Committee assigned to bill: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2018R1/Committees/HRULES/Overview
This bill places a cap on greenhouse gas emissions by creating a market-based compliance mechanism buying and selling credits and levy fees on private corporations that can’t demonstrate compliance. Identifies CO2 as a pollutant to reduce climate change and ocean acidification. Creates advisory board to recommend expenditure of monies collected from auctions.
Personal Choice and Responsibility
Essentially this bill imposes a tax on corporations, which will ultimately be transferred to consumers in higher costs having a bigger impact on lower income families and businesses. It directly impacts certain persons by modifying registration and greenhouse gas reporting requirements such as household labels exhibiting compliance with greenhouse gas regulations. Auction proceeds is intended to be used to redistribute wealth to low-income assistance through supporting decarbonization projects.
Fiscal Responsibility
This bill is a re-distribution of wealth through a program that places a cap on the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by all covered entities through setting annual allowance budgets and that provides a market-based mechanism for covered entities to demonstrate compliance with the program. The selling and buying of off-set credits allows offenders to escape state-forced closure by buying credits from opt-in entities that have excess credits. Oregon’s private corporations subject to these regulations are exempt – meaning these costs are to be pass along to consumers and are not to burden the value of publicly traded stocks held by shareholders. As other revenues sources, the state starts to depend on that income, but unlike other sources, it is volatile to participation as California discovered last May when only 11% of available permits were sold yielding a loss to the state budget of $490 million.
Limited Government
Significantly increases the size of government and corresponding regulations that goes beyond the subject of this bill. The background for climate change and CO2 as a pollutant is politically charged and filled with flawed science. Oregon has one of the lowest carbon emissions in the nation already. So the bill is a front for raising revenue by allowing the Environmental Quality Commission to create laws by rule based on this bill with unclear and vague objectives, technological constraints, lack of objective resources, unobtainable standards, and a lack of clear causal link between requirements. Goals are set to achieve greenhouse gas levels at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2025, 45% by 2035 and 80% by 2050.
Local Control
Rural Oregon will be hit the hardest when these fees and cost of credit are distributed to consumers, which will impact the operations in farming and forestry. These operations are dependent on motorized vehicles. Studies show that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ rule making process is swayed by litigious public interest groups that always work against what rural Oregon needs to be self-reliant.
Free Markets
Inhibits free markets by manipulating profits according to carbon emissions. Industry may have a right to appeal the collection of fees and the long-term goals according to the California Court of Appeals.
Redistribution of wealth. The British Columbia model they are following requires all profits be returned to taxpayers. They forgot that piece in Oregon’s proposal.
I strongly urge you to vote against the HB 4001 Cap and Trade. I live in a rural area and will be forced to pay much more for my fuel and power if this bill passes. We have no alternative forms of transportation to get to work, school, etc. We also own a small business which employs 20+ people and we depend heavily on fuel for farm equipment and transporting our products to market. Unfortunately because we export most of our products, the market price is set by markets usually outside of our country. We cannot pass these additional charges on to our end users as they can just go elsewhere for the products if they don’t like our prices. As you probably know the cost of doing business in Oregon continues to increase with no sign of relief. These continued increases in taxes, passing of measure 101 etc are making it hard to operate in the state and pay employees a living wage. Please help businesses in Oregon stay in Oregon!!! Please help families by not adding yet another tax for us to pay!!!
Let the counties that have a majority of voters that vote yes for this tax pay it.
Counties that a majority that vote no don’t pay the tax.
Let’s not punish those rural families who have no other option but to drive to work! There is not a public transportation system that goes anywhere near my home.
Do our legislators take public transportation?
This bill is a disaster for rural Oregon. Oregonians outside the Portland metro are have no other choice but to drive every day. Punishing every rural Oregonian for driving to work is not the answer. This is not a business friendly bill.
The state has squandered away all of its transportation funding on the Portland area. There has been zero effort to improve transportation infrastructure outside of the metro area.
Agriculture is already marginal at best. Adding more taxes to put Oregon agriculture at a disadvantage is unreasonable. If there has to be a tax on greenhouse emissions, then tax those in the greater metro area (the same people in favor of this tax).
Please considered responsible government spending before adding additional taxes.
Please also send your comments to your representative. The British Columbia model they used in creating this bill leaves out one important feature. The BC model returns all profits in reduction of their tax rates. They now have the lowest tax rates, individual and corporate, in Canada. It goes to prove the greed in this proposal and not the best interest of Oregonians.