75th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2009 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 3378
Senate Bill 662
Sponsored by Senators STARR, ATKINSON
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Authorizes Director of State Department of Energy to define
what constitutes alternative fuel device or category one or two
alternative energy device. Authorizes director to define resource
as renewable energy resource.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to alternative energy; amending ORS 469.160 and 469.185.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 469.160 is amended to read:
469.160. As used in ORS 316.116, 317.115 and 469.160 to
469.180:
(1) 'Alternative energy device' means a category one
alternative energy device or a category two alternative energy
device.
(2) 'Alternative fuel device' means any of the following:
(a) An alternative fuel vehicle;
(b) Related equipment; { - or - }
(c) A fueling station necessary to operate an alternative fuel
vehicle { + ; or
(d) Any other device that the Director of the State Department
of Energy defines as an alternative fuel device + }.
(3) 'Alternative fuel vehicle' means a motor vehicle as defined
in ORS 801.360 that is:
(a) Registered in this state; and
(b) Manufactured or modified to use an alternative fuel,
including but not limited to electricity, natural gas, ethanol,
methanol, propane and any other fuel approved in rules adopted by
the { - Director of the State Department of Energy - }
{ + director + } that produces less exhaust emissions than
vehicles fueled by gasoline or diesel. Determination that a
vehicle is an alternative fuel vehicle shall be made without
regard to energy consumption savings.
(4) 'Category one alternative energy device' means:
(a) Any system, mechanism or series of mechanisms that uses
solar radiation for space heating or cooling for one or more
dwellings;
(b) Any system that uses solar radiation for:
(A) Domestic water heating; or
(B) Swimming pool, spa or hot tub heating and that meets the
requirements set forth in ORS 316.116;
(c) A ground water heat pump and ground loop system;
(d) Any wind powered device used to offset or supplement the
use of electricity by performing a specific task such as pumping
water;
(e) Equipment used in the production of alternative fuels;
(f) A generator powered by alternative fuels and used to
produce electricity;
(g) An energy efficient appliance;
(h) An alternative fuel device; { - or - }
(i) A premium efficiency biomass combustion device that
includes a dedicated outside combustion air source and that meets
minimum performance standards that are established by the State
Department of Energy { + ; or
(j) Any other device that the director defines as a category
one alternative energy device + }.
(5) 'Category two alternative energy device' means a fuel cell
system, solar electric system { + , + } { - or - } wind
electric system { + or any other system that the director
defines as a category two alternative energy device + }.
(6) 'Coefficient of performance' means the ratio calculated by
dividing the usable output energy by the electrical input energy.
Both energy values must be expressed in equivalent units.
(7) 'Contractor' means a person whose trade or business
consists of offering for sale an alternative energy device,
construction service, installation service or design service.
(8)(a) 'Cost' means the actual cost of the acquisition,
construction and installation of the alternative energy device
paid by the taxpayer for the alternative energy device.
(b) For an alternative fuel vehicle, 'cost' means the
difference between the cost of the alternative fuel vehicle and
the same vehicle or functionally similar vehicle manufactured to
use conventional gasoline or diesel fuel or, in the case of
modification of an existing vehicle, the cost of the
modification. ' Cost' does not include any amounts paid for
remodification of the same vehicle.
(c) For a fueling station necessary to operate an alternative
fuel vehicle, 'cost' means the cost to the contractor of
constructing or installing the fueling station in a dwelling and
of making the fuel station operational in accordance with the
specifications issued under ORS 469.160 to 469.180 and any rules
adopted by the Director of the State Department of Energy.
(d) For related equipment, 'cost' means the cost of the related
equipment and any modifications or additions to the related
equipment necessary to prepare the related equipment for use in
converting a vehicle to alternative fuel use.
(9) 'Domestic water heating' means the heating of water used in
a dwelling for bathing, clothes washing, dishwashing and other
related functions.
(10) 'Dwelling' means real or personal property ordinarily
inhabited as a principal or secondary residence and located
within this state. 'Dwelling' includes, but is not limited to, an
individual unit within multiple unit residential housing.
(11) 'Energy efficient appliance' means a clothes washer,
clothes dryer, water heater, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher,
appliance designed to heat or cool a dwelling or other major
household appliance that has been certified by the State
Department of Energy to have premium energy efficiency
characteristics.
(12) 'First year energy yield' of an alternative energy device
is the usable energy produced under average environmental
conditions in one year.
(13) 'Fuel cell system' means any system, mechanism or series
of mechanisms that uses fuel cells or fuel cell technology to
generate electrical energy for a dwelling.
(14) 'Fueling station' includes but is not limited to a
compressed natural gas compressor fueling system or an electric
charging system for vehicle power battery charging.
(15) 'Placed in service' means:
(a) The date an alternative energy device is ready and
available to produce usable energy or save energy.
(b) For an alternative fuel vehicle:
(A) In the case of purchase, the date that the alternative fuel
vehicle is first purchased as an alternative fuel vehicle ready
and available for use.
(B) In the case of modification, the date that the modification
is completed and the vehicle is ready and available for use as an
alternative fuel vehicle.
(c) For a fueling station necessary to operate an alternative
fuel vehicle, the date that the fueling station is first
operational.
(d) For related equipment, the date that the equipment is first
operational.
(16) 'Related equipment' means equipment necessary to convert a
vehicle to use an alternative fuel.
(17) 'Solar electric system' means any system, mechanism or
series of mechanisms, including photovoltaic systems, that uses
solar radiation to generate electrical energy for a dwelling.
(18) 'Wind electric system' means any system, mechanism or
series of mechanisms that uses wind to generate electrical energy
for a dwelling.
SECTION 2. ORS 469.185 is amended to read:
469.185. As used in ORS 469.185 to 469.225 and 469.878:
(1) 'Alternative fuel vehicle' means a vehicle as defined by
the Director of the State Department of Energy by rule that is
used primarily in connection with the conduct of a trade or
business and that is manufactured or modified to use an
alternative fuel, including but not limited to electricity,
ethanol, methanol, gasohol and propane or natural gas, regardless
of energy consumption savings.
(2) 'Car sharing facility' means the expenses of operating a
car sharing program, including but not limited to the fair market
value of parking spaces used to store the fleet of cars available
for a car sharing program, but does not include the costs of the
fleet of cars.
(3) 'Car sharing program' means a program in which drivers pay
to become members in order to have joint access to a fleet of
cars from a common parking area on an hourly basis. 'Car sharing
program' does not include operations conducted by car rental
agencies.
(4) 'Cost' means the capital costs and expenses necessarily
incurred in the acquisition, erection, construction and
installation of a facility, including site development costs and
expenses for a sustainable building practices facility.
(5) 'Energy facility' means any capital investment for which
the first year energy savings yields a simple payback period of
greater than one year. An energy facility includes:
(a) Any land, structure, building, installation, excavation,
machinery, equipment or device, or any addition to,
reconstruction of or improvement of, land or an existing
structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery,
equipment or device necessarily acquired, erected, constructed or
installed by any person in connection with the conduct of a trade
or business and actually used in the processing or utilization of
renewable energy resources to:
(A) Replace a substantial part or all of an existing use of
electricity, petroleum or natural gas;
(B) Provide the initial use of energy where electricity,
petroleum or natural gas would have been used;
(C) Generate electricity to replace an existing source of
electricity or to provide a new source of electricity for sale by
or use in the trade or business;
(D) Perform a process that obtains energy resources from
material that would otherwise be solid waste as defined in ORS
459.005; or
(E) Manufacture or distribute alternative fuels, including but
not limited to electricity, ethanol, methanol, gasohol or
biodiesel.
(b) Any acquisition of, addition to, reconstruction of or
improvement of land or an existing structure, building,
installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or device
necessarily acquired, erected, constructed or installed by any
person in connection with the conduct of a trade or business in
order to substantially reduce the consumption of purchased
energy.
(c) A necessary feature of a new commercial building or
multiple unit dwelling, as dwelling is defined by ORS 469.160,
that causes that building or dwelling to exceed an energy
performance standard in the state building code.
(d) The replacement of an electric motor with another electric
motor that substantially reduces the consumption of electricity.
(6) 'Facility' means an energy facility, recycling facility,
transportation facility, car sharing facility, sustainable
building practices facility, alternative fuel vehicle or
facilities necessary to operate alternative fuel vehicles,
including but not limited to an alternative fuel vehicle
refueling station, a high-efficiency combined heat and power
facility, a high-performance home, a homebuilder-installed
renewable energy system, or a renewable energy resource equipment
manufacturing facility.
(7) 'High-efficiency combined heat and power facility ' means a
device or equipment that simultaneously produces heat and
electricity from a single source of fuel and that meets the
criteria established for a high-efficiency combined heat and
power facility under ORS 469.197.
(8) 'High-performance home' means a new single-family dwelling
that:
(a) Is designed and constructed to reduce net purchased energy
through use of both energy efficiency and on-site renewable
energy resources; and
(b) Meets the criteria established for a high-performance home
under ORS 469.197.
(9) 'Homebuilder-installed renewable energy system' means a
renewable energy resource system that:
(a) Meets the criteria established for a renewable energy
resource system under ORS 469.197; and
(b) Is installed in a new single-family dwelling by, or at the
direction of, the homebuilder constructing the dwelling.
(10) 'Qualified transit pass contract' means a purchase
agreement entered into between a transportation provider and a
person, the terms of which obligate the person to purchase
transit passes on behalf or for the benefit of employees,
students, patients or other individuals over a specified period
of time.
(11) 'Recycling facility' means equipment used by a trade or
business solely for recycling:
(a) Including:
(A) Equipment used solely for hauling and refining used oil;
(B) New vehicles or modifications to existing vehicles used
solely to transport used recyclable materials that cannot be used
further in their present form or location such as glass, metal,
paper, aluminum, rubber and plastic;
(C) Trailers, racks or bins that are used for hauling used
recyclable materials and are added to or attached to existing
waste collection vehicles; and
(D) Any equipment used solely for processing recyclable
materials such as bailers, flatteners, crushers, separators and
scales.
(b) But not including equipment used for transporting or
processing scrap materials that are recycled as a part of the
normal operation of a trade or business as defined by the
director.
(12)(a) 'Renewable energy resource' includes, but is not
limited to:
(A) Straw, forest slash, wood waste or other wastes from farm
or forest land, nonpetroleum plant or animal based biomass, ocean
wave energy, solar energy, wind power, water power or geothermal
energy; { - or - }
(B) A hydroelectric generating facility that obtains all
applicable permits and complies with all state and federal
statutory requirements for the protection of fish and wildlife
and:
(i) That does not exceed 10 megawatts of installed capacity; or
(ii) Qualifies as a research, development or demonstration
facility { + ; or
(C) Any other resource that the director defines as a renewable
energy resource + }.
(b) 'Renewable energy resource' does not include a
hydroelectric generating facility that is not described in
paragraph (a) of this subsection.
(13) 'Renewable energy resource equipment manufacturing
facility' means any structure, building, installation,
excavation, machinery, equipment or device, or an addition,
reconstruction or improvement to land or an existing structure,
building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment or
device, that is necessarily acquired, constructed or installed by
a person in connection with the conduct of a trade or business,
that is used primarily to manufacture equipment, machinery or
other products designed to use a renewable energy resource and
that meets the criteria established under ORS 469.197.
(14) 'Sustainable building practices facility' means a
commercial building in which building practices that reduce the
amount of energy, water or other resources needed for
construction and operation of the building are used. 'Sustainable
building practices facility' may be further defined by the State
Department of Energy by rule, including rules that establish
traditional building practice baselines in energy, water or other
resource usage for comparative purposes for use in determining
whether a facility is a sustainable building practices facility.
(15) 'Transportation facility' means a transportation project
that reduces energy use during commuting to and from work or
school, during work-related travel, or during travel to obtain
medical or other services, and may be further defined by the
department by rule. 'Transportation facility' includes, but is
not limited to, a qualified transit pass contract or a
transportation services contract.
(16) 'Transportation provider' means a public, private or
nonprofit entity that provides transportation services to members
of the public.
(17) 'Transportation services contract' means a contract that
is related to a transportation facility, and may be further
defined by the department by rule.
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