BTW, you can watch the Senate (but not the House, don't know why) right now on Comcast Channel 29 in Portland. Other cities are listed on the OPAN website. There's also a live videostream online.

Oh hey, after a half hour of nothing at the Senate, OPAN has switched to the House. Roll call time.

Oh my god. Jeff Kropf is singing.

Here's the morning AP story.

I realize the special session is wired for a quick, one day shot, but if for unforeseen reasons it opens up and goes longer, I would urge Legislators to fix -- or better yet -- simply do away with HB 2614 before ballots are mailed.

It's confusing, and risks the unintended consequence of disenfranchising Oregon primary voters. The intent may be semi-justifiable, but how it would work in transactional terms seems grossly unfair.

I'm a registered Democrat. If I vote in the May primary, but chose to undervote in the Gubernatorial election, there's no reason my signature for Ben Westlund should be invalidated.*

Further, I do not think that Keisling's Open Primary system should be given this public relations gift as they prepare for the fall campaign. Despite the serious issues raised about minor parties exclusion with the Keisling initiative, it seems clear that proponents are poised to use HB 2614 as Exhibit A in making the case for this massive electoral overhaul.

I am voting in the Gubernatorial primary, and haven't actually signed a Westlund petition. Still, this scenario raises a basic issue of fairness. * Also, let's be face the reality here. Westlund is going to be on the ballot, and supporters of HB 2614 are ultimately just making Ben's case for him with this maneuver.

BTW, the various measure texts can be seen here.

Payday loan reform is now up in the Senate.

Charlie, I believe you can vote in the primary--just not with a partisan ballot. If you vote in any partisan primary race, it stands to reason you have a partisan registration.

and by the way, just got word that they passed what appears to be leg . concept #9--filling the DHS gap. $53mil directly, $83mil from the Legislative Emergency Board.

A friend just called on his way out of the building...

The school funding bill passed -- which allows a new levy of up to $15 million for Portland schools. The payday loan reform bill passed -- pretty much as written in the initiative. Jessica's Law has passed the House, and is expected to pass the Senate. Then, $42 million in additional lottery funding was sent to schools - turns out about $65-68 per student in Oregon. Plus they added about $140 million for DHS.

All in all, everything happened pretty much as choreographed.

Press release from the Senate Dems:

SENATE DEMOCRATS GO FIVE-FOR-FIVE IN SPECIAL SESSION Prevent Cuts at DHS; Increase Funding for Schools Statewide; Avoid Teacher Layoffs in Portland; Crack Down on Sexual Predators; Cap Payday Loan Fees SALEM – In a dramatic demonstration of leadership, Senate Democrats today won passage of all five bills they fought to include in special session. Those bills reflect the top priorities of Oregonians, and the top priorities of Democrats: health care, education, public safety, and economic fairness. “Today counts as a victory for all Oregonians,” said Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown. “After spending months putting together detailed and comprehensive proposals on each of these issues, our hard work paid off, and the people can be proud of their Legislature.” Preventing Cuts at the Department of Human Services The path to a successful special session was first set in December of last year, when Senate President Peter Courtney responded to the initial announcement of the DHS budget shortfall by pledging to ensure that no cuts would be made to vital services for our most vulnerable citizens. From the start, Courtney (D-Salem/Gervais/Woodburn) and Brown (D-Portland) made clear that the Legislature would need a concrete and achievable plan in advance of special session, and that’s exactly what Senate Democrats delivered. “By preparing early, and staying focused, we were able to fulfill our moral responsibility to preserve health care services and other essential programs for children, seniors, and people with disabilities,” said Brown. Increasing Funding for Schools Statewide (Excess Lottery Revenue) Senate Democrats also took the initiative when it was discovered in early March that the state lottery fund was running a surplus of over $42 million. Immediately upon learning of the windfall, Senate Democrats suggested that the Legislature use the special session to earmark the excess funds for schools statewide. “As Oregon recovers from the recent recession, our schools are still suffering the consequences,” said Sen. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene). “We should be doing everything we can to help, and that’s exactly what we did today – we seized a golden opportunity to help our state’s schools as they are striving to reduce class sizes, restore programs, and maintain full school years for our kids.” Avoiding Teacher Layoffs at Portland Public Schools (Extending Gap Bond Authority) At the same time as Senate Democrats were developing their plan to distribute excess lottery money to schools statewide, they also proposed extension of gap bond authority for the Portland school district, which was facing a potentially devastating budget shortfall. “Maintaining strong schools is critical to attracting new businesses to Oregon, and cutting teachers in the state’s largest school district would undermine that effort,” said Sen. Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton). “By extending Portland’s gap bond authority, we’ve given the school board the ability to maintain reasonable class sizes for the upcoming school year.” Cracking Down on Sexual Predators (Jessica’s Law) After working behind the scenes for months, Senate Democrats went public three weeks ago with a call for the Legislature to pass Jessica’s Law during special session. Senate Republicans followed suit a week later, and there was soon bipartisan agreement in both chambers to pass a comprehensive bill that would increase penalties for sexual predators who target children. “Once we knew special session was a possibility, we immediately began looking at Jessica’s Law so we would have the time to do it right,” said Sen. Brown. “We added an important provision on kidnapping that was missing from the bill the House sent to the Senate at the eleventh hour last session, and the result was a better bill and stronger protection for our children.” Payday Loan Reform One year after Senate Democrats first passed payday loan reform, and one month after Speaker Karen Minnis (R-Gresham) indicated that the House would agree to such reform, this top Democratic priority has been enacted into law. “The bill we passed today combines reasonable interest-rate caps with other key protections against predatory lending practices,” said Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), chair of the Senate Committee on Consumer Protection. “It represents a compromise that allows good-faith lenders to make a fair profit, while stopping the loan-shark behavior that has been trapping so many working Oregonians in a vicious cycle of debt.” All five bills passed today received unanimous Democratic support in the State Senate.

Charlie,

A slight correction, ballots have gone out already to overseas voters.

In terms of Jessica's law, this is in essence a one strike law. The legislature better be prepared to figure out how to build several more prisons in the near future.

This will also max out county jails as people wait for trial. Given the fact that most county jails are overcrowded already, this probably will alos effect them as well.

People can complain about taxes and have a lock'em up and throw away the key mentality. It's either one or the other. If that's what Oregon wants, then we are going to have to pay for it.

And there they went.... sine die.

Duly noted David. Torrid -- you're right. You can vote, but there's confusion in the implementation of 2614 in part because of the obvious problem of secret balloting... actually, you know, it's already sine die so c'est la vie.

The payday loan package is a huge victory. It's an important consumer protection, and we'll beat Minnis yet -- ballot measure or no ballot measure.

Game on, Dems!

While it did mean some good for Oregonians, this was done for the political good of people like the governor and Minnis. They can now point to these actions and say they did something.

But why did we have to wait this long? Why did Oregonians have to pay higher rates on payday loans from the time the session ended last year until now? That's several hundred thousand loans.

Why did PPS have to go without its ability to raise more funds until now?

The list goes on...

He "leadership" showed during last year's session when he didn't propose a school plan until the session was almost up, didn't participate in budget talks, didn't use pressure to make sure bills like payday loans got a vote, etc.

Clinton--

Exactly. And in the meantime, they'll take advantage of hundreds of thousands of Oregonians. They should have passed it last session.

That's why we need the Dems in charge-- so that negative changes can't be made.

At least some of us are lucky enough to live in cities that have passed their own regulations. The interest rates may be the same, but at least there are other options, such as longer time to repay and being able to make payments.

Charlie, next time I am alone (or with one other Oregonian, Blair Bobier) testifying against bad bills like HB 2614, I will give you a shout.

No, getting it right would have been doing it last year during the '05 session. Coming back and doing work you should have over six months ago isn't getting it right by any means.

They did it now because they had no choice-- the people of Oregon would have enacted payday loan reform if they didn't. And they would have looked like idiots for not passing it in the '05 session nor the '06 special session. It could very well have meant them losing in November.

Real courage would have been having a longer special session to deal with controversial items (corporate kicker, for instance). Instead they dealt with items that were pretty much going to pass without problem. The Rs just figure they can gut/weaken the payday loan reform next year. But in the meantime they can campaign on them doing something about it.

And you're damed right the payday loan reform wasn't soon enough-- we were one of SEVEN states not doing this. It should have gone through a long time ago, and it definitely should have in the '05 session. Now we'll have to wait more than a year for it to actually take effect-- more than enough time for changes to be made. In the meantime, more than 700,000 loans will be made.

And saying we're whining from the sidelines seems to say we're just whining and not doing.

Not everyone can be in the legislature or governor-- there are only so many positions. But just because you aren't in one of those positions doesn't mean you aren't acting.

Many of us are working hard to ensure we have a better state government next year. We're phone banking, canvassing, and volunteering. We're not content to sit back and let things happen-- we're working hard to make sure they do.

Minnis may have been boxed in, but she's left the flaps open. Voting yea now is just a hedge for next session to get them through the elections hopefully still in control of the House. They're betting that they neutered the issue for November, and can work the bill over when things calm down.

That's why it's imperative for the Democrats to take the House back. Taking the house means keeping the payday loan bill as is.

Myranda--

I wasn't being sarcastic about the Payday Loan bill. I think it's truly a great victory and important public policy. It also wouldn't have happened without the organizing done by EMO, Our Oregon, Oregon Food Bank and a lot of other groups who held Minnis accountable on this significant consumer protection. Everyone who worked on this deserves a HUGE thank you.

Dan--

It's easy for me to say in hindsight, but I would have enthusiastically lobbyied against it; unfortunately, I was managing a campaign in New York during session.

Great work, Patty, btw.

If the Legislature fails to address the Kropf problem, perhaps we can work out a free market solution. We should send an audition tape to these guys: The Right Brothers -- Kropf joining would be a true win-win for our state.

I was really excited about the payday loan legislation until this: ay Day Loan Reform doesn't even start till July 1st, 2007! That is what the ballot measure proposes as well. My only hope is that Minnis doesn't go back and gut it in the next session.

All the more reason to get Brading elected, I guess.

This burst of alleged bipartisanship may be bad for Rob Brading, but it's a gold mine for Mike Caudle. Mike's running against Wayne Scott, AKA The Enforcer (R-Canby). Wayne really is target #2 at least, and he's shown his true colors once again in defending unlimited interest on Payday Loans.

Progressives that are focused on Brading, like me, need to remember that Mike is on a similarly sacred mission.......

Dan, Put me on that list, too. Time to crank up the op ed pens for November, eh?