakened the requirement for metal recyclers to report the purchase of any metal wire with insulation removed, regardless of the method of removal, to law enforcement within 24 hours. HB 3695 as written would have only applied the requirement to burnt or melted wire, allowing wire that had been stripped to go unreported. Given efforts by EWEB and neighboring utilities to color code and paint their wire specific colors to make them more identifiable to law enforcement and metal recyclers, this change was not acceptable. At the time of this memo, the legislator sponsoring HB 3695 has agreed to keep the existing law as is regarding the reporting of insulation removal. Staff will continue to monitor and actively engage this safety and resource issue for the remainder of the session. Please contact Jason Heuser (503-269-5540) or Brenda Wilson (682 - 8441) with any questions.