Cold snap slows legislative progress

A winter cold snap slowed the progress of the second week in Salem as lawmakers from the Portland area in particular found themselves unable to travel down I-5. There was little activity in the Capitol on either Monday or Tuesday. But as the snow melted the Capitol picked up speed later in the week.

Annual session try-out passes House

The House followed the Senate’s lead this week in passing a bill to “try out” annual legislative sessions. The bill sets a target goal of June 29 to complete the session this year, with the pledge to come back to Salem for 30 days next February. A late June adjournment would be a big improvement over the 2003 and 2005 sessions, when lawmakers stayed in Salem into August.

General argument is that Oregon is one of only six states where the state legislature doesn’t meet annually, and that the size of the state’s budget requires more frequent review.

To get to formal annual sessions will require a Constitutional change approved by the voters. A number of Capitol observers questioned whether voters would ultimately approve the change given the public’s negative attitudes towards Salem. Many wonder whether the public believes the problem in Salem is that lawmakers aren’t in town often enough. I suspect many voters believe the less they are there, the less damage they can do. Lawmakers still plan to craft a two-year budget, with the option of making adjustments next February.

Corporate tax debate heats up

While the snow stayed on the ground outside the Capitol, debates about corporate tax changes began to heat up inside the building. The Governor has proposed that the corporate tax kicker for 2007 (estimated at $275 million) be diverted to state reserves rather than provided as a credit to Oregon business taxpayers. The Governor also wants to increase the corporate minimum tax from the existing $10 to a range of from $250 to $5,000. 

Business groups, including AeA, are evaluating the Governor’s proposals and meeting regularly with lawmakers to determine next steps. AeA is helping to develop a broad business coalition position on the two issues in conjunction with the Governor and legislative leadership. One possibility developing late last week is to set a special election for this spring to ask voters to re-fashion the corporate kicker, which was locked into the state Constitution in the 2000 election. 

Land use and health care dominate debate

Two issues certain to capture a lot of legislative time this session are 1) what to do about the voter-passed Measure 37 that changed Oregon’s land-use laws and 2) how to reform health care.

Last week, the leadership appointed a joint Senate and House committee to focus on possible changes to Measure 37. The measure requires government to waive land-use planning rules for owners who had title to property prior to new rules going into effect, or to pay landowners for the loss of value. Many voters thought they were doing something for the little guy who might want to add a second house to his or her property. But a recent waive of Measure 37 filings by massive landowners in Oregon has many calling for changes to the law. The new joint committee will wrestle with the problem and see if any common ground can be reached this session.

In the health care arena, initiatives range from beefing up care for Oregon’s children (Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s plan) to radically changing the entire system (former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s plan). Hearings heat up this week on both concepts. Oregon once again could become the testing ground for big changes as it was years ago when the state developed the Oregon Health Plan.

This page was last updated on 01/22/07.  
Copyright © 2005 American Electronics Association.  All rights reserved.