At a Monday morning joint meeting of Senate and House Environment Committees, Senate Chair Michael Dembrow (D-Portland) and House Chair Ken Helm (D-Beaverton), outlined the process for what is being billed as the “Clean Energy Jobs Act.”

The two legislators are convening four work groups to review and make recommendations on specific components of a “cap-and-invest” program for Oregon.

The four work groups met for the first time on Thursday and are scheduled to meet again in October and early November, with hopes of introducing legislation in the February 2018 short session. Each work group has been given an overall charge and list of questions to answer to help advance and improve the legislation, and will transmit recommendations to a joint meeting of the Senate and House Environment Committees in mid-November.

Two county commissioners have been named to workgroups, with Coos County Commissioner Melissa Cribbins named to the “Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries, Rural Communities, and Tribes” workgroup and Multnomah County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson named to the “Utilities and Transportation” workgroup.

AOC policy staff and outside consultant Amanda Dalton will monitor the workgroups closely.

Below is a link to the central webpage on Cap and Invest, which also contains links to
the individual workgroup webpages.

https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/helm/Pages/clean-energy.aspx

Contributed by: Mike Eliason | AOC Legislative Director