ORS 184.879: Greenhouse gas reduction program; definitions; grants; request for funding; rules.

(1) As used in this section and ORS 184.882 and 184.884: (a) “Bidder” has the meaning given that term in ORS 279A.010. (b) “Covered materials” means: (A) Concrete, including ready mix concrete, shotcrete, precast concrete and concrete masonry units; (B) Asphalt paving mixtures; (C) Steel, including rebar, reinforcing steel and structural steel, hot-rolled sections, hollow sections, plate steel and cold-formed steel; and (D) Other materials the Department of Transportation designates by rule after consultation with the technical advisory committee. (c) “Emergency” has the meaning given that term in ORS 279A.010. (d) “Environmental product declaration” means a product-specific label developed in accordance with rules the department adopts that are based on ISO Standard 14025 and on independently verified life cycle assessment data, life cycle inventory and analysis data or information modules in accordance with the ISO 14040 series of standards. (e) “Procurement” has the meaning given that term in ORS 279A.010. (f) “Proposer” has the meaning given that term in ORS 279A.010. (g) “Public contract” has the meaning given that term in ORS 279A.010. (h) “Public Contracting Code” has the meaning given that term in ORS 279A.010. (i) “Technical advisory committee” means the committee described in ORS 184.882. (2)(a) The department, not later than December 31, 2025, shall establish a program for greenhouse gas reduction that: (A) Assesses the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to covered materials the department uses in the department’s construction and maintenance activities for the state’s transportation system; (B) Conducts life cycle assessments of a selected set of the department’s construction and maintenance activities; and (C) Devises strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that include, but are not limited to, improving pavement and bridge conditions. (b) In establishing the program described in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the department shall identify and disclose in any reports the department produces all relevant measurement difficulties, deficiencies in needed data, assumptions, uncertainties, technological limitations, costs associated with assessment and implementation and any other relevant limitations of methodology, practice or implementation. (c) In devising the strategies described in paragraph (a)(C) of this subsection, the department, at a minimum, shall consider and evaluate: (A) Advancements in materials and engineering as applied to greenhouse gas emission reduction; (B) Regional variability in the quality and durability of aggregates and other components of covered materials; (C) The types and effects of fuels available for use in manufacturing, transporting and using covered materials; (D) The quality and performance of the covered materials; and (E) Any other factors that the department, in consultation with the technical advisory committee, deems relevant and useful. (d) The department shall conduct the assessments and devise the strategies described in paragraph (a) of this subsection separately for each of the state’s five transportation regions, accounting for differences among the regions with respect to the availability of covered materials, fuel and other necessary resources and the quantity of covered materials the department uses or plans to use. (3)(a) In procuring covered materials for the program described in subsection (2)(a) of this section, the department shall require contractors to submit environmental product declarations before the contractor installs the covered materials, unless the department: (A) Procures the covered materials on an emergency basis; (B) Determines that a relevant product category rule does not exist; (C) Determines that requiring an environmental product declaration will reduce competition for public contracts or otherwise contravene the requirements of the Public Contracting Code; (D) Determines that requiring an environmental product declaration would unreasonably affect the department’s specifications or requirements for covered materials or impair the department’s construction or maintenance activities; (E) Determines that an environmental product declaration is not necessary to measure or quantify greenhouse gas emissions; or (F) Determines after consultation with the technical advisory committee that other considerations outweigh the need for requiring environmental product declarations or that a construction or maintenance activity would use less than a threshold amount of covered materials. The department, in consultation with the technical advisory committee, shall specify the threshold amount by rule. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, in procuring asphalt paving mixtures, the department may allow contractors to submit environmental product declarations within a reasonable time after executing a public contract for constructing roads or acquiring materials or within the time required for an environmental product declaration provider to prepare the environmental product declaration, but not later than the date on which the contractor completes performance of the public contract. (c) The department may not use an environmental product declaration as a consideration in ranking or scoring a bid or proposal before January 1, 2027, but thereafter may consider environmental product declarations if the department determines that doing so is beneficial and if, after consulting with the technical advisory committee, construction contractors, material suppliers and other stakeholders, the department devises a scoring methodology that ensures fairness among bidders and proposers. (4)(a) In order to assist bidders or proposers to prepare or submit environmental product declarations required under this section, the department by rule shall establish a program to extend grants to bidders or proposers that require financial assistance to prepare environmental product declarations. (b) Before establishing a program under this subsection, the department shall submit a request for funding to the Legislative Assembly in an amount that the department estimates would be necessary to provide the grants described in this subsection. The department shall deposit any funding the department receives into a designated account within the department’s operating account and shall keep records of disbursements from the account. Any moneys the department does not award as grants must revert to the General Fund upon the termination of the program. (c) The department by rule shall establish criteria for eligibility for grants under this subsection and shall specify the maximum amount of each grant on the basis of available funding. [2022 c.74 §1]