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A set of bills that will restructure Oregon’s passed out of the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee earlier this week, and the future of BETC looked a lot different coming out of that committee than it did when it went in.

The tax credits called 鈥淏ETC鈥� are actually three different credits: for manufacturing, energy generation and energy conservation. The latter two of those components are scheduled to sunset in 2012, and the state’s green industries have been lobbying to extend their lives.

The energy generation and conservation credits would see a fundamental change in the renewal bills: instead of the credit amount depending on the project cost, it will be calculated based on how much energy the project generates or conserves, said Rep. Tobias Read, D-Beaverton. The sunset date on those credits would be extended to 2018.

鈥淭hrough a mechanism we’re still working on, we will establish a price per unit of energy, and the credit is based on the energy, not on the cost,鈥� Read said. 鈥淚f the legislature decides to approve a continuation of the program, we’re more interested in making sure that these dollars are going to the places where they’re producing energy, not going to the thing that costs the most,鈥� Read said.

Legislators are still working on the structure and mechanisms of the credit. Read said there may be a tiered application process based on project size and that projects will compete for credits based on how much energy their projects save or produce.

The proposed extension of BETC would also formally differentiate the three credits.

鈥淧eople refer to 鈥榯he BETC’ when there’s actually three different components, so we’re just trying to make that clear and let the legislature consider each of the components separately going forward,鈥� Read said.

Read said the three bills making the changes to BETC, House Bills , , and , are 鈥渇ar from complete鈥� in their current forms. Some blanks will be filled as the bills head to the Revenue and Joint Tax Credit committees later this session. One of the unanswered questions is the budget amount that would be allocated for the credits if the bills pass.

鈥淚t’s easier to drop in a number later once we have the rest of the details worked out, and we’ll later have more information based on the May revenue forecast and based on the other decisions that the Ways and Means Committee is making about all the other budgets that are under tremendous stress,鈥� Read said.

The manufacturing credit would not see major changes and would still sunset in 2014. The biggest change to that credit proposed this session is an administration shift from the Department of Energy to Business Oregon, and other changes that would codify much of what is currently in practice, Read said.