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After garnering support from construction industry leaders, a bill creating a 12-person Public Infrastructure Commission has passed the Oregon Legislature and is due to go before Gov. John Kitzhaber.

The commission would consist of a mix of public officials, public financing experts and construction industry officials, who would research and evaluate a variety of innovative financing and procurement methods expected to help close the funding gap for public infrastructure projects. The Senate this week passed House Bill 4111 by a 23-7 vote, and then the House passed it again with amendments, 48-9.

Public projects that receive more than $20 million in state funding and cost $50 million or more would qualify for review by the commission, which also would be tasked with determining the state’s infrastructure funding needs.

The commission would initially look at the Multnomah County Courthouse project, the WISE water project in the Rogue Valley and potentially several university and school projects around the state, said Karen Williams, staff director of the Innovation in Infrastructure Task Force that in December issued a report on the alternative contracting approach.

“We have a big gap between the infrastructure that we need and what we can fund using traditional methods,” she said. “House Bill 4111 will help us address that and get the best value for taxpayer dollars.”

The commission would seek best practices for different methodologies and project types, Williams said.

Representatives of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter criticized the original bill because they believed the industry’s voice was missing from the process and more due diligence on potential risks and opportunities was needed.

After intense negotiations, AGC supported the amended bill, which includes industry representation on the commission, greater due diligence on various types of funding models and pilot projects that will use alternative procurement models, according to a letter of its conditional support submitted to the Legislature on Feb. 20.

“AGC has always been, and will continue to be, guided by one bedrock principle embedded in current law: that all alternative contracting methods ensure that competition is not diminished,” wrote John Rakowitz, AGC’s director of public and strategic affairs. “We are hopeful this commission’s efforts will provide the critical information needed to guide policymakers’ discussions related to any future changes to Oregon’s public contracting laws.”