A bill that helps pay for a new habitat conservation plan for Oregon’s private forests — and renews some forest products harvest taxes left in limbo last year — is halfway through the Oregon Legislature.

House Bill 4055 moved to the Senate on a 45-14 vote of the House on Wednesday. As a revenue-raising bill, it required 36 votes for passage.

The taxes are levied on all timber cut in Oregon, including federal lands. The first 25,000 board-feet from a producer is exempt from taxation.

A new tax will be levied to raise $5 million every two years, matched with $10 million by state government, to pay for a habitat conservation plan once it is approved by the federal government. The plan is the heart of an agreement, known as the Private Forest Accord, mediated by Gov. Kate Brown and others between the timber industry and environmental advocates. It will apply to the 10 million acres of forests in private ownership.

The bill sets an overall ceiling of $250 million for the plan, which Brown announced Oct. 30.

The bill also sets harvest tax rates for a couple of programs that got caught in a political crossfire between the House and Senate at the close of the 2021 regular session. The new rates, which are retroactive to the start of this year, cover funding for Department of Forestry enforcement of the Oregon Forest Practices Act and professional education by the College of Forestry at Oregon State University.

There are separate harvest tax rates to support fire suppression, the Forest Research Laboratory at OSU, and the Oregon Forest Research Institute.

“This bill is the culmination of a lot of work on two tracks. We must have a single harvest tax bill to continue the previous tax and to help achieve the Private Forest Accord for Oregon as well,” said Rep. Nancy Nathanson, a Democrat from Eugene and leader of the House Revenue Committee.

“This tax is part of a carefully negotiated agreement. It is a gain for the environment and forest practices, and a gain for industry and providing some better certainty for harvest.”

Two other bills pending in the Senate are part of the accord. Senate Bill 1501 requires the state Board of Forestry to carry out the accord in a single rulemaking process by Nov. 30. Senate Bill 1502 provides for a tax credit, subtracted directly from taxes owed, for owners of small woodlands.

There was no debate.

Harvest tax rates

The five forest harvest product tax rates, all expressed in 1,000 board-feet:

• For enforcement of the Oregon Forest Practices Act: $2.07, up from $1.39.

• For the College of Forestry at OSU: 21 cents, up from 10 cents.

• For the Forest Research Laboratory at OSU: 90 cents, unchanged since 2016.

• For fire suppression: 62.5 cents, unchanged since 2008.

• For the Oregon Forest Resources Institute: $1.12. The 1991 revision of the Forest Practices Act that created the institute set a permanent rate of 75 cents, but the institute’s board can adjust the rate annually. It is now $1.12.

The tax rate for the new habitat conservation plan is pending, but is expected to start in 2023.

The current bill appears to resolve a conflict between the House and Senate last year over the Oregon Forest Research Institute.

Advocates of change in the House said their 2021 bill was prompted by a 2020 investigative series by The Oregonian and Oregon Public Broadcasting, which concluded that the institute improperly lobbied legislators, inaccurately described Oregon forest practices in advertising and educational materials, and inappropriately interfered with Oregon State University researchers whose work may have differed from industry viewpoints.

The series won the 2020 Bruce Baer Award, which honors public affairs reporting in Oregon.

A House vote of 32-27 passed the 2021 bill, which aimed at diverting two-thirds of the institute’s projected collection from the harvest tax into other accounts under the Oregon Department of Forestry. Those accounts would be reserved for enforcement of forest practices and aid for family small woodlands.

The Senate failed to act on that bill. Instead, it passed an amended bill to set all forest harvest tax rates, while leaving alone the permanent tax rate for the Oregon Forest Research Institute. But the House rejected the amended bill.

The chambers finally agreed to pass the original version, which affected only aviation and jet fuel, and the result was that some of the timber harvest taxes were left in limbo until now.