OR Lege: On the verge of Sine Die

Carla Axtman

It's been a productive few weeks in the legislature, and barring an unforseen hitch, the legislature should adjourn later today.

No deal has materialized for deeper PERS cuts and larger tax increases. Looks like that's tabled for now.

Last week, the Senate passed a bill supporting innovative education, like STEM courses and career technical education programs. They also passed a bill to restrict suction dredge mining on Oregon's pristine rivers.

The Senate also recently passed the Public Safety Reform bill, HB 3194, which will flattens Oregon's prison population for the next 5 years while making key investments in prevention and treatment programs. Serious offenders will have the priority for jail beds to ensure they stay locked away.

An additional flurry of activity took place over the weekend, with a number of disappointments out of the Oregon Senate. The automatic voter registration bill died 15-15. A bill to help supervisory employees join unions died 15-15. On Saturday, a bill to renew the innovative Clean Fuels program died 15-15. All Senate Republicans plus Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), were the culprits in ending those good bills. Senator Johnson is good on a lot of legislation, but on these she served up some pretty lousy votes.

In addition, Johnson appears to have put another good piece of legislation in jeopardy with the Governor. House Bill 2898 authorizes financial aid and college credits for students in post-high school "transition" programs who take college courses. The bill enjoys wide support. However, Johnson added an amendment to the bill in an attempt to get a police training center in her district while circumventing Oregon land use laws. The Governor has been clear that he will veto any legislation that circumvents those laws.

Senator Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) wasn't a lot better. Roblan was a key sponsor of SB 633, a bill essentially designed to protect GMO companies like Monsanto from being blocked at the local level. In an attempt to leverage that bill, Roblan voted against HB 2639, a Speaker Kotek priority, which would have kept landlords from rejecting potential tenents strictly on the basis of whether or not they receive Section 8 housing vouchers. I didn't know Oregon was in the business of wrestling local control away from key agricultural decisions over housing discrimination.

The House has approved a series of capital construction projects totaling $765 million. A number of these are considered critical projects, which have the added benefit of creating hundreds of new jobs throughout the state. Major projects include:

$10,000,000 for the Oregon Convention Center hotel project

$80,000,000 for the Junction City State Hospital project

$34,000,000 for State Capitol seismic upgrade project

Besides construction jobs, there are some ongoing positions associated with these major projects as well. Community colleges and universities all over the state will see construction, too. In fact, every requested community college project is being funded. In addition, funding for the university system will exceed the Governor's recommended funding.

Even with the sour notes, a lot of positive things happened in the session. We saw tuition equity and drivers cards- both 10 years in the making. A $1 billion investment in education to begin rebuilding education after 7,000 teacher layoffs, cut school days, etc; Oregonians are going back to work with lots of construction projects and investments on community college and university campuses in every part of the state, Key public safety reforms are in place now to stop the growth of the prison population for 5 years and reinvest instead in community corrections and programs to reduce recidivism. Foreclosure reform and other steps to protect middle class and low income families were also approved.

An interesting note as we end this session: Even with a Democratic majority in the Senate, its pretty clear there's a need for more progressives in that chamber. Some good bills were passed, but some very good bills died because there weren't enough progressive votes. The House was able to make up for the losses in 2010 during the 2012 election cycle, when all 60 house districts were up for grabs. During that election, only 16 of the 30 Senate seats were up, and none that were prime pick up opportunities for the Dems. So 2014 will present a big opportunity to grow the ranks (Republican Bruce Starr in Hillsboro and Republican Betsy Close in Albany are up this cycle, for example). Hopefully some good progressives will step up to challenge.

By Carla Axtman July 08, 2013