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June 9, 2009
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Vol 19, Issue
21
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Legislative
Report
 League of Women Voters of Oregon
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 More for K-12 Schools from Department of State Lands
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 The Department of
State Lands is the manager of state lands whose earnings feed the Common School Fund.
Recently the state's Land Board (Governor, Secretary of State and State
Treasurer) changed their formula for distributing the earnings from the
Common School Fund to 4% of the fund. That percentage is the
average of the last three sessions' distribution. However, because
of the state's fiscal situation, the Ways and Means Co-Chairs have
recommended increasing the distribution to 5% of the fund this session,
which would mean $19.14 million additional for K-12 education.
The Land Board is slated to accept that recommendation at its meeting
this June. The Constitution requires the fund to be distributed
"as prescribed by law"; however, since the Legislature has
not prescribed any set distribution, the Land Board has established a
policy. (Budget Bill: SB 5542)
Peggy Lynch, Natural Resource Coordinator
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Oregon Commission on Children and Families Survives
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The Oregon
Commission on Children and Families (OCCF) budget bill, HB 5004, passed out of the
Human Services Ways and Means subcommittee last week with a 15% cut
in basic funds for staff, operation of county offices, and program
funds. The Court Appointed Special Advocates and Relief
Nurseries only had cost of living cuts. The Juvenile Crime Prevention
funds were cut 20%. The Healthy Start final cut was about 22% at
the county level with larger cuts at the state level. The Runaway
and Homeless Youth grant funds were eliminated as expected, but the
OCCF requested to backfill these funds with Youth Investment, a federal
grant stream. Child Care Development funds were transferred to
DHS to pay for the Employment Related Day Care. The OCCF gave up 2.5
staff members in the state office with 25 remaining. The net
result for counties will be a lower level of funding for local
prevention programs.
Karen Nibler, Social Policy Coordinator
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State Parks Means Jobs
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 Last session, the
League worked hard to assure that increased lottery dollars helped
purchase additional park lands to meet the future needs of
Oregonians. This session the Ways and Means subcommittee on
Natural Resources has limited land acquisition and instead poured
monies into facilities investments, repairs and maintenance at our
current state parks. This action should increase job
opportunities around Oregon. Overall, lottery dollars are
down, so adjustments were also made to the local government parks
grants program.
Expect to see some fee increases in May of 2010 at state parks to help
pay for parks services. One piece of good news is that we are
seeing an increase in federal dollars for a number of our natural
resource agencies. Finally, after committee discussion, Key
Performance Measure #6, related to Property Acquisition, has been kept
until a better measure can be developed that addresses the need for
parks for future generations. (Budget Bill: HB 5033)
Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator
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5-Minute
Activist: Urgent! Public Safety Bills Action Alert
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 Your support is urgently needed for public safety bills HB
2290B and HB 2335B. These bills will save money in the Public
Safety system by making reasonable adjustments to the Measure 57 and
are supported by the Promise of 57 Coalition, of which the League is a
member. The bills are currently sitting in the Public Safety Ways and
Means subcommittee until there are enough votes of support on the House
floor. For background and message information see the League's Action Alert #5 and
contact your representative.
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Revenue Tax Proposals Not Enough
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 The House Revenue Committee is considering increases in
both personal and corporate income taxes with a goal of raising $800
million. However, the tax proposals being honed for action
fall short by an estimated $30 million; final decisions are still
in flux. Remember that even with the increase, we are at least $2
billion short of being able to provide state services at the current
level. Both bills, HB 3405 and HB 2649, have been approved
by the House Revenue Committee and will be going to the floor this
week. (Read the Statesman-Journal article on these bills, "Tax votes will churn state's
political waters".)
Passing the tax proposals in both houses with the required 3/5 vote is
not certain and may rest upon an agreement to refer the proposals to
voters. If the Legislature doesn't include a referral, the
anti-tax folks will try to refer at least the proposed personal income
tax, even though the tax hike would not affect 97 percent of
Oregonians. While there is generally a favorable climate for the
corporate tax measures, small business owners are still concerned as to
how long the recession will continue.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Human Services
Budgets Are Finalized this Week
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 The Human Services Ways and Means subcommittee has been
making final recommendations on divisions of the Department of Human
Services' (DHS) budget as detailed in SB 5529. DHS started
off with an increased budget request due to increased unemployment and
increased demand on food stamps, temporary assistance and health care
due to the current economy. Federal stimulus funds helped balance
this budget. Some of the reductions taken at the end of 2007-09
will continue.
Children, Adults and Families Division contains:
- Self
Sufficiency Programs as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), the renamed federal food stamp program will provide an
increased benefit level. It served over 500,000 people in 2008,
- Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) provided cash assistance to
over 23,000 families at end of 2008 and to Relative Caretakers of
children,
- Employment
Related Day Care will be restricted to parents exiting TANF for
employment. The Jobs and Jobs Plus training has an increased
demand.
- Vocational
Rehabilitation continues to prepare disabled adults for employment
but only accepts a limited number of trainees.
- Child
Safety serves 14,000 abused or neglected children in one year,
including 9,000 in foster care or residential care and adoption
assistance. The budget includes a rate redesign since payment
rates for foster and residential care are in the bottom 25%
nationally.
Read about separate bills
related to foster care or self sufficiency programs.
Karen Nibler, Social Policy Coordinator
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Who Gets Our Five Cents?
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 HB 3465 requires
distributors to keep complete and accurate records that reflect the
number of beverage containers sold by the distributor and the number of
beverage containers returned to the distributors for which the refund
value was paid. Although the bill originally required that the money
currently being kept by the distributors (assumed to be between $20 and
$30 million) would be returned to the state, the bill was amended to
include only the reporting requirement. A work session was held
on June 3 in the House Revenue Committee. It passed out of
the committee to the House floor with a "do pass"
recommendation.
HB 2184, the updated Bottle
Bill, has stalled in the House Revenue Committee. It is unclear
if it will move this session.
Sara Wilson, Natural Resources Specialist
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Health Care Bills Pass House
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HB 2009C and HB 2116C both passed the House
Monday. The League actively supported both of these bills by
testifying and in an Action Alert urging members to contact their
legislators. These bills now move on to the Senate.
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Initiative Reform on Its Way
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 The bill requiring the Attorney General to assign
identical ballot titles when two or more initiatives are substantially
similar, HB 2941A, has passed the
House and now has moved out of the Senate Rules Committee to the
floor. The League has testified in support in both houses (testimony to House Rules
Committee and Senate Rules Committee),
signed on to the floor letter in the House, and will sign the floor
letter presented by the Initiative Reform Coalition for the Senate.
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Success for a Citizen Initiative Review Panel
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HB 2895A, the bill that
proposes citizen review panels for proposed state initiatives, passed
out of Senate Rules on a 4-1 vote June 4, and will now go to the Senate
floor. It has already passed the House, and with the expected
favorable Senate vote, it will be heading to the governor's desk.
It is great to see a League-sponsored project reach its
goal. We testified at both House (read our testimony) and
Senate hearings and will prepare a floor letter if needed. One pilot
project initiative panel will be allowed for 2010 with private
funding. The planning, implementation and evaluation processes
are included in the bill.
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Election Issues Still Pending
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 SB 783, which adds
additional campaign finance disclosure, was debated in the Senate twice
last week. Senate Rules finally moved it with two sets of
amendments on June 4.
SB 776, which raises the
fees for both candidates and initiative arguments in the Voters'
Pamphlet to a level which would pay for about 50% of the costs of
producing the pamphlet, has been moved from Senate Rules to Ways and
Means, although it is a revenue-producing measure. We are
concerned that Ways and Means might take some other funding away from
the Secretary of State, which is needed for complaint and general
election procedures. Link here for more on these two
bills plus more on election issues.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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A New Perspective on the Legislature
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 As a new legislative intern, the whole process of going to
hearings and keeping track of bills seemed overwhelming. As time went
on I have realized a few things that have made the whole situation
easier. The first is to focus attention on one area, like health care
or natural resources; this narrows your focus and makes the case load
more reasonable. Monitoring hearings either in person or online is
great, because it is not often that you get to hear both sides to an
argument, and you can learn a lot more about the area you have chosen
to focus on from the people whose lives will change when the bill is
decided. It also helps to have friends or a nonpartisan organization
(like the League) to share information on the other topics.
The second is to know someone who can help you through the process and
ask them questions. It helps to learn the history of the various
committees, bills and of the Legislature in general. In my experience
the people who take the time to go to hearings are interested in the
topic and are glad to share what they know.
The last and best tip is to stick with it. When I started I did not
really know anything about the current Legislature and the bills being
discussed. After I kept going I started to make connections between
bills, and by spending some time on the Legislature's website and
the League's Action Matrix I
learned some easy ways to follow them through different committees. It
takes more than one legislative session to feel comfortable with the
whole process. I am glad I started and I have learned so much. I know
how the government can affect my life, and in my future endeavors I
will always have the skills I have learned this session to stay
informed.
Tracy Johnson, Legislative Intern
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Speaking the Language of the Legislature
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 Sine Die: "Without fixing a day for a future
meeting": the last day of a legislative session.
(Rumors are flying as to when sine die will occur, ranging
from June 15 to June 30 (the official deadline. Stay tuned.)
For more definitions, read the Legislture's glossary of terms.
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Legislature Action Days
Through the end of session: Although policy committees (except for Rules,
Revenue and Ways and Means committees) are not working bills, some are
holding "informational meetings." Listen to discussions
on issues through the Legislature's audio website
that may be a part of next session's agenda.
June 30 or before (Tuesday) Sine Die (Rumors are that it could be anytime between
June 15 and June 30.)
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