Pete DeFazio for FAA Boss? Is Pete a licensed pilot? As a private pilot and owner of a small aircraft, I am very interested in who will be the next FAA Administrator. Currently, operators of small, General Aviation (GA) aircraft (ie, most everyone except airliners) pay most of their share of the use of the National Aerospace System (calling control towers and other such services) via a fuel tax (either AvGas, or jet fuel for small GA jets, turboprops, and turbine powered helicopters.) Airliners pay via a combination of services used, fuel taxes and other fees, much like most other large commercial vehicles that exact a much higher strain on a transportation system. The Bushies and the Airlines have for years been trying to change GA to a fee-for-services tax base. This is bad for a number of reasons: It adds tons of complexity with revenue collection; it makes a 120 mph, 1800 lb Piper like mine pay fees similar to a 500 mph, 250,000 lb airliner for a clearance or other flight service; and it might discourage some pilots from using services that support safety of flight due to the unreasonable new expenses. It boils down to this: The public WANTS us pilots to use all safety advantages to keep "unhappy things" from happening, right? And with increased (unnecessary) regulation and costs associated with acquiring and maintaining a pilots license, it is not impossible that it will become too expensive for new pilots to train and achieve the level of competence and experience needed to become airline pilots. More airliners flying (and other commercial aircraft, like public safety, traffic, medevac, etc) require more pilots and crews to operate and service them. The FAA should be promoting careers in aviation science (pilots and maintenance) to keep US aviation healthy and safe. I'll be contacting Rep DeFazio to ask him about his stand on GA and how he thinks it fits into the system.

Actually, Glen, is isn't just "Bushies and the Airlines" who have been looking for new ways to get general aviation aircraft to pay their fair share of the cost of air traffic control, etc. Joseph Stiglitz, chair of the Council of Economic Advisros under Clinton (and subsequently winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics) talks about this issue in his book, The Roaring Nineties.

I'm not sure where DeFazio is on this, however. I think his main gripe is with the airlines, not private planes, so you may be okay.

Sargent:

Jeff Merkley is gracious as he becomes Speaker of the House in January, 2007:

(sorry... was taking pics from the gallery and some are a bit blurry, but you can still see that he's giving her a hug)

| Pic 1 | Pic 2 | Pic 3 |

Not a problem. Whenever I go down to Salem, I try to shoot some pics and do a bit of live blogging. Opening day in '07 happened to be one of the days I was in Salem, and I had a laptop and my camera. So I blogged throughout the day, including the opening sessions of both the state house and senate.

I hope to head down there again. Hopefully I'll have a car again by then and will be able to go down to Salem multiple times throughout the session. Otherwise, I'll have to rely on when the Bus Project or other folks are heading down there.

Hey Jenni:

Drop me a note and maybe we can make some plans to ride down for opening day of session together.

Sarge--

Yeah, some magnaminity is a good thing. And I'm quite sure that Jeff Merkley will do exactlythat.

But that item came from Washington Post and noted by the Oregonian... a little link on this blog isn't much more of a pile-on.

dickey45:

Yea, it drove me crazy that those pics were the ones that came out badly. Other ones came out much better. I would like to get a better camera, though, one of these days.

There are typically a number of opportunities for the public to be involved. Bills will usually go through committees, which hold meetings and hearings. I've attended several of these, on topics like payday loan reform and same day voter registration. I was able to speak before the legislators on the committee to let them know my perspective on the issue at hand.

When the bill is heard on the floor, you can't speak, but you can watch from the gallery. I've done that as well. It can be frustrating to not be able to speak, but it is interesting to see the points made by legislators, the questions asked, and how everyone votes.

The way to find out where/when/whom is to watch the legislature's web site and watch for when it comes up. You could also contact your legislator's office and ask to be kept up-to-date; however, with their limited staff I've found that keeping an eye out myself has been the best way. It also seems like previously I signed up for emails from specific committees, but I could be wrong. Like most governmental entities, the legislature's web site is an awful mess that I hate navigating.

Getting people to come in and speak on a bill who have personal knowledge, insight, experiences, etc. on a bill are always good.

For instance, my sister and I went down to Salem and testified on the payday loan reform bill. My sister had taken out a payday loan back when our old landlord lost a payment (and didn't say anything for more than 2 months, which by then I'd lost the mail order slip) and suddenly we had to make a second rent payment days before Christmas. (BTW - the manager's suggestion was that we sell Abby's Christmas presents to make some money).

She ended up with a payday loan with more than 600% interest, which ended up costing her several times what she borrowed.

Another time I spoke on same day voter registration. I worked in Multnomah County Elections and I had the experience of having to turn voters away who weren't registered for various reasons - had registered at the DMV and their registration not turned in, registration not turned in through whatever reg drive they'd participated in, had a registration that had been canceled due to not voting for too long, etc.

In both cases, I was able to speak on personal experiences in regards to the bills, which says more to the committee members than just giving them straight facts and figures.

Just remember to find out ahead of time how many are on the committee so you can provide your comments in writing (where you can also attach supplemental info like more facts and figures).

It is important to pressure the current House leadership to be better than Minnis was about having scheduled hearings actually happen at the time and place posted online, and only changing that last minute in cases of true emergency.

Jeff Merkley fixed that two years ago.

I have to say that in the '07 session that I didn't have any problems with last minute changes and such like we did in '05. For instance, in '05 we were supposed to have a hearing in Portland on the payday loan reform bill. Needless to say, Minnis canceled it, so you had to go to Salem to testify... which meant less people able to come who had personal experiences with payday loans. Thankfully, some non-profit groups had gathered letters from some of those people and were able to represent them.