Oregon Works to Fix Flaw in Bill Meant to Entice Google Fiber
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem Victoria Ditkovsky / Shutterstock.com
State legislation thought to be a ‘win-win’ wasn’t quite a win-win for Google.
Last week, there was a lot of optimism around state legislation in Oregon designed to help make it easier for Google Fiber to deploy in Portland.
“This bill is the result of a lot of work by everyone involved to get to a place where we’re clarifying the tax rates, providing real incentives for new operations and ensuring that our local governments and schools are protected,” said Rep. Phil Barnhart said in a written statement, according to the Portland Business Journal. “In the end, I believe this is a win-win for everybody.”
Oregon’s House of Representatives passed the bill on Friday with near unanimous support. But it wasn’t exactly a win-win.
Google, in fact, balked at the legislation that was supposed to make Portland an attractive city to expand its super-fast gigabit fiber network. But House lawmakers passed the bill anyways. And now the Oregon Senate is cleaning up the mess this week.
The Oregonian reported on Monday:
Senate Bill 611 addresses an unusual provision in Oregon tax law, which values property owned by telecommunications companies and other tech businesses, in part, on "intangible" assets such as the value of the companies' brands.
Tech companies testifying on the bill said few if any other states value assets that way and warned that Oregon's tax methodology—which had been in flux until last October, when the state Supreme Court upheld it—would deter future telecom and data center investment in the state.
In response, Oregon lawmakers sought to ease the effect of the tax with exemptions and valuation limits in SB611. But in Thursday's letter to Oregon legislators, Google public affairs manager Darcy Nothnagle said lawmakers did it wrong—at least in regard to high-speed telecom networks.
A provision of the tax incentives legislation covers companies providing Internet connectivity speeds of “at least one gigabit.” Google Fiber provides speeds of “up to a gigabit” per second.
That legislative fix, to be accomplished with a separate bill, only involves changing a couple words.
That and some other issues Google has pointed out as problematic should be sorted out by state lawmakers this week, according to the Oregonian.
As Portland waits for state legislators to tie up the loose on their efforts to make it easier for Google to expand its sought-after fiber network in the state, Google announced Tuesday that Salt Lake City would be next in line for the company’s fiber expansion.
According to Google’s announcement:
Salt Lake has more than breathtaking mountain vistas and fantastic ski slopes. It also hosts a booming technology sector, world-renowned universities and a vibrant local culture. We’re looking forward to seeing Salt Lake residents use gigabit Internet to spark creative ideas, jumpstart businesses and collaborate in ways they couldn't before.
Meanwhile in Portland, “those who crave Google Fiber's hyperfast connections are learning to be awfully patient,” The Oregonian wrote on Tuesday. But the City of Roses remains on the “potential” list of Google Fiber expansion cities.
(Photo by Victoria Ditkovsky / Shutterstock.com)
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