The General Government Subcommittee of the Joint Ways and Means Committee heard testimony this week on HB 2855, which would reauthorize the Government Efficiency Task Force.

Rep. Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene), chaired the GETF and is the prime sponsor and mover of the legislation. She pointed out that while the GETF did not produce earth shaking legislative proposals, much of the work of the task force has translated into legislation being considered by this session of the Legislature. She spoke of the significant staff support provided by AOC that made it possible to do this work with little or no fiscal impact.   

Her testimony in favor of the bill was followed by AOC Executive Director Mike McArthur, who offered an analogy about the GETF being like a ship set to sail the sea of ideas under the command of Captain Nathanson. The ship sailed in uncharted waters and returned to port safely even though the time was limited, he said. While some of the catch wasn't considered worth much by legislators, there were elements that were successfully adopted. Director McArthur asked the subcommittee for permission to sail again. His testimony was warmly received by the subcommittee. 

Greg Wolf of the governor's office of Regional Solutions and Sarah Miller of Business Oregon also testified on behalf of the Governor in support of the bill. 

HB 2478 is intended to streamline the property tax appeals process by eliminating the intermediate - and superfluous - step of having large industrial properties appeal first to a local board of appeals before the appeal can proceed to the Tax Court Magistrate Division. This inefficient and costly step puts complex appeals before the local board for 15 minutes of informal consideration and decision. The AOC-supported Government Efficiency Task Force of last interim added elimination of this unnecessary step in its recommendations to this Legislature. On Monday, the Senate Finance & Revenue Committee agreed with the policy request and sent HB 2478 to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation. The bill will likely go to the Governor and become law.

We'll take a quick break for a report from Tillamook County Commissioner Tim Josi about his recent visit to the White House (yeah, the White House, in Washington, D.C.)

Last week I was notified by NACo that they had submitted my name to attend a meeting with key cabinet officials and the President. Two days later the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs notified me that I was invited to attend the meeting on May 3, 2011.

Prior to the meeting I was asked to complete and submit a questionnaire. Note the "Closing Remarks" at the end of the agenda - President Obama joined us at the end of the meeting and gave the closing remarks.

I had hoped to address the President personally over the issue of our almost non-productive federal forests here in the Northwest but didn't have the opportunity. I was eager to detail the Lane County proposal to increase forest harvests, aid Japan and create jobs in Oregon.

However, the meeting was highly productive. We had several cabinet secretaries, the Vice President and the President all in the same room addressing issues of great importance to the nation's counties. I believe this is the first time NACo has ever had an audience with a president of the United States.

With less than a weeks' notice, about 65 county commissioners from across the nation had an opportunity to hear from key cabinet members responsible for developing policies and regulations dealing with jails, poverty, homeland security, infrastructure, housing and more. 

At the end of each session we were given the opportunity to ask questions and enter into a dialogue with each speaker.

This proved to be a great opportunity to move NACo's "Restore the Partnership" Campaign forward and stress the harm that unfunded mandates cause to our constituents.

Tim Josi

After weeks of work by a workgroup led by its co-chairs, the House Revenue Committee on Wednesday sent a newly designed Senior and Disabled Property Tax Deferral Program to the House floor for passage. Projected to be in the red, and with its surplus drained to support Oregon Project Independence, Co-Chairs Vicki Berger and Phil Barnhart, with help from experts including Multnomah County Assessor Randy Walruff, unveiled a more restricted program. The program was originated to keep low-income seniors and disabled persons in their homes by paying the participant's property taxes to the county as a loan to be paid off later. The new design keeps faith with the program's intent.

HB 2543A:

·         Requires participants to recertify their incomes every two years rather than only upon entry into the program.

·         Requires the real market value of homes be below a threshold ranging from 100 to 200 percent of the county median adjusted for how long the resident has been in and owned the home.

·         Requires that a participant own and live in the home for five years before entering into the program.

·         Changes the interest paid from 6 percent simple to 6 percent compound on all new balances and participants.

·         Removes the allocation to Oregon Project Independence.

·         Adds a 10-year sunset to review the program.

·         Eliminates partial payment for individuals whose income rises above the limit for participation. The current threshold, indexed under CPI, is an annual household income of $39,500.

·         Requires fire and casualty insurance on the home.

·         Adds collection measures against heirs and transferees.

·         Extends garnishment authority to the Department of Revenue.

·         Caps the growth of initial applications to 5 percent per year beginning in 2011.

·         Provides that counties will receive payment subject to available funds. With the new restrictions and closer legislative oversight, payments for property taxes deferred should be in full.
 

Bills Improving County Administration Move Forward

HB 3032, which would allow counties to review the finances of the clerk, treasurer and sheriff's offices in any two months of the year rather than specifically in January and July of every year, passed the Senate on Wednesday morning by a 27-2 margin. 

The bill, brought to AOC by Marion County, previously passed the House unanimously and now goes to the Governor for his signature. Our thanks to Rep. Vicki Berger (R-Salem) and Marion County Commissioner and AOC President Janet Carlson for their testimony and work moving the bill forward. 

In addition, SB 954 passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday. This bill would allow county treasurers several extra days to transmit the quarterly data related to the County Assessment Function Funding Account (CAFFA) to the State Treasurer, which eventually results in the Department of Revenue transmitting quarterly CAFFA grants to counties. Under the current timeline, counties sometimes do not have all the information needed to provide an accurate accounting and occasionally have to make adjustments after the fact.  The change in timeline should increase efficiency and accuracy for counties and the Department of Revenue. Our thanks to Sen. Chuck Thomsen (R-Hood River), a former Hood River County Commissioner, for carrying the bill on the Senate floor.

The Senate Finance & Revenue Committee on Wednesday unanimously moved to the Senate floor virtually every element of its package to stabilize state financing. SJR 26A amends the Constitution, on voter approval in November, 2012, in key ways:  it establishes the Emergency Reserve Fund; retains the corporate kicker, directing the entire amount into the reserve fund; and retains the personal kicker, directing 50 percent into the reserve fund until the fund reaches its cap.

SB 968A establishes a method for allocating biennial projected general fund revenue:  a growth index equal to the increase of projected general fund revenue over the prior biennium general fund appropriations; allocates revenue to general fund spending up to the growth rate in personal income the prior two years; leaves unappropriated the forecasted amount of revenue above personal income growth up to two percent of the prior biennium apprpriation; and allocates to general purposes the amount of projected revenue above the rate of personal income growth and the two percent unappropriated amount. The bill also requires deposit in the emergency fund only if actual general fund revenue equals or exceeds the projection. SB 968A becomes effective at the 2013-15 biennium, and only if SJR 26 is approved by voters.

SB 883A lowers rates on long-term capital gains, which are defined as income resulting from sale of assets that have been held for more than 60 months. It establishes a 50 percent subtraction for these gains on property held in Oregon, if sold on or after January 1, 2013. The bill establishes a subtraction schedule for all other capital gains, which phases in over an eight-year period starting in 2013, and starts at five percent and increases at five percent increments until reaching 40 percent for the 2020 tax year.

The Legislative Revenue Office estimates that the projected revenue under SJR 26A will exceed the capital gains losses of SB 883A by $387 million in 2013-15 to $517 million in 2019-20.

SB 754A becomes effective with voter approval of SJR 26A. It establishes a Higher Education Stability Subaccount within the emergency reserve fund, which receives all revenue from the corporate kicker calculation.

The one element that was left behind, because of lack of unanimity on the committee, is SB 553-1, which requires interest on moneys in the general fund be deposited into the Oregon Rainy Day Fund. By not passing this element, more money will be in play for kicker calculation, rather than saved.

The ultimate fate of this package is unknown, but represents a political break through after years of debate on how to stabilize state public finance.

The Human Services Steering Committee discussed HB 3650 with Sean Kolmer from the governor's office and Claudia Black, Multnomah County Government Relations Co-Director (who has been working tirelessly on the bill). It was agreed the language concerning counties was well written and should be supported. At the AOC Legislative Committee judges and commissioners were urged to contact their legislators to know about the support for the language.

However, on Tuesday the "dash 3" amendments were released and all county-centric language supporting the mental health safety net had been removed from the bill. It was unclear why this happened.

Marion County Commissioner and AOC President Janet Carlson testified on Wednesday evening and recommended changing the language around the role of counties. Cindy Becker, Director of Human Services of Clackamas County and Joanne Fuller, COO of Multnomah County, also testified in support of the counties.

The outcome of the hearing was inconclusive at best. At this time the language in the HB 3650-3 will force the counties to provide mental health safety net services but the Coordinate Care Organizations (CCOs) will have no obligation to work with the counties to coordinate the Medicaid funded services. It is very important for commissioners and judges to contact their legislators to help them understand the intersection of the mental health safety net, public safety and the child welfare system.

AOC staff has helped develop language that we are trying to get the Joint Committee on Health Care Transformation to adopt. It would be very useful if commissioners and judges could contact their legislators (even if they are not on the committee) to support the county-oriented language. Please email Mark Nystrom to get a copy of this language.

Early Learning Design Team

Commission on Children and Families 

Rep. Tina Kotek (D-Portland) introduced an amendment to HB 3086 (a placeholder bill) that will greatly affect the future of the Commission on Children and Families. The highlights of the bill, from an email from Rep Kotek's office, include:

1. Establish the Early Learning Council (ELC) on July 1, 2011 (Sections 1 thru 4);
2. Eliminate the State Commission on Children and Families and transfer SCCF funds/programs to the ELC (see conforming amendments, Sections 9 thru 58);
3. Direct repurposing of the Local Commissions on Children and Families (LCCFs) to align with the ELC (see Section 59) and sunset the current LCCF statutes on July 1, 2012, assuming changes forthcoming in the 2012 Session; and
4. Create a Task Force on Improving Educational Success for At-Risk Youth to study and recommend next steps on youth programs/funding (see Section 5).

 AOC staff will be following this bill closely and will continue to provide you updates.

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Oregon a $2 million grant for the installation of 20 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. The grant will enable Oregon to build the necessary infrastructure to support the increasing number of electric cars on the road and expand drivers' range of travel. The new stations will be placed no more than 50 miles apart on highways outside of metro areas to create a continuous charging station system for the cars. Currently, there are about 40 EV charging stations located around Portland. The $2 million comes from the TIGER II (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program and will help complete the $2.75 million project through the Oregon Department of Transportation. 

NACo Volunteers Needed 

Memorial for Nikki Whitty This Saturday

The memorial service for Nikki will take place on Saturday, May 7, 1:00 pm at the Coquille Community Building, 115 N. Birch St., Coquille.

Donations in Nikki's name can be made to the following charities:

      Veterans Stand Down, c/o Commissioner's Office, 250 N. Baxter, Coquille, OR 97423

      Friends of the Coquille Library, 105 N. Birch, Coquille, OR 97423

      Maslow Project, 760 S. 2nd Street, Coos Bay, OR 97420

We miss you Nikki.  

Our Contributors

Many, many thanks this week to Gil Riddell who apparently has plenty of time to submit items for this newsletter. Ann Hanus, Emily Ackland, Mark Nystrom and Mike McArthur had less time, but submitted as well. The rest of the policy staff seems to find other things to do. They are (and we name names) Wolf Blitzer, Brian Williams, Shepard Smith and Chet Huntley. 

Eric Schmidt

Hi Mom!