Oregon
voters approved Measure
71
during the November 2010 general election. That Constitutional amendment
established short legislative sessions in even-numbered years. Lawmakers will
gather in Salem on the first of February to participate in the 35-day session
that resulted from that 2010 vote of the people.
Legislative
leaders sold Measure 71 to voters as a much-needed opportunity for legislators
to make minor adjustments to state budgets, to pass laws that were already well
vetted and limited in scope, and to address emergency situations.
I
voted against Senate
Joint Resolution 41, which referred the Constitutional
amendment to the voters to decide, for three reasons. The first was that I was not
convinced that the Legislative Assembly could demonstrate the discipline
required to limit its scope of work during the short sessions. Moreover, I was
concerned the short sessions would be designed to limit the opportunity for the
public to participate in their lawmaking process. Finally, I feared that
holding legislative sessions during election years would cause bills to be
introduced in order to be used as fodder in political campaigns.
Those
concerns and fears have now been fully demonstrated to be both legitimate and
valid.
Bills
introduced during the short legislative sessions have become progressively more
complex since 2010. Major policies are being established with minimal
opportunity for public participation. Moreover, the stated intentions of some
majority party leaders, as well as the various interest groups that support them,
made in advance of the currently pending session further confirm that the promises
made to voters will continue to be broken.
Liberal
activist groups have threatened to bring a series of ballot measures forward
for the 2016 general election. Many of these groups represent the political
arms of the public employee unions and environmental advocacy organizations
that largely support Democrat legislators.
The
Initiative Petitions cover a variety of topics, including renewable energy,
taxes on businesses and a raise in the state’s minimum wage. Their advocates
pledge that if the Legislature does not give in and compromise with their
various demands, they will force the issues to be brought directly before
voters through ballot initiatives. They promise that those ballot measures will
be securely funded by entities with deep pockets.
As
a result, Democrat leadership is actively engaged in efforts to achieve
compromise on many of these issues. Some industries and associations, certain
to be adversely affected by those ballot measures, are hoping to avoid
expensive multi-million dollar campaigns and are instead seeking avenues to
address them through legislative compromise.
Among
the issues is a significant increase in the state's minimum wage. Signatures
are being gathered for ballot initiatives to increase Oregon’s minimum wage
from its current level of $9.25 per hour up to $13.50
and $15.
Oregon’s
minimum wage is currently among the five highest in the United States. Measure
25,
adopted by the people in the November 2002 general election, automatically
indexed Oregon minimum wage to keep up with inflation as measured by the
Consumer Price Index.
Governor
Brown recently issued
a statement of support for resolution of the minimum
wage conflict. Proposals that may be introduced to pre-empt that ballot measure
fight are already in the works. One would create three
separate minimum wages, broken down by geographic regions
of the state.
Another
proposed
ballot measure would raise taxes by several billion
dollars for many companies doing business in Oregon. Our Oregon is
advancing the measure under the guise of providing more funding for critical
services such as education, public safety and human services.
However,
the proponents of the measure are aware there is no legal way to bind how
future Legislatures choose to spend the money. They are also aware that Oregon
already faces multi-billion dollar shortfalls in its ability to pay for previously
negotiated public employee labor contracts and Public Employee Retirement
System unfunded liabilities. Their promises that moneys raised by passage of
the ballot measure will be spent on expanded state services may be disingenuous
and destined to be broken.
A proposed
series of ballot measures is sponsored by environmental groups.
They have demonstrated enough support to force the state’s two largest investor
owned utilities to agree
to a compromise in order to keep those concepts from
being put before voters. Not surprisingly, their behind-closed-doors compromise
generally appears to benefit their investors at the expense of their ratepayers
and the consumer-owned utilities. That piece of legislation is expected to be
considered during next month’s session.
Other
major policy bills have been or are likely to be introduced.
A
carbon cap
and trade bill nearly identical to California
legislation has already been introduced in committee. The bill is essentially a
sales tax on all forms of fossil fuel. It has the potential to significantly drive
up the costs of energy and goods for every man, woman and child in Oregon.
Yet another likely bill will attempt to double the state’s transient housing tax. The
additional revenue would be allocated to subsidizing a bid to hold the 2019
world track championships in Eugene. This effort appears to have gained
momentum after
former Governor John Kitzhaber received campaign contributions
from entities that served to benefit from that tax revenue allocation.
Instead
of focusing on these priorities, the Legislative Assembly could and should
investigate and analyze several major issues of concern during the short
session and the ensuing interim between sessions. One subject is the already
initiated in-depth discussions of the abuse
of the Business Energy Tax Credit program, as well as the
lack of accountability within the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of
Revenue (ODR) that allowed the abuse to occur. I am assigned to the committee
that will investigate DOE and determine what should be done with the agency. Representative
Gail Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls) is assigned to the House Revenue Committee that
oversees the ODR.
The
future budgetary impacts of new
union contracts for state employees would also be a
worthwhile subject for discussion during the February session. So too would discussions
of the ongoing
lawsuits between the state and software giant Oracle over the
disastrous multi-million dollar boondoggle known as Cover Oregon. That
discussion should include the potential
of the state having to pay back some of the federal
dollars that funded the ill-fated project.
Oregon’s
Department of Human Services (DHS) could definitely benefit from additional
legislative scrutiny following disturbing and ongoing revelations about its foster
care program. This issue was discussed last Thursday in
a hearing
of the Senate Interim Committee on Human Services and Early Childhood.
The
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is
facing a funding crisis. I have been assigned to a task
force charged with examining the agency’s budget problems and finding
solutions. The task force held its first meeting last week and will continue to
meet throughout the interim, after the short session adjourns in early March.
Multiple
other state agencies are facing budgetary shortfalls that these annual short
sessions were intended to address. Those agencies include but are not limited
to DHS, the Oregon Health Authority, the Public
Employee Retirement System and the Department of Energy’s Small-Scale
Energy Loan Program.
No shortage exists among important issues for the
Legislature to deal with during the coming months. A few are scheduled to be
addressed during the February session. However, they will not be the focus of
the February session.
Many major policy bills will be presented with little
time for consideration and debate. Hearing schedules will be so short that most
public participation will be prevented. Too many bills will be based more on
re-election campaigns than on what is good for Oregon and its people.
The Legislative website, www.oregonlegislature.gov,
contains a wealth of information about the bills that will be moving through
the process for the February session. I urge you to be involved in the process
throughout the next several weeks. Our future depends on the active
participation of concerned citizens, in order to obtain the kind of results
that will move this state forward in a positive direction.
Please remember--if we do not stand up for rural Oregon, no one will.
Best Regards, Doug
Senate District 28
Email: Sen.DougWhitsett@state.or.us I Phone: 503-986-1728 Address: 900 Court St NE, S-311, Salem, OR 97301 Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/whitsett
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