Oregon is changing a half-century-old land-use law to make room for semiconductor development and gain an edge in attracting the multi-billion-dollar industry. A bill allows Gov. Tina Kotek to designate up to eight sites for urban growth boundary expansion. The state Senate approved it and the House passed on a 44-10 vote. The Oregon Farm Bureau was among the groups that opposed the bill.
Kotek’s office said Friday that she will sign the measure into law in the next few days. In a statement Thursday, Kotek said the bill makes Oregon “poised to lay the foundation for the next generation of innovation and production of semiconductors.”
“Oregon has been at the center of the semiconductor industry in the United States for decades,” Kotek said. “This bill is an absolutely essential tool for leading a coordinated effort with the private sector to ensure we can compete for federal funds to expand advanced manufacturing in Oregon.”
Kotek will designate up to eight sites for urban growth boundary expansion — two that exceed 500 acres and six smaller sites. The CHIPS and Science Act that Congress passed last year provides $39 billion for companies constructing or expanding facilities that will manufacture semiconductors and those that will assemble, test and package the chips.
Lawmakers backing the bill that provides $200 million in grants to chipmakers said it’s needed to make Oregon more competitive in luring more of the multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry to the state. Other lawmakers argued that the measure is an attack on the nation’s first statewide policy — created a half-century ago — that limits urban sprawl and protects farmland and forests.
Some opponents of the CHIPS bill objected Thursday to changing a system that’s been in place for 50 years.State officials and lawmakers were stung by Intel’s decision last year to build a $20 billion chipmaking complex in Ohio instead of Oregon, where suitable zoned land is scarce. Intel is the state’s largest corporate employer.
