Brief session will pack a punch
With an extra $733 million to spend following last Tuesday’s election, the Oregon Legislature must have a list a mile long detailing how to spend that money when the 2010 special session opens on Monday, right?
Not exactly. That money was already allocated in a budget the Legislature passed in 2009, which undoubtedly prompted a sigh of relief from the Democratic majority in both chambers.
Oregon voters passed the first major statewide tax increase since the 1930’s, and while legislators in the majority hoped for passage of the two measures, they were cautiously optimistic.
“Most people don’t fully comprehend how much time was put into preparing for those budget cuts (had the measures failed),” said Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt (D-Gladstone).
Suddenly, with the lack of an emergency budget situation, the Legislature can focus on more traditional tasks. That said, the planned month-long session will be far from typical.
Oregon is one of only five states to hold biannual legislative sessions. This year, the Legislature is test-driving an annual session system, which it hopes to refer to voters this November in the form of a constitutional amendment. A similar supplemental session was used in 2008.
Hunt, along with Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem), would like to see regular sessions in odd-numbered years limited to 135 days, with the additional supplemental sessions in even-numbered years capped at 45 days. Under present law, regular sessions typically reach and often exceed six months.
“We need to deal with significant policy that can’t wait,” Courtney told The Register-Guard newspaper last week.
Senate Democrats are prepared to move legislation that will expand aid to those who are unemployed, beginning on Monday with a hearing on Senate Bill 990, which would extend unemployment insurance benefits to more than 18,000 Oregonians.
The latest figures, for December 2009, show that Oregon’s unemployment rate is currently at 11 percent.
“While job creation remains the number one priority in this building, we have a responsibility to make sure that those Oregonians who are struggling to find work are able to put food on the table and take care of their children,” said Sen. Diane Rosenbaum, D-Portland, who is chairwoman of the Senate Commerce and Workforce Development Committee that will hold the hearing.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, also has a legislative agenda of his own: reforming the kicker law, which reimburses tax payers if the state sees excess tax revenue. The kicker law system typically creates a boom-and-bust cycle with the state coffers that’s fully dependent on income taxes, and thus, the economy.
“The real problem is that we are rolling in money when times are good, and we’re down in the dumps when times are bad,” Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) told The Oregonian newspaper.
Most political insiders predict this session will attempt to shy away from complex and heated issues in order to avoid going over the scheduled Feb. 28 adjournment date, but Kulongoski told The Oregonian that despite the divisive nature of the kicker issue, he would order the Legislature back into session until they pass a reform bill.
“It’s certainly not on the list of definitive things we plan to accomplish in February,” Hunt said.
Under current law, when state tax revenue exceeds projections by 2 percent or more, the excess money is given back to individual and corporate tax payers in the form of rebate checks.
Kulongoski would like to see the 3 to 5 percent of excess revenue placed into an emergency fund for when the Oregon tax cycle goes bust.
“It’s time to say ‘enough’ to budgeting from crisis to crisis,” Kulongoski told The Oregonian.
Another key issue likely to be debated this month is the revolving door of legislators who move directly into state government jobs.
“Legislators have extraordinary power to shape public policy and control billions of taxpayer dollars,” said House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna of Roesburg. “Whenever members leave their low-paying jobs in the Legislature for higher-paying jobs in the Executive Branch, the members’ personal, financial and political motivations will surely be questioned.”
In 2009, Sen. Margaret Carter (D-Portland), Sen. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) and Rep. Larry Galizio (D-Tigard) resigned their legislative posts, in which they earned around $22,000 a year, for high-paying jobs. Carter joined the State Department of Human Services, Walker the State Parole Board and Galizio became liaison to community colleges for the State University System, respectively.
Carter now earns $121,872 a year in her new position with DHS. Walker earned $97,020 a year, but left the parole board shortly after taking the position for a new job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Hanna is sponsoring legislation, House Bill 3638, that would require lawmakers to wait until the conclusion of the next legislative session before they can receive a salary from a state agency.
“I don’t believe it is appropriate for legislators to seek an agency job at the same time they have considerable influence over an agency’s policy and budget,” Rep. Hanna said. “HB 3638 addresses this problem and forces legislators to compete with unemployed Oregonians and other qualified applicants for top state positions.”
An alternative bill, supported by House Democrats, would require that lawmakers compete in an open process prior to their hiring.
“There are concerns that need to be addressed,” Rep. Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay), chairman of the House Rules Committee, told The Oregonian. He added that he was unsure whether the competing bills would get more than a hearing considering the brevity of the session.
Other items on the legislative agenda include extending the limit of off-shore drilling on the Oregon coast, regulation of payday lenders, job creation and business development, plus a stack of legislation that now exceeds 200 bills. All in a one-month session.
“This is a perfect example of why an up to 45 day, even-year supplemental session is needed,” Courtney told The Register-Guard.
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I have very low expectations for the current leadership in Salem:
1. Kulongoski is entering his lame-duck final year in office
2. Democrats will be weary to pass any significant legislation due to the high-profile nature, and divisiveness of 66/67.
3. Our current lawmakers have no desire to actually work toward fixing our tax structure, because most democrats in Salem are supported by unions.
4. Republicans still can’t find common-ground. There will continue to be infighting between moderates and tea-baggers.
5. The soonest any “real” change might occur in this state is in 2011 when Kitzhaber takes office, and even then I remain cynical.
Kulongoski said something I agree with….”Enough already.” The big problem in Oregon is some see the solution as more taxes and others feel we need to cut back. The Oregon Legislature and our current situation is a reflection of the culture we live in. When we don’t have the money to pay for everything we simply “Charge It.” We never think about cutting back because that means we need to give something up or do it ourselves. When I read the projections for next year, food prices going up ect, I wonder that we aren’t entering into a time when we will have no choice. How do you tax people more, how do you take away the kicker tax, when people have no more to give?
We live in interesting times don’t we.
I’ve had several friends who voted for measures 66 and 67 see the lie and I wish the legislature luck in trying to pass another tax measure. People need to look around, the folks out here can’t afford this anymore.