House Bill 3253, intended by Representative Matt Wand to provide equity in payments by taxpayers of local option levies, also has the effect of further compressing the levies, resulting in potentially significant uncollectible revenues. The House Revenue Committee held a hearing on the bill on Friday. The bill would limit the rate imposed under a local option levy to the average rate paid by taxpayers after Measure 5 compression.  

AOC thanked Representative Wand for his interest in reducing inequities in the property tax system, which is deeply burdened by inequities. Nevertheless, citing current protections for the taxpayer and the additional layer of confusion for taxpayers the bill would cause, AOC, Multnomah County, and the City of Portland testified that any benefit of the bill would be overridden by losses of critical local option revenues.

Both Committee Co-Chairs, Vicki Berger and Phil Barnhart, commented on the "devil" that is the current system and wondered when the time will come where a new, equitable, and simple property tax system will be devised and approved by the state's voters.

On Tuesday, March 1^st $8.1 million in chip seal and pavement overlay Federal Forest Highway pavement preservation projects were approved for funding. One project was for a USFS road in Baker County. The remaining 29 projects were for county roads in 17 Oregon counties. These projects can be constructed in the summers of 2011 and 2012.

The Federal Forest Highway Program is governed by the "Tri-Agency," which consist of three voting members: ODOT, USFS and Western Federal Lands Highway Division (WFLHD), a branch of FHWA. Counties are represented through ODOT. This is done by active participation of Tom Blust, Deschutes County Road Department Director, representing OACES, and Jon Oshel, AOC Staff. Historically about 50 percent of the $20 million a year in Federal Forest Highway Revenues goes to county roads.

For several days this week and continuing into next week, the Public Safety Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee has been working through the Oregon State Police (OSP) budget. OSP includes several divisions that are vitally important to counties. They include patrol, criminal investigation, forensics, fish and game and identification services. On Thursday of this week, the subcommittee considered the patrol division. Since 2007, when the Legislature undertook to add troopers with the goal of reaching 24/7 patrol coverage, 139 troopers have been added. But due to budget cuts of $15 million this biennium, 49 positions have been held vacant. A recent study indicates that the additional patrol presence has a direct connection to the reduction in collisions and fatalities on the highways, along with the increase in arrests for criminal behavior. There appeared to be widespread support for the work of the division.

As the conversation turned to discussion of the governor's recommended budget (GRB), questions and comments arose. The GRB recommends asking the voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow patrol funding to be paid from the state highway fund in the amount of $93 million. If it were to be approved by the voters, the $93 million saved in the General Fund would be used to fund education. The GRB assumes an ending balance of $200 million, so the $93 million would be a part of that number. A trigger would be in place so that if voters approved the change, the funds would go to education. If voters don't approve the change, the funds would go to OSP. One member of the subcommittee described the proposal as controversial and risky, especially since similar proposals have failed with the voters in the past. Legislative Fiscal Office staff added that since the GRB came out, the revenue forecast has been down by about $100 million, so the assumptions about the ending balance are less certain. Another member of the subcommittee voiced strong support for the patrol division and for developing bipartisan support for a stable and adequate source of funds for it in the form of a dedicated revenue stream - other than the highway fund.

We keep you up-to-date on some of the happenings at the Legislature, but is there an issue or a bill that you would like to keep tabs on? Through the legislature's media services system you can watch or listen to any hearing that takes place in Salem - in real time or after the fact.

Want to find out when a hearing is going to take place? Take a look at the committee agendas online. 

Through AOC you can track legislation through the BillTrackOR system. Contact Laura Cleland for login information and instructions for this system. OR (see next story)