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JUNE 23, 2017
POLITICS OVER POLICY
The biggest
issue in the Senate this week was the provider tax, which will fund the
Medicaid program. I voted against the bill for a very simple
reason. There was a very clear pathway to the budget numbers we needed
within the Medicaid assessment we have been using for over a decade.
Unfortunately, the Speaker of the House insisted on adding two new taxes to the
formula, a .7% tax on hospitals and a 1.5% tax in health insurance. What
makes this even worse is the fact, based on a Washington court case, that while
it takes a supermajority to create a tax the base can be expanded and the rate
can be increased by a simple majority. It should also be pointed out if
we had kept this within the Medicaid assessment the money could have only gone
to health care, but over time taxes can be increased and spent anywhere.
We offered a better alternative, but this is what we are stuck with.
Meanwhile
the Governor, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President came out with a
joint statement saying we would be looking at “real reforms” in 2019. The
statement also said they had found one billion dollars in savings.
Nothing could be further from the truth as the “savings they have found” are
not in general fund or agency reductions. For example, the Oregon Health
Authority has over 4,500 employees and continues to add more. However,
the example I want to use for this purpose is the Department of
Education. In this budget, we are seeing no reductions in that
agency. The question is what value do they bring to the K-12
system? The have hundreds of employees and spend hundreds of millions of
dollars that might be better spent in the classroom. As it turns out,
their main function appears to be data collection. There are currently
over 170 reporting requirements placed on schools, very few of which have
anything to do with what goes on in the classroom. It does, however,
require schools to spend money on positions to compile this data and it also
justifies all the positions inside the department who then write the reports
based on this data collection. In the end, most of these reports go on a
shelf have had very little value for schools.
One thing I
have observed over the years is the fact most state agencies primary objective
seems to be protecting their status and expanding their scope whenever
possible. They tend to be, unfortunately, very successful at this,
keeping in mind all state employees are union members. One can simply
follow the money. In the last governor’s race, for example the unions
contributed $4,913 to Bud Pierce and $986,822 to Kate Brown. With another
election coming in 2018, it is easy to connect the dots.
It is
becoming clear that this Session we will be doing nothing real in the areas of
cost containment or PERS reform. I would submit that in Salem the public
employee unions and Portland are running the show. It may sound like I am
anti-government, but I am not. Government has a very legitimate role in
society. I just happen to think the people are more important than the
government, and it appears not everyone up has the same opinion.
I will end
this with a quote from Thomas Jefferson. “My reading of history convinces
me that most bad government results from too much government.”
I believe he
has a valid point.
Sincerely,
Senator Jeff
Kruse
email: Sen.JeffKruse@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1701
address: 900 Court St NE, S-205, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kruse
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