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May 28, 2009
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Vol 19, Issue
19
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Legislative
Report
 League of Women Voters of Oregon
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 Legislature Becoming Less Accessible with End of Session
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 1
Hour Notice for Senate committee meetings
24 Hour notice for House committee meetings
As the session winds down everything becomes very hectic. We no
longer have 48-hour notice for hearings, and bills are rushed through
the process as legislators try to finish by, rumor has it,
mid-June.
There is still time to let your senators and representatives
know how you feel about the issues.
You will have to be more diligent in following where a bill is in the
process. If you wish to testify, be prepared to act
quickly. Also, expect lots of closed meetings as legislators work
on compromises in order to pass legislation. All of these changes
mean it is even more important to let your legislators know promptly
how you feel about the issues.
Paula Krane, Public Access Coordinator
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New Marine Reserves
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 HB 3013, with -4 amendments,
received unanimous support from the House Rules Committee last week at
the Legislature. This bill, along with monies left over from
removal of the New Carissa now in agency budgets, supports the
recommendations of the Ocean Policy Advisory Committee (OPAC) by
authorizing the adoption of "rules to establish, study, monitor,
evaluate and enforce a pilot marine reserve at Otter Rock and a pilot
marine reserve and a marine protected area at Redfish Rocks; studying
and evaluating potential marine reserves at Cape Falcon, Cascade Head
and Cape Perpetua; and supporting the development of a marine reserve
proposal at Cape Arago-Seven Devils."
Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator
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State Policy Ending Homelessness Passes Committee
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SB 200, which establishes a
state policy on homelessness, passed out of the House Human Services
Committee on May 22 and goes to the House floor with a do pass recommendation.
Homeless programs reside within the Oregon Housing and Community
Services Department, and funds are funneled to 17 regional community
action agencies for rental assistance, transition housing and shelters
as well as food banks, energy assistance and weatherization programs.
Karen Nibler, Social Policy Coordinator
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Runaway and Homeless Youth
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 The Oregon
Commission on Children and Families (OCCF) retained the administrative
expense for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program but lost the
$900,000 for grants to counties. The Co-Chairs Budget did show a
fund shift from federal Youth Investment funds to Runaway and Homeless
Youth projects. The policy has been stated as retention of the
infrastructure so that funds may be restored at a future time.
The OCCF Budget (HB 5004) suffered 20% cuts
in Healthy Start and Basic Capacity in local county commission
offices. The state office took additional administrative staff
cuts to absorb some of the lost general fund dollars.
Karen Nibler, Social Policy Coordinator
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Affordable
Housing - Two Bills Still in Play
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 The session is in the final lap and there are two bills
from the Housing Alliance agenda still in play.
SB 5535: Lottery
Backed Bonds. This bill contains, among other things, $19.4 million in
lottery-backed bonds with $16.3 million dedicated to preservation of
existing low income housing and $3.1 million for assistance to
community organizations or tenant groups seeking to acquire
manufactured dwelling parks. These resources will help keep
hardworking families and vulnerable seniors in their homes. SB
5535 will be heard by the Capital Construction subcommittee towards the
end of the session.
SB 199: Oregon Affordable
Housing Tax Credits. SB 199 would increase the cap on these
credits. The increase will have little fiscal impact in the
coming biennium, but will allow for future planning of low income
housing projects. The Transportation and Economic Development
subcommittee will hear this bill.
Passage of the Document Recording Fee earlier in the session was a big
victory and will generate an ongoing source of revenue to meet the
housing needs of low and very low income residents in both rural and
urban areas.
The Co-Chairs Budget, released on May 18, eliminated General Funds for
the first time buyers' homeownership program and severely reduced
General Funds for Emergency Housing Assistance, but the budget allowed
backfill with Other Funds. The Housing Assistance Program
retained over 70% of its General Funds in the Oregon Housing and
Community Services Budget (HB 5019) for 2009-11.
Lottery funds make up over one third of their budget.
Karen Nibler, Social Policy Coordinator, and Debbie Aiona,
Affordable Housing Chair
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Governance Two-Step
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Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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The Sky Hasn't Fallen . . .
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 But, it is cracked
and leaking - leaking state jobs, leaking human services jobs, leaking
teachers' jobs, leaking small business jobs, and more. Community
colleges, which are the state's primary providers of job training and
retraining, are facing 17% funding cuts at a critical time for the
unemployed. There will be fee and tuition increases, but most of
the institutions are "tightening their belts" to protect
needed training programs through staff and other sacrifices,
recognizing their importance to economic recovery.
As most legislators begin to comprehend the impact of the proposed Ways
and Means budget for 2009-11, the revenue committees are hearing
proposals to:
- Increase both
individual and corporate taxes
- Fund a new health
care plan
- Reconnect the definition
of income to the federal tax code
- Consider a plan
for funding Operation Independence to keep elderly individuals in
their homes (now on the chopping block)
- Possibly sunset
some additional tax credits before 2014 (HB 2057 doesn't kick in
until 2014)
- Increase beer and
cigarette taxes for specific programs
- Consider a
six-cent gasoline tax to fund transportation projects at both the
state and local levels.
The scenarios are all in flux - a moving Imax screen - stay tuned.
Kappy Eaton,
Governance Coordinator
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Energy Efficiency Bills Move Forward with Compromises
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 A plan for an energy efficient future is slowly taking
shape in Oregon.
SB 80, a bill to limit
greenhouse gases, is now amended taking a sector by sector approach in
a stepwise reduction over several years. This bill states that if the
emissions plan is not economically or technologically feasible, then it
must be redesigned for maximum benefit. Opponents think this
language allows power companies an escape which undermines the original
intent.
HB 3039A would implement a
Solar Power Pilot Program. The bill passed the House floor and is
currently being worked in the Senate Business and Transportation
Committee. A compromise was reached between several different
groups to make this bill possible. Supporters of the amended bill
include the Cities of Salem, Hillsboro and Gresham who say that it
creates job opportunities for unemployed high tech workers and
businesses and benefits the communities who have the land and resources
to support the closely-related solar power industry. Opponents
say that it is flawed, supports large utilities over smaller businesses
and allows solar companies to double dip with a Business Energy Tax
Credit (BETC) which allows them a competitive disadvantage over biofuel
businesses.
For descriptions of more energy efficiency bills being considered by
the Legislature see Legislative Report #18.
Elizabeth Rathbun, Committee member
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Transportation Bills Accelerate
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 SB 34A, a bill to fund
transportation improvements for Lane County and Tri Met transit
districts, has passed both the Senate and the House. The League
testimony on May 26 supported the bill which will now move toward
enrollment.
HB 2001B, originally
featured Governor Kulongoski's proposal (the Jobs and Transportation
Act) to have a balanced transportation package that would include
bicycle and pedestrian projects and strategies to relieve congestion
and emissions from cars, passed the House on May 27 (read the House
press release, Oregon House Passes
Transportation Bill). While the bill includes creating an
Urban Trails Fund, increases funds for elderly and disabled transit and
some environmental provisions, some environmental groups believed it
singled out big highway projects over others that would provide an
alternative to more cars and higher emissions.
HB 36A, which would create a
bridge toll system to maintain Multnomah county bridges, passed the
Senate floor on March 4 and is scheduled to for a vote on the House
floor today.
Elizabeth Rathbun, Committee member
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Enter the Matrix
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Track the bills, read the testimony . . . enter the Action Matrix!
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Legislature Action Days
Shortened deadlines for meeting notifications. See
"Legislature Becoming Less Accessible with End of
Session."
May 28 (Thursday) Committees close*
May 29 (Friday) No further action on legislation for all policy
committees**
June 30 or before (Tuesday) Sine Die
*Except Joint Ways and Means, Senate Finance and Revenue,
House Revenue, Senate and House Rules Committees
**Revenue and Rules with signature from House Speaker only.
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