From PCEF website
The Portland Clean Energy Fund Committee is walking a tightrope: If they play too hard-to-get when it comes to opening up revenue from their corporate tax earnings to City of Portland bureaus, they risk stoking the ire of City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez who is desperate for bureau funding and is poised to refashion the tax and refer it to voters for a complete overhaul to get it. But if the committee compromises too much with Gonzalez and City Hall, they risk alienating the powerful sea of nonprofit groups who helped pass the policy and support it wholeheartedly in its current form.
PCEF was passed by voters in 2018 as a 1% tax imposed on large retailers with $1 billion in national revenue and $500,000 in revenue in Portland. It aims to invest in climate change-related projects that will benefit low-income and Portlanders of color who are on the front lines of extreme weather and other climate threats. So far the fund has been a boon to bicycling and has dedicated $80 million to an e-bike purchase subsidy and other programs. It’s also helped save the PBOT budget thanks to a $112 million injection into the transportation budget from Commissioner Carmen Rubio (who oversees the fund through the Bureau of Planning & Sustainability).
But there’s still money to spend. Thanks to a spike in corporate profits and a delay in tax filings after the pandemic, the fund has amassed a huge sum — an estimated $540 million — beyond projections. That has left PCEF’s coffers swelling just as the City of Portland’s coffers are nearly empty. That dynamic has set up a tug-of-war around how the money should be spent and who controls the pursestrings. Gonzalez wants the money for police and fire bureau needs and Rubio is going after the interest to fund Portland Street Response — neither of which have a connection to climate change.
A document made public today lays out for the first time how the PCEF Committee proposes to balance these competing forces in the next allocation of $158 million.
The committee has been under pressure to make a recommendation to Portland city council about how to spend that additional revenue. They laid out three options for how do so at a February 15th meeting. Two of the options included a “rapid timeline” that would come up with a process to allocate the funds by May (in time to be included in the Mayor’s proposed budget). A third option called for a longer timeline that would give the committee time to solicit more collaborative proposals and would allocate the funding by this fall.
The first two options were better for city bureaus who want money immediately; but the third option would allow PCEF to more closely adhere to the policy that underpins the program — a policy that mandates a more collaborative approach where nonprofits play a significant role in allocation decisions. But the details of option three were limited, and PCEF committee members felt they couldn’t vote until it was fleshed out.
The proposal released today lays out four eligibility requirements for applicants who want one of the $20-$100 million grants: Funded projects must “meaningful and measurable reduction or sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions”; the primary applicant must be a nonprofit or government entity and demonstrate support from a community coalition, and all applications must include a community benefits agreement. The last eligibility requirement is perhaps the most important: The aforementioned coalition must include, “At least one non-profit community-based organization with a minimum of eight years’ experience in conducting community engagement in Portland focused on PCEF priority population.”
If those requirements are met, then applicants must go through a two-step process: submit a letter of interest (LOI) and then, if approved, they can submit a full application. The PCEF Committee expects to invite four to eight applicants to submit full proposals. The deadline for LOIs would be May 10th and project recommendations would be made in early September.
While this proposal likely isn’t exactly what Commissioner Gonzalez would prefer, it also clarifies the eligibility of city bureaus and gives him and all other members of council an opportunity to benefit from PCEF. Whether it’s enough to make him reconsider his previous stance on PCEF remains to be seen.
This proposal will be shared publicly for the first time at the PCEF Committee meeting that begins at 6:00 pm tonight (3/21). Once it receives support from the committee, it will then be forwarded as a recommendation to City Council where conversation will continue. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The PCEF Committee voted in support of the proposal at their meeting Thursday night. Now it goes to city council. The Oregonian reported Thursday night that Commissioner Rubio has abandoned her plan to use funds from interest on PCEF revenue.
