Busy days at the Oregon Legislature.
There's a whole lot happening at the Lege these days. Here's a roundup...
- Oregon joins 21 other states to ban workplace smoking, including at bars.
- The Senate gave final passage to SB 863, a bill that would regulate robo-calls.
- The Governor signed three consumer protection laws. 1) Oregonians can now go to state court to enforce the federal Do Not Call list. 2) Activation checks are now prohibited. 3) Oregon finally has an anti-price-gouging statute.
- School districts would be required to develop plans to combat cyberbullying under HB 2637, which received final approval.
- Senate Revenue approved tax breaks (also here) to promote alternative energy production; reward energy conservation and pollution reduction efforts; attract filmmakers; help parents save for college; and boost the estate tax exemption to $7.5 million for "forestland, farms, farmhouses, fishing boats, fish processing plants and nurseries". The tax breaks will be paid for by reducing another tax break on high-income families.
- The House gave final approval to the majority sign-up "card check" law for public-sector unions.
- The Senate approved a budget of $876 million for Oregon's public universities, a 22% increase.
- School districts get some help dealing with population growth under two bills. 1) Schools will have the power to tax new construction to buy land and build or remodel schools under a bill that's headed for the Senate for final approval. 2) Governor Kulongoski is expected to sign a law that allows local planning commissions to consider school crowding when considering new housing developments.
Discuss!
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June 19, 2007
Posted in in the news 2007. |
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Jun 19, '07
Looks like the Homebuilders are smiling today.
When they can get by with a $2,000 fee on a $200,000 house to deal with $16,000 of new school impact, and share the costs with non-residential uses that don't drive school capacity, they've got to feel like they came out a winner.
This is totally different than other impact fees (known in Oregon as SDCs), which can actually charge new development for its impact.
Jun 19, '07
Even better is what did NOT pass yesterday --- the biofuels subsidy bill (HB 2210). The session's not over, but encouraging nonetheless. More here if you are interested:
http://blog.onwardoregon.org/dare-we-hope-for-reason-to-prevail/
Jun 19, '07
The House gave final approval to the majority sign-up "card check" law for public-sector unions.
So let me get this straight: Currently, in order to form a public-sector union, employees have to vote in a secret ballot election, where no one can pressure them to vote a certain way or shun them if they don't. Under this new law, all union organizers have to do is collect signed cards from workers. . . allowing them to harrass, intimidate, and pressure workers until they sign.
I'm a full-throated supporter of unions, but there are lots of good reasons why a public employee may not want his or her workplace to organize. This bill is more about rewarding union donations to Democratic campaigns than it is about respecting and protecting actual employees. Shameful.
Jun 19, '07
I agree with Miles. While unions do many good things, anyone claiming no one from a union ever tried pressuring someone to see things their way (workplace or politics) in a way not inclined to coerce rather than win friends and influence people needs to get out more. No group is perfect--there are people in any group whose words/actions go over the line. And there are people who have belonged to unions but not been pleased by something or other. Individuals have the right to think for themselves, the right of free association(or lack thereof), the right to decide for themselves what is admirable and what is offensive. Not just my opinion--a friend who was once a union employee said the same thing.
Jul 8, '07
Did you know that politicians are exempt from the Federal Do Not Call registry?
There is a new non profit organization, Citizens for Civil Discourse, starting a National Political Do Not Call registry.
<h2>You can learn more at: http://thinkdodone.typepad.com/ccd/</h2>