Oregon Governor Kate Brown is calling for a top-to-bottom review of a long-troubled tax incentive. The Business Energy Tax Credit was supposed to give companies an incentive to invest in clean energy.
Lawmakers reeled in the program when it turned out to be more generous than anticipated. But some of the tax credits issued are still valid and the governor said she has questions about how the program is being managed.
Brown said it's clear that it's “not managed to the standard that Oregonians demand and deserve.” And she wants lawmakers and the Oregon Department of Energy to sit down and figure out what has to happen for this program to be run in a manner that's fair both to taxpayers and fair to the companies that are using the program.
The Governor's statement came as the Oregon Secretary of State's Audits Division found that the Oregon Department of Energy gave conflicting advice to companies that wanted to use the tax credits.
In a response, the agency acknowledged the program has been "besieged by problems." Director Michael Kaplan said he looks forward to working with lawmakers and the governor on the next steps.