One of the states where Google is considering fiber construction will have to rewrite pending legislation to keep Google happy. The Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that was designed to boost telecom investment, but it apparently has some unintended consequences.

"Oregon lawmakers wrote a bill to lure Google Fiber to Portland," The Oregonian reported. "Google says language in the bill does the opposite."

The legislation sought to change "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," the paper reported.

But Google executive Darcy Nothnagle warned of problems in a letter to lawmakers on Thursday, a day before the vote. Google appreciates Oregon trying to "offer a fair and competitive landscape for companies that are looking to invest in infrastructure enabling high speed internet services," but the bill as written "mak[es] it extremely unlikely that any company would make large investment in a new fiber network," the company wrote.

"First, the bill's exemption requires that the service include capacity of 'at least one gigabit.' Speed can be measured in several different ways, and actual speeds may differ depending on a range of factors, such as simultaneous use of the network by multiple users," Google wrote. "Furthermore, we are not aware of any consumer offering that offers speeds above a gigabit; today, services up to a gigabit (like Google Fiber) are among the fastest in the nation and have only recently come to market. Second, investments in major infrastructure projects are for the long-term, and although the proposed exemption would level the playing field with other states in the short term, after a certain time period tax rates would return to approximately double what they are in other states—without the benefit of taking depreciation into account."

The bill was scheduled to be voted on by the state Senate today, but it could be changed. "These are easy fixes and we will make them in the senate," The Oregonian quoted Sen. Mark Hass, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue, as saying.

Google already operates a large data center in Oregon, and Portland is one of five metro areas the company lists as a potential Google Fiber location.

Google has been careful about which cities it builds fiber in, targeting those that provide easy permitting and quick access to poles and conduits.