 * “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
—Helen Keller
 Thanks to all of you who showed up last week for our first virtual Town Hall of the 2023 session; you can still watch it here. We’re aiming to hold one on the third Tuesday of every month at 5:30pm through the end of the session in June. Watch this newsletter for a reminder and the Zoom link.
Two big bills in one hearing
The House Committee on Emergency Management, General Government and Veterans recently took on two big bills in a single hearing last week. I showed up to testify as a chief sponsor on both.
HB 2763 would create a Task Force to study and make recommendations on creating a State Bank of Oregon. I was drawn towards the public bank movement a decade ago when I produced a public television program on the Bank of North Dakota. It does so many good things for everyday people and businesses that it’s stunning that no other state has created a public bank since North Dakota did in 1919—evidence of the power of lobbies that don’t want it to happen. There’s so much fear-stirring misinformation about public banking that we’re proposing a task force study to start clearing the air. That was the center of my committee testimony, cued up at this video.
The committee then moved to another epic bill, HB 2601, the Treasury Investment and Climate Protection Act. My co-sponsor Rep. Khanh Pham laid out the case in her strong testimony. I followed with my summary comments in this video. The hearing triggered this good coverage in the Capitol Chronicle as well as this overview in Willamette Week.
I don’t know how far HB 2601 will move through this year’s session. But in the big picture I’m not sure I’ve seen a more important bill this year.
Chipping away at revenue
I sit on the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee this session, the place where businesses, lobbyists and citizen advocates come to argue about taxation. We’ve listened to a dozen or more proposals to lower estate taxes, create new property tax exemptions, or let select businesses out of the Corporate Activities Tax, the “CAT,” that we established in 2019 to raise some $1 billion each year for mental health, pre-K and other vital school programs.
Just about everyone who testified told a story that was persuasive in one way or another. I generally found myself invisibly nodding my head: you know, maybe this business shouldn’t have to pay that tax. Except…except that the legislature struggled fruitlessly to come up with adequate K-12 funding for almost three decades after Measure 5 slashed the property taxes that undergirded education funding. Countless proposals went down in flames over the years until the CAT passed without a vote to spare.
I don’t much like the CAT, mostly because businesses have to pay it even if they lose money. Not great. And if anyone knows of a flawless tax system, please jot me off a quick memo, because we haven’t found it yet. Year after year after year the legislature ducked its promise to restore the resources schools needed, because every proposed funding method was flawed. Finally, in 2019 we passed the…flawed…CAT.
So we get a parade of businesses explaining why they shouldn’t have to pay it. One bill we heard would raise the minimum amount that a business has to earn before it’s subject to the CAT—$1 million per year (which applies to about 10% of all Oregon businesses)—to $5 million. We heard believable testimony from businesses with $1-3 million in sales about their challenges keeping their doors open.
That led to a surprising committee conversation. I said that I’d like to find a way to lighten the load on the smaller businesses we’d heard from without doing damage to the school services we’d fought so hard to fund; relief for the folks who testified to the committee shouldn’t come at the expense of our kids. If we exempted more small business from the CAT, could we replace the lost revenue by tweaking some of its other provisions at the same time? Committee staff said yes, they could offer up some “revenue neutral” options. What they didn’t say, and didn’t have to, was that those businesses still paying the CAT would be dinged a little deeper to make up the difference. Mathematically easy to do…politically, not so much.
But what I saw as I looked across the committee rostrum was nodding heads belonging to Senators of both parties. “No,” a Republican colleague said, “let’s not take dollars away from the kids.” The nodding continued. Dramatic breakthrough? Not without a specific proposal that could win enough votes to make the CAT more progressive. But it was an out-loud shared expression I hadn’t expected. We’ll see if it lasts more than a moment, as the bill will probably come up for a committee vote in the next couple of weeks.
Peer-centered services
Do you know about Compass House in Medford? It follows the Clubhouse Model for mental health support, which means that most of the staff and volunteers delivering service have themselves experienced serious mental health challenges. I was stunned when I first visited some years back by what a simple and powerful idea this is, and how effectively it helps people towards self-sufficient dignity.
That’s why I was excited to sign on this week to sponsor SB 432, a $750,000 pilot program that lines up exactly with the mission of places like Compass House. I’m convinced that we, and probably most communities in Oregon, have a largely ignored resource that can permanently change lives more cost-efficiently, and likely more effectively, than traditional government programs. I can’t wait to see the outcomes of this bill if we can get it across the Governor’s desk. If they’re as positive as I expect, the table will be set for a broader conversation of how peer service can help solve some of our toughest problems.
What’s a ‘healthy business climate’?
That’s what I wondered in a recent Finance and Revenue Committee hearing for SB 45, which proposes a special task force to “make recommendations for changes to tax law intended to promote a healthy climate for business and support Oregon in competing with other states for employment positions and capital investments.” Its primary champion is the lobbying arm of the state’s biggest businesses.
The premise I hear beneath this bill is that our single economic goal should be increasing business activity. I don’t hear interest in what those businesses might be doing, or what their impacts on workers and communities and Oregon’s environment might be. It’s a fitting approach for business models with a sole objective of maximizing profit. It’s hard to imagine how that single-mindedness leads to the kind of Oregon we want for our kids and their kids.
The next time this bill comes to our committee we’ll probably vote on it. I decided to offer an amendment before we do. If it’s adopted, I’ll vote for the bill. The non-bolded language is in the original bill. The bolded wording below shows the changes I want made.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SB 45
Revisions shown in bold
SECTION 1.
(1) The Task Force on Tax Competitiveness is established.
(2) The task force consists of 13 voting members appointed as follows:
(a) The President of the Senate shall appoint two members from among members of the Senate, with one member from each of the two largest caucuses among members of the Senate.
(b) The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint two
members from among members of the House of Representatives, with one member from each of the two largest caucuses among members of the House of Representatives.
(c) The Governor shall appoint nine members as follows:
(A) Two members representing tax practitioners;
(B) Two members representing taxpayers;
(C) One member representing organized labor
(D) One member representing a non-profit organization with a
significant focus on equitable taxation and extending economic
opportunities to a broad cross-section of Oregonians
(E) One member representing chambers of commerce;
(F) One member representing the League of Oregon Cities; and
(G) One member representing the Association of Oregon Counties.
(3) The task force shall evaluate Oregon’s tax competitiveness and shall make recommendations for changes to tax law intended to:
—promote a healthy climate for business and support Oregon in
competing with other states for employment positions and
capital investments that generally benefit Oregon communities.
—encourage the generation of family-wage jobs
—fully sustain the capacity of state and local governments to
provide needed public services to Oregonians.
I’m really hoping we’ve reached a time of broad agreement that “healthy business climate” means more than lower taxes and less regulation. We’ll see.
A Senator I’ll miss
Bill Hansell (R-Athena), who represents a huge expanse of northeast Oregon, surprised us on the Senate Floor yesterday by announcing that he won’t run for a fourth term in the Senate District 29 seat—that after serving eight terms as a Umatilla County Commissioner, and as president of both the Association of Oregon Counties and the National Association of Counties.
I remember something I received in the mail from Bill more than 30 years ago. I was a Jackson County Commissioner at the time, facing a Timber Wars-related recall campaign. It was a rough time for my family and me. No county commissioner in Southwest Oregon reached out or checked to see how we were doing. But one from across the state did. An envelope arrived with a book of McDonald’s Happy Meal coupons and a message from Bill: “I expect it might be a time when your kids could use a fun time out with you and your wife. I hope you’re all doing well.” Bill barely knew me back then; we’d talked once or twice at statewide meetings.
Bill Hansell, with whom I’ve disagreed on more than a few important bills, is a thoroughly wonderful human being. We will seriously miss him around here.
 Waiting on the Senate Floor with Dr. Dale Gramley to hear the reading of SCR 5, honoring the life of his late wife Mary Curtis Gramley.
- Mary Curtis Gramley Memorial (SCR 5): Yesterday the Senate unanimously passed SCR 5 to honor the magnificent life and service of Medford resident Mary Curtis Gramley. Here Senator Golden gives his colleagues an idea of who she was.
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SB 819: Establishes that Oregon school districts must have parental consent before limiting educational time for students with disabilities. SB 819 passed on the Senate floor yesterday with bi-partisan support. Congratulations to Senator Gelser-Blouin on her hard work.
- Natural Climate Solutions (SB 530): Creates a program to help our state sequester as much carbon as possible on our forested and agricultural lands, with the state to offer financial incentives for voluntarily managing those lands for carbon sequestration. A public hearing was held on February 15th.
- Semiconductor Incentive Bill (SB 4): Incentivizing semiconductor development to leverage $52 billion in federal subsidies. Grants for chipmakers with specifications and required targets, funding for university research and Gubernatorial authority to bring a small amount of industrial land into cities’ urban growth boundaries for chipmakers or for advanced manufacturing.
- Voting Age for School-Board (HB 3206): Allows individuals who are 16 or 17 years of age and registered to vote to cast ballots in school district elections. A public hearing was held on February 21st.
 Citizens gathered outside the Capitol on Tuesday before the joint informational hearing on CAFOs
- CAFO Moratorium (SB 85): Enacts a moratorium on new and expanding CAFOS until the impacts of CAFOs on environmental and public health have been adequately studied and addressed. SB 85 has its first public hearing scheduled for Monday, March 6th.
- Teacher Retention and Recruitment (SB 283): A bill to help retain and recruit Oregon school teachers. Creates a statewide educator workforce data system. Allows newly retired teachers to convert their teaching licenses into substitute licenses at no charge, and would ensure higher pay for teachers and classified staff who work in special education. Provides funding to diversify the state’s education workforce, and provides protections for classified staff. A public hearing was held on February 14th.
- Community Fire Risk Reduction (SB 509): The first wave of risk-reduction grants from the big wildfire bill is highlighted here. SB 509 builds on this through, among other components, the utilization of neighborhood risk reduction programs.
- Homelessness Packages (HB 5019 and HB 2001): The top priority of Governor Kotek, these packages seek to provide new funding to combat homelessness along with new policies to streamline building and protect renters. A good summary of these bills can be found here.
My question for you this time is about SB 3, which would make completing courses in “future planning” a statewide requirement for high school graduation. I’m guessing that when you see what the Credit Union Association has in mind, here, you’ll be impressed, as I was. Too many people seem to be growing up with barely a clue about basic money management— think of the millions whose credit-card debt is constantly growing on the fuel of 20+% interest rates—or entering the job market. Couldn’t a good solid curriculum on basic modern life skills head off a lot of suffering?
I think so. I also think schools are struggling to keep up with all they’re currently required to do without having brilliant new ideas thrust on them. And as valuable as I think this curriculum could be, is it for me as a state legislator to tell every school district in the state that they have to teach it? Isn’t that the kind of decision we have locally elected school boards for?
What do you think?
My best to you until next time—
 Senator Jeff Golden, Oregon Senate District 3
- With more snow and cold weather in the forecast this week, here are cold weather resources.
- Access provides over 30 food pantries across Jackson County. Click here to locate one near you.
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ACCESS Senior Fair: The ACCESS Senior Fair is a one-stop resource with more than 80 booths from healthcare and living facilities, social service agencies, professional services, local hospitals, art organizations, and other critical resources.
When: April 4th 9am-4pm
Where: Medford Armory, 1701 S. Pacific Highway Medford, OR
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