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 Oregon Trails
An Occasional Newsletter
from
The Association of Oregon Counties |
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A Busy Week in Oregon
AOC at Work
February 4, 2011 |
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| Congressman Meets With Commissioners |
 | | L to R: Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson, Klamath County Commissioner Al Switzer, Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Hansell, Congressman Greg Walden and Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney |
Bend - U.S. Representative Greg Walden met with Oregon County Commissioners and staff along with the campaign coordinator for the Partnership for Rural America on the effort to reauthorize Secure Rural Schools. A full report of the meeting is available on the AOC website. |
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| Asking Congress to Reauthorize SRS | | It appears likely the Oregon Legislature will consider a House Joint Memorial asking Congress to reauthorize federal forest payments. Drafts of the proposed memorial are now being prepared and the Legislature is going to be asked to act quickly. We will take copies of the memorial to Washington, DC in March. |
| Legislature Returns to Work |
The Oregon Legislature reconvened February 1st and now has 150 mandated working days to complete crafting a balanced budget and dealing with policy legislation and other important legislative matters.
More than 1600 bills were introduced on the first day, and it is expected that almost that number will be introduced as the session proceeds. As you know, the House is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats while the Democrats control the Senate with a slim 16 - 14 margin. The new Governor is a Democrat. All of that begs the on-going question of whether or not anything of substance or compromise will occur and on that our answer is simply, we will have to wait and see.
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| Preliminary Analysis of Governor's Proposed Budget |
The same day the Legislature returned to Salem, Governor Kitzhaber released his long awaited proposed budget. The governor's budget is the first step in the process.While the proposed budget was not overloaded with numerical detail, AOC Policy Managers have been going over it and digging deeper into the details.They have compiled their analysis of the budget and it makes for great bedtime reading. House and Senate Democrats have also released their versions and vision of the biennial budget and you can access that information at the Legislature's website.
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| AOC State Legislative Agenda |
Given the importance of this year's session, your AOC Legislative Committee, under the
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AOC President Janet Carlson meets with House Republican Leader Kevin Cameron |
direction of AOC President Janet Carlson, has established a state legislative agenda. That agenda is obviously going to change as the session proceeds, and some of the work of AOC Policy staff will be defensive. But, AOC is taking the agenda to legislators as they consider their tasks ahead and the importance of the state-county partnership.
The AOC legislative agenda is available for all to see on the AOC website. Check it out! |
| Speaking of the Governor's Budget...Early Learning Council |
In Governor Kitzhaber's budget there is a proposal for the formation of the "Early Learning Council" which will "focus on ensuring that children enter school ready to learn, enter the first grade ready to read, and leave the first grade reading." According to the governor, the Council of Early Learning will bring together those programs focused on primary and secondary prevention. The following programs are included:
· Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education; Headstart and Early Headstart; Oregon Pre-kindergarten; Even Start; and Special Education for infants with disabilities, and pre-school grants from the Department of Education;
· Healthy Start; Relief Nurseries; Community Schools; Children, Youth and Families; Great Start; Family Preservation and Support; and statewide system development and planning from the State Commission on Children and Families;
· Babies First; Maternal and Childhood Block Grant; and Women, Infant and Children (WIC) from Public Health.
We are hearing that there will be no changes in funding during the first year and we are trying to learn more.
In addition to the programs directly focused on early learning, the following programs from the State Commission on Children and Families are proposed to be transferred to the Council of Early Learning: Court Appointed Special Advocates; Youth Investment; the Runaway and Homeless Youth Initiative; and Juvenile Crime Prevention.
The AOC Task Force on Children and Families will hold its first meeting, Thursday, February 10th in room 306 at the Local Government Center in Salem. For more information contact AOC Policy Manager Mark Nystrom at the AOC office.
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| Valentine's Day With AOC...and more! | |
February 14th may be the day set aside every year for romance, but it promises to be an eventful day for Oregon counties. First up, AOC Steering Committees will be meeting at 8:00am and 10:00am that morning at the Local Government Center in Salem. At noon, the AOC Legislative Committee will meet, followed by the AOC Board of Directors. You'll be able to see the agendas for all the meetings at the AOC website by the middle of next week. Given the nature of the legislative session, those agendas may be fluid.
Also on the 14th, the State Economist releases the Economic Forecast for the state. Governor Kitzhaber recommended the Legislature use the forecast, which is called the March Forecast, as it crafts the biennial budget together and not wait until the May forecast as has been the practice in the past.
And, not to be outdone, President Obama will release his proposed federal budget for FY 2012 on Valentine's Day.We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will feel the love by finding a long-term reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools in that proposed budget. Reauthorization campaign coordinator Marc Kelley will be at the Legislative Committee on the 14th for an update on the campaign and to answer any questions about the campaign going forward.
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| Sad News from Coos County | |
 It is with deep sadness that we share with you the news that Coos County Commissioner Andy Jackson passed away on Tuesday night, February 1, of a heart attack. Prior to becoming a county commissioner, Jackson served 12 years as Coos County Sheriff and he spent a number of years working in the Coos County road department prior to that. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
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| Thanks for Joining Us! |
An eventful week to begin the second month of the New Year. If you have any questions, suggestions, concerns or comments, please contact Laura and/or Eric at AOC and they will direct you to the appropriate resource if they can't help you.
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A Website for all seasons www.aocweb.org. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be informed.
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Laura Cleland
Association of Oregon Counties
503-585-8351
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