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LWVOR President:
Marge Easley
LWVOR Action Committee
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Chair:
Norman Turrill
Citizen Access Coordinator:
Paula Krane
Governance Coordinator:
Kappy Eaton
Natural Resources Coordinator:
Peggy Lynch
Social Policy Coordinator:
Karen Nibler
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
Legislative Report Editor:
Rebecca Smith
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LWVOR Legislative Report, (c) 2008. Information
contained in this report may be reprinted with attribution to the League
of Women Voters of Oregon.
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Volume
18, Issue
1
February 1, 2008
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In an unusual move, the Oregon Legislature is meeting
for the month of February in a supplemental legislative session. During
this session, the League of Women Voters will
produce our Legislative Report to keep you up to date on the exciting developments in Salem. I hope you find our
reports informative and useful.
Please forward our report to
anyone who might be interested, and encourage them to subscribe.
If you wish to unsubscribe, there is a link at the bottom of the
report.
Sincerely,
Norman Turrill, Action Chair
Marge Easley, President
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We are about to embark on a new legislative
experience - a trial annual session of short duration -
February 4 through February 29.
You may be interested to know that in territorial days from 1849 to
1859, Oregon's legislative function was bicameral and annual sessions
were held. When the Oregon Constitution was adopted in November 1857,
it provided for sessions every two years in even numbered years, and
beginning in 1860, those sessions were held in the fall. In 1885, the
biennial sessions were moved to the early winter months to accommodate
members who farmed.
If this pilot project is deemed successful, Oregonians will have an
opportunity to amend the Constitution to provide for legislative
sessions of specific duration for the odd and even numbered years,
although initially budgets will still be adopted for a two-year period
and the terms of legislators will not change.
The number of bills to be considered has been limited (and totals about
55) by pre-session actions of the House and Senate, with most proposals
coming from the interim committees and approved for drafting by the
Senate and House Rules committees. In addition to bills, several
committees will be holding informational hearings in preparation for
proposals to the 2009 session.
The League will be monitoring these hearings and participating as our
positions and the committee rules allow.
Kappy Eaton
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 Climate Change
At the end of last session, the Oregon Global
Warming Commission was created. Now LC 70 (from the House
Energy and Environment Committee) will continue the progress toward
Oregon's work on climate change. If legislation passes during the
supplemental session, state agencies would be required to recommend
actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Oregon is a member of
the Western States and Provinces Compact
on climate change. Look for preliminary discussions as the
Governor prepares a 2009 Climate Change Agenda.
Peggy Lynch
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 Economic Concerns
The House and Senate Revenue
committees are expected to discuss business energy taxes,
reconnection to part of the federal tax code, the February
economic forecast (February 8), and the Rainy Day and Education
Stability Funds. They will also hear a brief report from the Task Force on Comprehensive Revenue
Restructuring that has held three meetings to date.
In addition, it is expected they will monitor the resolution on the
Secure Rural Schools Fund (county O&C moneys) brought by the House
Rural Policy Committee in response to the Oregon local governments
fiscal crisis. The House Consumer Protection Committee will be
discussing mortgages, liens, sub-prime loans and foreclosure notices.
On January 24, scenarios for modest, medium and severe recessions
and their impact on the Oregon economy were presented to the Task Force
on Comprehensive Revenue Restructuring in a serious look at revenue
projections for this and the next two biennia. After the February 8
economic forecast, Ways and Means and the Revenue committees will
be discussing the 2007-09 adopted budget as to any adjustments that
must be made. At the moment, the Oregon economy is flat, but within
projections.
Despite the improvements in General Fund allocations to four-year
public higher education institutions and modest increases to
community colleges, the latter are still in precarious fiscal
positions. Disinvestment for several biennia has caused shortfalls for
programs and faculty. This will be discussed during the supplemental
session, but no action is expected. Again the purpose is preparation
for 2009.
Kappy Eaton
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 Citizen Access
The
League has been monitoring the interim legislative committees
for both their proposals and their accessibility to the public. There
have been a number of committee hearings in the last eight months and
all have had ample advance notification and public input.
The Oregon State Legislature has
wanted the public to know what is happening and to be involved.
Many of these hearings have been on ideas that will be part of
legislation proposed during this supplemental session.
However, there have been some behind-the-scenes negotiations on
such items as what issues will be covered and the number of bills that
can be proposed. How much access the public has lost by this is
hard to judge, since this is part of the political game that is always
played out in order to have meaningful compromise.
All of the rules for the supplemental session have not been announced,
but we can assume that they will be using the rules from the previous
regular session, which included many of the changes for which we
have advocated over the years. Because it will be such a
short session, some adjustments have been made (the Ways and Means
Committee will be meeting as a whole instead of as several
subcommittees), and we will be there to make sure these changes
do not infringe on our access to the process. We will again be
watching to make sure that budget notes do not set public policy but
simply set the benchmarks or goals to be achieved.
Paula Krane
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Health Care: Right or Entitlement?
The House Health Care Committee proposes to submit a
constitutional amendment to the voters that states that "Health
Care is a Right."
A long discussion of health policy ensued with various views supporting
coverage for low income, seniors and emergency care but
reluctance to providing universal coverage. An entitlement
was seen as a requirement for taxpayers to provide health care.
The committee voted along party lines and approved the proposals for
the referral to the voters for the constitutional amendment.
Karen Nibler
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Columbia
River Underground?
For years, Eastern Oregonians have asked for more water to be
withdrawn from the Columbia River. Now, building on the
success of the City of Pendleton and others, a
bill (from the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee) will
be introduced in the February session calling for $1 million for
engineering and study of underground storage of water from the
Columbia during the high-water winter months. Another $10 million would
be available for local grants to look for new water sources.
Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) has possibilities. Less costly
than reservoirs (30% of the cost of dams) and MAYBE less
environmentally damaging, ASR may provide a way to store water for use
during dry summer months.
Besides the obvious concerns about fish stocks, another issue is
whether the water inserted in the ground will degrade current
underground aquifers. We do need to consider how we will deal
with water shortages all over Oregon as we see winter snows melt
more quickly.
Is this the answer? We will keep you posted as the session
hearings take place. This issue is another good reason to
participate in the League's water study so that we
know the extent of water shortages in our area.
Peggy Lynch
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Initiative Petition Laws
Challenged on Several Fronts
HB 2082 (2007) with extensive
revisions to Oregon's initiative system was implemented January 2 after
a request for a legal injunction was denied in a lawsuit alleging
unconstitutionality of the restrictions on paid petition passers.
Another lawsuit in federal court against the Secretary of State
resulted in an injunction against the implementation of the Domestic Partnerships law.
The legal action came over the decision to deny qualification of a
referendum on that statute for the November 2007 Special Election
because too few valid signatures were found on the petitions in a
random sample. The two-part suit challenges the formula used to
validate petition signatures and also contends that signing an
initiative or referendum petition is the same as casting a vote,
thereby denying voting rights to citizens. That is a critical issue
that will merit our close attention. The next court hearing on the
issue is scheduled for February 1.
An informational hearing on the Portland City Club's new Initiative Report also is
scheduled for the joint Rules committees.
The House Elections, Ethics and Rules Committee is bringing a bill to allow
a chief petitioner on an initiative to remove the proposal after it has
qualified for the ballot. This could help eliminate campaign costs
for unpopular measures or those of questionable legality.
Kappy Eaton
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 Mental Health
The Joint Ways and Means Committee reviewed agency requests over two
days in preparation for the supplemental session. The first was
the Statewide Children's Wraparound
Project for children's mental health services. The
$275,000 was requested by Department of Human Services (DHS),
the fiscal agent, although the Governor's Office will house the
staff who will be working across department lines.
DHS will apply for a federal grant to improve mental health services
for children and their families. The grant targets early
childhood 0-8, transition age 16-24, seriously emotionally disturbed
0-21 and mental health/substance abuse co-occurring disorders. The
grant would provide $9 million over six years with matching funds
required. Prior grants were provided to Multnomah, Clackamas,
Lane and NE Columbia area counties, but these counties are not eligible
for a renewal of grants.
 DHS
continues to report to Human Service Committees on the needs at the
current Oregon State Hospital (OSH)
facilities and community programs. DHS proposes a contract with Oregon Health Science University
for recruitment of medical staff and the supervision of forensic staff
at the OSH facilities. They reported that contracted staff has
been utilized, since it has been difficult to recruit with low pay,
over capacity, and poor job morale at the hospital facility.
During this session, the House Human Services and Women's Wellness
Committee plans to discuss the definition of mental health
professionals, and will include licensed counselors and licensed
family therapists in the requirement for payment coverage. The
county mental health clinic staff may be included in this bill.
There are severe shortfalls in the acute care system statewide
that will also be subject to review.
Karen Nibler and Kappy Eaton
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 Hoping for a BIG Look
At the end of last session, much of the funding for completing the work
of the Oregon Task Force on Land Use
Planning (the Big Look) was put on hold until after the November
Measure 49 election in order to allow voters to concentrate on that
narrow, but important issue.
Now the Joint Ways and Means Committee has been presented with a new
work plan so that the task force can complete its work.
The League continues to be concerned that the plan include an education
component so all Oregonians have a better understanding of our current
statewide program. We support an unbiased, truly robust public
engagement so that all Oregonians can share their ideas to improve
our successful program.
We know from our 2002 study (Land Use: Progress and Challenges)
that the program has saved our farm and forest land and has helped make
our cities and towns better places to live. We also know there
are areas that need to be addressed to assure success for
tomorrow. The League will continue to be active in assuring that
fair and robust public engagement occurs.
Peggy Lynch
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Alternate
Election Methods Discussed
In joint hearings, the House and Senate Rules committees will be
holding informal sessions on election methods such as fusion,
instant runoff, open primary and the National Popular Vote interstate
compact. This is considered preparation for possible bills in 2009,
but leadership expects arguments.
Primary opposition to changes in the ballot centers on the costs of
ballot preparation and the software/hardware replacements needed for
implementation.
Some discussion is expected around the presidential primary date.
There is also a bill to allow the Republican presidential candidate to
appear on Oregon's November ballot even though that person will be
nominated after the Voters' Pamphlet deadline.
Kappy Eaton
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ACCESS: The House Health Care Committee has proposed to improve
access to the Oregon Health Plan with outreach to sign up more
children and families and continuous enrollment rather than the current
six-month re-enrollment requirement. The administrators support covering
more children within the program but warn the outreach component
will have a higher cost. Safety net clinic services will be
reimbursable.
Fiscal impact statements have not been completed yet. This effort
includes a proposal for primary care models in four areas with grants
totaling $1 million. Some legislators see an effort to thwart the
vote on the Healthy Kids/Tobacco Tax referral.
 LONG TERM CARE: The Senate Health Care
Subcommittee on Seniors and People with Disabilities will propose a
bill to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rate for community
long-term care facilities. This effort was initiated because
of the loss of private nursing homes accepting the Medicaid
payment. The Department of Human Services
(DHS) anticipates a doubling of the population in need of
long-term care in the future and a need to ramp up the resources rather
than decrease the number of community beds. The cost of nursing
home care is an incentive to increase the payments for the lesser level
of care.
ABUSE: The House Human Services and Women's Wellness Committee
discussed a requirement for senior and developmental disability
facilities to report on a broad definition of abuse incidents.
DHS would develop an online database as a public record which
would be accessible to citizens seeking a placement in a
facility. The discussion covered training of workers, investigations,
and liability of the facilities. The fiscal impact of the bill
was not available at the time of the hearing.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: Prescription drug costs continue to increase
too. A DHS budget rebalance plan will be submitted to the Ways and
Means Committee.
Karen Nibler
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 New Parks on the Horizon
In 2007, the Oregon Parks and Recreation
Department (OPRD) got budget approval for over $22 million in
Measure 66 lottery funds for acquisition of new parklands.
As of January, OPRD has purchased approximately 1,954 acres for $13.3
million. They have identified an additional 19 sites totaling
over 2,000 acres for possible additional acquisition. Now at 27
acres per 1,000 residents, the League continues to support moving to
the goal of 35 park acres per 1,000 residents.
Peggy Lynch
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A lawsuit is challenging the lobbying expenditure limits of SB 10, the comprehensive ethics
reform bill passed in 2007.
Many Oregon Administrative Rules
connected with this legislation are just being drafted and considered
by the Government Ethics Commission.
Legislative leadership is not predicting any significant changes to SB
10.
The lawsuit centers around the reduction from $100 to $50 as the limit
for providing gifts, food, etc., to a public official.
Kappy Eaton
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