OR Lege: But then education saved the day

Carla Axtman

(With a nod to The Kinks.)

Another week, another arm wrestle in the Legislature over the budget, especially around education. Some good stuff has moved forward, however.

Last Friday, the Oregon Senate passed Ted Wheeler's Opportunity Initiative. If the House passes the resolution, the Opportunity Initiative will be on the November 2014 ballot.

This week in the Senate it's all about Wednesday. That's the day where we have Senate floor votes on the K-12 school budget and the Health Care Provider Tax. Wednesday is also the commonly-understood deadline for any big go-home deal on increased revenue and PERS.

A new facet in that debate includes the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee's attempt to broker a revenue agreement that includes increases on cigarette taxes and corporate taxes (and reducing some deductions).

The negotiations also include a proposal by Senators Larry George (R-Sherwood) and Brian Boquist (R-Dallas) for a so-called "tax cut' for small businesses". Essentially this is another big giveaway to wealthy Oregonians who opt to disguise their income through pass-through tax entities. Most small business owners would perhaps see a hundred dollars or so. The top 1-2% earners with pass-through would see a huge return upwards of $10,000. Not enough to hire someone, but enough to pad their own pocket. A wealthy business owner would pay a 7% rate on their income rather than the 9% an employee (like most of us) would pay.

The Revenue committee will be working to put strong sideboards and caps on the proposal to ensure that it directly benefits actual small business owners instead of mostly going to wealthy folks with pass-through tax entities.

Today, the Senate will vote on HB 3477, which fixes an antiquated loophole that allows 9 out-of-state banks doing business in Oregon to avoid corporate income tax.

Last week, the Ways and Means Committee approved several significant bills that will start with a House vote and then move immediately to the Senate floor for a vote. These include the creation of a retirement security board and a modernization of Oregon's voter registration system to an opt-out using DMV records.

The Senate will also take up the Toxics Disclosure bill soon, which passed the House last week on a 39-21 vote.

Wrap all of this in the context of last week, when every single Senate Republican said 'NO' to $1 billion more in school resources over current levels.

In the House, progress continues on investing more in community corrections. Movement should happen this week on a package of bipartisan public safety reforms. The package has been put together equally by Democrats an Republicans and is expected to be supported by the law enforcement community.

By Carla Axtman June 24, 2013