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Increased Revenue Forecast Causes Feeding Frenzy
The May Revenue forecast included a $152 million increase in
the projected end of biennium balance, causing a "feeding
frenzy" among the lobbyists and agencies. Each one wants a
piece of the pie for items that have been cut or reduced in the co-chairs
budget or are not being funded by proposed cigarette, corporate minimum
tax increase, or beer and wine taxes in the Governor's
proposed budget. Co-chairs cut
community college, mental health and state police funding by not moving
on any of the proposed taxes and would fund the Healthy
Kids Plan from the General Fund. The
forecast projects stable but not strong growth for Oregon in the next two
years and does not indicate that the kicker will kick. Remember
this is a forecast for 26 months ahead! Who can tell?
There is still discussion, much away from the crowds, about an increase
in the corporate minimum tax, upward revision of the inheritance tax
level, a lower capital gains tax, and a commission to review the state's
tax structure instead of actual tax reform.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Follow
Key Bills
The League's bill matrix, which
lists key bills that we are following this session, is updated
weekly. The matrix includes legislative action taken, League action
taken, and links to our testimony.
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LWVOR Action Committee
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Chair:
Norman Turrill
Vice Chair:
Marge Easley
Citizen Access Coordinator:
Paula Krane
Governance Coordinator:
Kappy Eaton
Natural Resources Coordinator:
Liz Frenkel
Social Policy Coordinator:
Karen Nibler
Legislative Coordinator:
Brena Lopez
Portfolio members and committee representatives:
Bob Adams
Debbie Aiona
Jane Baumgarten
Diana Bodtker
Anna Braun
Barbara Browning
Sarah Chaplen
Anita Francis
Barbara Fredericks
Norma Jean Germond
Gail Holmes
Peggy Lynch
Ellen Maddex
Janet Markee
Erin Miller
Margaret Noel
Barbara Ross
Nancy Stevens
Pam Vavra
Intern:
Terra Ashford
Legislative Report Editor:
Rebecca Smith
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Donate to the Legislative Report
Thank you to those of you who have generously contributed funds for the Legislative
Report. The Legislative Report costs money to produce,
yet we don't want to limit who can receive it by charging a subscription
fee. Please support the volunteer Action Team's efforts to share
the developments at the Capitol with you and others. You can send a
donation, marked "Legislative Report" to the LWV address
below.
Thank you.
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Welcome to issue 14 of the Legislative Report.
Link
here to our printer-friendly version.
If you have not yet subscribed, just click on the "Subscribe"
button at left. You can unsubscribe at any time. The email
version of the Legislative Report is free.
Sincerely,
Norman Turrill, Action Chair
Marge Easley, Action Vice Chair
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 The Final Acts
"To
be or not to be?" has become "Will it be or not be?" as
the Legislature heads into its last four weeks of the 2007
session. The office pools betting on the date for Sine Die
offer choices from June 15 through June 29, but the strongest rumor at
the moment indicates June 22.
In
the meantime, bills are appearing at hearings in completely different
wording; some thought dead have been mysteriously resurrected; and
there is fingernail biting over bills waiting in the wings for
settlement, but not being scheduled. Policy bills are supposed to
be through by May 31, with most committees shut down after that.
House and Senate Rules, Revenue, and Ways and Means committees will
continue discussions.
Kappy
Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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 Victories for Women
The Governor has signed the long-sought contraception legislation -
a subject of advocacy for 12 years! Health insurance providers
offering drug coverage must now offer prescription contraception
coverage. Hospital emergency rooms must now make access to
emergency contraception available to victims of sexual assault rather
than just referring them to a pharmacy. The Department of Human Services will provide objective
information about such contraception.
The Governor also has signed the measure that allows new mothers to
have a private place to express milk in their workplace. Although
the measure provides assistance to any person needing family leave, an
addition to the Family Leave Act to allow six weeks of additional
unpaid leave to workers with funding from a special resource has been
passed and signed. Forty hour a week employees will pay one cent
per hour into the dedicated fund, amounting to a total of about $20 a
year, and would receive about $250 per week of the leave. The
fund will be administered by the Bureau of Labor and Industry.
There will be additional funding available to the support system for
victims of domestic violence and assault through the Department of Justice budget. The money
provides a hotline and shelter for women and children needing
assistance. The fund would increase from $2.5 million to at least
$3.5 million or more.
Kappy Eaton, Women's Issues Portfolio Chair
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 Funding Approved for Homeless and At-Risk Youth
The Human
Services Subcommittee of Ways and Means held budget hearings for the Oregon Commission on Children and Families (OCCF)
budget (SB 5504) between May 14 and May 16. The Homeless
Youth funding was a policy option in that budget, which the Governor
had set as $1 million. OCCF originally requested $4.6
million. The committee approved the OCCF Budget on May 22 at 20%
higher than the previous biennium and restored it to the level of the
2001-03 budget.
The policy packages added $3 million in basic capacity to restore staff
to local county commission offices, $2 million for county juvenile
crime prevention grants, and data system improvements in the state office.
Investments in Healthy Start were at $3 million, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) at $1
million, relief nurseries at $1.04 million, and $100,000 for an
evaluation system for relief nurseries. Investments in New
Initiatives included $1 million for homeless and runaway youth and
$641,571 for community schools. This budget bill will be
scheduled for the full Joint Ways and Means Committee on May 25, and
will have to pass both chambers before it is final.
LWVOR presented a letter in support of the OCCF budget to the Human
Services Subcommittee and to Joint Ways and Means Committee hearings
during the road trips to communities. Copies of the LWVOREF
report Homeless Youth in Oregon and the LWVOR position statement were given to each legislator
within the past month. The League also testified in the House
Human Services and Women's Wellness Committees earlier when Oregon
Commission for Children and Families reported on Oregon Homeless and Runaway Youth Coalition
findings and program recommendations. LWVOR was represented at a
rally at the Capitol on Monday, May 14, along with representatives of
homeless youth programs.
Karen Nibler, Social Policy Coordinator
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Legislature to Reconvene Next Year
The
Assembly will meet in February next year for a month-long
session. Procedures for that session are being discussed, but it
appears the same committees for the session will continue into the
interim and the short session. Current points of interest to be decided
include whether all bills will be filed pre-session by the committees,
whether hearings will be held only on fiscal matters (not policy
questions), whether any bills will be carried over, how major issues
will be determined, and, if successful, when an amendment to the
constitution establishing annual sessions would be sent to voters - May
or November, 2008.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Polling Places Removed; Students Encouraged to Vote
The removal of all references to polling places in Oregon statutes has
passed, and higher ed institutions will be working with student
organizations to encourage students to register and vote. Many
Leagues also cooperate in these efforts.
An amendment to the bill added that information about election law
violations must also be given to students. The Senate Rules Committee
has completely replaced one election bill (HB 2910A) to allow 17 year olds to register, but
not to vote until they are 18. The League is supporting this one.
ORESTAR, the newly created electronic filing system
for campaign contributions and expenditures, is up and running and
being debugged. Trainings are being offered around the state for
candidates and campaign treasurers who must file the reports more
regularly.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Governor Evicted?
During the Ways and Means discussion of the Legislative Administration
budget, the director announced notices had been delivered to the
Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer that they needed to
move out of the building by July 1! The renovation of the
legislative wings would require use of these offices for legislative
offices. Several members of the Ways and Means committee were
surprised, angered and extremely upset at the lack of planning and
communication about the move. In a talk with the elections
director, we learned that they had no place to move to and were
strongly recommending a two-year delay. Others are questioning
the wisdom of not having the presence of the Governor in the building,
not to mention the Secretary of State. Stay tuned.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Ethics
The House Elections, Ethics and Rules Committee has amended an omnibus
administrative bill (HB 2595) regarding the Government Standards and
Practices Commission and has moved it to the floor. It clarifies
the role of the commission in the complaint and prosecution area,
provides for more training of local and state officials about the
ethics rules and procedures, and generally establishes the parameters
for the commission and the persons it oversees.
The Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government is considering a
bill (SB 10A) to deal with personal use of campaign
funds, gifts, and lobbying timelines for legislators after leaving the
Assembly. Legislators are having a difficult time dealing with
the issues of gift limits and the use of campaign funds. The
League has supported a bill to give additional operating expense funds
to legislators to deal with out-of-pocket expenses related to work with
constituents, etc.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Initiative Reform Moves to Senate
The House has passed HB 2082, which revises the initiative process, and
the Senate is considering it with some amendments. The League
supports more regulations for paid petition passers, a greater number
of signatures in order to get a ballot title, more review of payrolls
of the petition industry (paid signature gatherers), and other
changes. It is expected to pass.
Kappy Eaton, Governance Coordinator
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Volunteer
Help
is needed to monitor legislative committees and report back to the
Action Committee. If you live close to Salem or have an Internet
connection, you can learn to track bills and listen to hearings. Help
is needed to monitor legislative committees and report back to the
Action Committee. It is a fascinating experience if you have time
to dedicate to the legislative process. Contact LWVOR
to volunteer.
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