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 Oregon Trails
An Occasional Newsletter
from
The Association of Oregon Counties |
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Just Getting Started
Learning to work together
February 11, 2011 |
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| Second Week of Legislative Activity |
The Oregon Legislature finished a second full week of work with a flurry of activity that left even the most veteran observers shaking their heads.Since lawmakers only have 150 working days to balance a budget and pass other legislative proposals, they have to work quickly.Most of the activity involved hearing bills, which means the House and Senate committees have been extremely busy in the early going.
Reaction to the Governor's Recommended Budget has been interesting.Several Republican legislators have indicated they appreciate the approach the Governor has taken on his budget. Some Democrats are grumbling about his education proposals. Many in the education community are troubled by the Governor's plans and want more extensive discussions.
With the virtually even split in the Legislature, legislators are feeling their way around the new bipartisan nature of the Capitol. |
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| Public Safety Budget | |
Tuesday, the Ways and Means Public Safety Subcommittee kicked off its early deliberations by reviewing the Governor's proposed budget as it applies to public safety agencies. The Budget and Management Office (BAM) of Department of Administrative Services provided an overview. In the discussions, a number of issues of particular interest to counties came out. The proposed budget for the Board on Police Standards and Training could substantially constrict the number police officers who could be trained over the next biennium. The Department of Justice budget includes a reduction in the budget set aside for defense of criminal convictions. Committee members asked if that reduction might involve a shift of costs somewhere else. The budget analyst for BAM indicated it might cause a burden on the Oregon Judicial Department, but it seems it may also involve an increased workload for district attorneys.
AOC expects the Ways and Means Public Safety subcommittee to start work on individual agency budgets next week, holding off on large agencies (Corrections, Judicial Department, State Police and others) until later in the process.
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| Funding the Oregon State Police |
The Governor has proposed moving funding for the Oregon State Police from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund. In discussing the Oregon State Police (OSP) budget, Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles) asked where in the Highway Fund the shift of funding would come from to pick up the proposed $93 million cost shift for patrol. The response from BAM was that it would come from the "modernization" fund. Sen. Joanne Verger (D-Coos Bay) added that the breakdown in funding shift would be $37 million from local government funds and $55 million from the Oregon Department of Transportation.
This change in funding streams for the OSP will require a constitutional amendment and a vote of the people.
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| Public Safety Services Emergency Bill |
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Commissioner Ellis with Rep. Hicks |
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Commissioner Wadde with Rep. Krieger |
Curry County Commissioner Bill Waddle and Josephine County Commissioner Dwight Ellis traveled to Salem Monday to testify in favor of HB 2475. The bill completes the process laid out in Senate Bill 77, which passed the Oregon Legislature during the 2009 session. SB 77 establishes how a fiscally distressed Oregon County can declare a public safety services emergency. HB 2475 provides a mechanism to anticpate a public safety services emergency and potentially gap funding to get to a county election.
Both commissioners strongly urged Oregon lawmakers to pass HB 2475. The legislation bolsters the complicated process that will provide fiscally distressed counties a way to fund public safety services in the event of a fiscal crisis, such as the loss of federal forest payments. Part of that process will allow counties to ask voters to pass special public safety levy requests. Both Commissioner Waddle and Commissioner Ellis acknowledged that while such requests have not been successful in the past, when a full-blown crisis presents itself, voters may rethink how they react.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee heard the commissioner's talk about the reductions in public safety services such as sheriff's patrols and jail bed capacity and the budget challenges both counties face with the looming potential loss of federal forest payments. Legislators fully engaged the commissioners in the discussion in a very positive fashion, at least as positive as a crisis can be. |
| Large Value Appeals |
House Bill 2569, the Assessors Association concept to reduce local governments' exposure to large, unbudgeted property tax refunds, had its first hearing Tuesday before the House Revenue Committee. The bill would create a 'deferred billing credit', which could be granted by the county to a taxpayer who appeals a large property tax assessment. The credit would stop accumulating interest on a refund of the disputed amount. These large refunds have been very unpleasant mid-budget year surprises to counties and other local governments in the recent past, including the Norpac case in Marion County (2003-4; two years appealed; $3.6 million tax and interest refunded). The recent Comcast appeal will likely take years to be resolved.
Under current law, the county governing body can establish a reserve account out of the unsegregated tax account in anticipation of a large refund, but this reserve does not stop accumulation of interest. AOC formed a work group of direct stakeholders in property tax collections last fall. That group endorsed the assessors' concept as the 'best bad solution'.
The House Revenue Committee formed a work group to deal with several issues that were raised at the hearing. Encouragingly, there was no opposition testimony, and Co-Chair Vickie Berger commented that this issue needed attention this session.
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| Weekly Secure Rural Schools Update | | We are all waiting to hear if the Obama Administration has included a reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools in the President's Budget for federal FY 2012.The Budget is scheduled to be released at 8:00am our time, Monday, February 14th.
The Partnership for Rural America Campaign is spearheading the nationwide, grassroots effort for the reauthorization. Campaign coordinator Marc Kelley will make a presentation to the AOC Legislative Committee on Monday at noon. The Legislative Committee will be meeting at the Local Government Center in Salem. Marc will make his presentation during lunch, so we're hoping the news from DC will be positive and no one will lose their lunch.
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| Steering Committees, Board of Directors and Legislative Committee, oh my! | |
AOC Steering Committees will be meeting at 8:00am and 10:00am on Monday morning February 14 at the Local Government Center in Salem. At noon, the AOC Legislative Committee will meet, followed by the AOC Board of Directors. You can see the agendas for all the meetings on the AOC website. Given the nature of the legislative session, these agendas may be fluid.
And don't forget - on the 14th the State Economist releases the Economic Forecast for the state. Governor Kitzhaber recommended the Legislature use this forecast, which is called the March Forecast, as it crafts the biennial budget 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.
AND, FINALLY...on the 14th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY OREGON!
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| Tidbits of Information You Can't Live Without | |
HB 2787 would prohibit the release of information about the holders of concealed handgun permits (CHP). It was revealed at the hearing Wednesday that there are over 100,000 CHPs in Oregon, 13,122 in Washington County alone. The state court has ruled that this is public information under Oregon's public records act. Sheriffs, DAs and victims of crime support the change. Newspapers are opposed.
Did you know, it costs about $30,000 a year on average to house an inmate in an Oregon State prison. There is some interest in asking counties to keep prisoners with 24 months or less on their sentences. AOC is monitoring that interest and will keep you informed. |
| Frontier Art Work | |
Oregon Legislators go to great pains (well, some of them at any rate) to showcase Oregon artists by displaying original works of art in their legislative offices. Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles) and his wife Korina, have an original painting by Sherman County artist Jeanney McArthur on display. Rep. Huffman made the rustic frame from wood gathered from a barn near Wasco.
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Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles) and
Korina Huffman with Jeanney
McArthur's original painting and
Rep. Huffman's rustic frame hanging
in the Representative's Salem office. |
The Huffman's have brought a little bit of home to Salem.
If you stop by Rep. Cliff Bentz' (R-Ontario) legislative office, you'll find a big screen hanging in his reception area. Photographs from his Eastern Oregon district run in rotation. The photographs are from photographers, young and old, who live in his district or who have visited. One wag noted that watching TV without the sound makes waiting to see the Representative easier.
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| As Always... |
...we're here to help. 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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