News From Association of Oregon Counties

This session of the Oregon Legislature is going so fast, that lobbyists are wearing track shoes. Valentine's Day was the kiss of death for many bills, narrowing the field for the remainder of the session. AOC policy managers have been on the cutting edge of what's in and what's out, and in this edition of Oregon Trails you will have a complete report of the legislation still in play.

Counties have taken a central role in the discussion of many of the issues currently under consideration by our Senators and Representatives. The potential and real possibility of losing federal forest payments has been a wake-up call for the Legislature. The Governor is actively involved as well. The spotlight on the crisis that will develop without some significant intervention gets brighter and brighter by the day.

U.S. Representative Doc Hastings (R-WA), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, has introduced H.R. 4019, the Federal Forest County Revenue, Schools and Jobs Act of 2012. The Committee will hold a hearing and mark-up for the bill on Thursday morning, February 16th at 7:00 am PST. In addition to active forest management language, the bill also contains provisions for bridge funding for impacted forested and rural counties across the nation. The U.S. Senate is still considering S. 1692, a bill that would extend federal forest payments. And federal forest payments were included in President Obama's proposed budget for the next federal fiscal year. So, Washington, D.C. is fully aware of Oregon's situation and hopefully working toward a solution, although there are no guarantees any of it will come to pass.

In the meantime, the activities at the Legislature and at the county level are critically important to augment whatever may emerge from D.C.

Here now, a look at the activities in Salem and other stuff that goes bump in the night.

Health Transformation Information

Tuesday afternoon the Senate passed SB 1580A on a final vote tally of 18-12. Attempts to add a tort reform amendment to the bill were unsuccessful and the bill was ultimately passed in its current form. The bill is now headed for a vote in the House. Friday is the earliest the House may consider the bill.

Task Force Pushes Forward

The Joint Legislative Task Force on County Payments met for a fourth time Wednesday morning with all members in attendance. Topics on the agenda were an expansion of fiscal control boards, County Assessment Function Funding Assistance (CAFFA) payments and county road funds.

The discussion of the expansion of fiscal control boards, which are allowed for public safety emergencies under SB 77 from the 2009 session, was robust and productive. Members of the task force expressed their interest in giving counties in fiscal distress latitude to deal with a crisis beyond public safety, and also the opportunity to deal with a crisis before it develops. Task force co-chairs Roblan and Hanna also want to set ending points for fiscal control boards and to give county commissioners a big role in the work of the boards. AOC Executive Director Mike McArthur, COO of DAS Michael Jordan and Jim Bucholz of DOR all testified that having this tool would enable the state to work with impacted counties in a crisis. Legislation will be introduced by the task force this session and AOC is involved in drafting the legislation. One very important point that was made repeatedly is that the fiscal control board will only be activated if requested by a county.

The task force will also consider proposed legislation on CAFFA, to apply to vulnerable counties in FY 2012-13. It will have two features. First, it will permit a mid-year reduction of less than 10 percent to the assessment and taxation budget. Second, as offered by Lane County, the CAFFA funding would be frozen at the FY 12 levels based on that year's certified percentage, as long as that county does not reduce its expenditures more than 15 percent and minimizes revenue impacts to local districts.

Last but not least, the task force is considering changes to current law to allow some counties the ability to access road fund reserves for public safety road patrols. A legislative concept will be amended in coming days to reflect concerns raised by AOC. Task force co-chairs Roblan, Hanna and Joann Verger have promised that the legislation will be considered during this short session.

Tribal Government Property Tax Exemption Reported to House

On Friday, the House Revenue Committee sent amended HB 4041 to the floor with a 'do pass' recommendation. The bill is much more narrow than the bill on the same topic last session, and was a product of nearly two years of negotiations among the nine federally recognized Tribes in Oregon, AOC, and Representative Cliff Bentz. If adopted, the bill will grant an exemption for property exclusively owned by aTribe and used exclusively for government services. Those services are defined as equivalent to services that a state, local government, or federal government customarily provides to its citizens; and do not generate income other than fees to cover cost of service; and are related to tribal administration; tribal or health facilities; elementary, secondary, or higher education; transportation; fire or police; low-income housing; cemeteries; or certain utility services (sanitation, sewer, storm drainage, and water). Low-income housing provisions line up with Housing Authority law. The Tribe must file for the exemption with the county assessor. Removed from the bill of last session were archaeological sites, ceremonial sites, natural gas and electric distribution, internet service, telecommunication, radio and television, and education generally. The Legislative Revenue Office estimated that the revenue impact to counties and other local taxing districts will be $145,000 statewide for biennium 2013-15.

OHA and DHS Budget

More details have come out regarding the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Human Services Budgets. At this time it appears as if local public health departments will take part of a $1.5 million reallocation from the Tobacco use and Education Account to back-fill holes in the general budget. How this will directly affect counties is not currently clear but this will decrease the budget of these important tobacco prevention programs. The local mental health and developmental disability programs will also see cuts but these get more "in the weeds." It is recommended that you talk with both your mental health and public health directors to get the details on how the budget rebalance will affect your county.

Urban Services on Unincorporated Land Bill

HB 4090, a highly contentious bill that would force the provision of urban services on unincorporated land, passed out of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday. The bill would allow an owner of property located outside city limits, but within the Urban Growth Boundary, to cut a deal with a water and sewer service provider to provide services to their property. The bill was amended in several ways, one of which narrows the bill to areas within the Metro boundaries. The amended bill also allows a city to assess system development charges to properties outside the city limits. An unrelated amendment would clarify annexation law to not allow a city to facilitate a withdrawal of a portion of one special district for the benefit of another service provider unless the city was itself the service provider. The Association of Oregon Counties opposes HB 4090 on several grounds, including the upending of long established planning principles, and in its place creates an expensive, inefficient process that hinders long-term planning. Should the bill progress to the Senate, its prospects are unclear.

Oregon Investment Act

HB 4040 was voted out of the House Transportation & Economic Development Committee on Thursday, February 9th, however, the bill's section on funds overseen by the Oregon Growth Board was stripped out. Under the amended bill, the Oregon Growth Board must report back to the 2013 session with recommendations on how it would operate and which funds it should manage. The bill was also amended to include a 2013 sunset so the Legislature will have to renew the statute in order for the Oregon Growth Board to continue.

The Treasurer's Office has clarified for AOC that the Oregon Growth Board would be able to enter into agreements to allow local governments to act as "managers" for the resources overseen by the Oregon Growth Board. AOC has been advocating that local governments have access as well as financial institutions.

The next stop will be Ways and Means.

PERS Bills

Three very different PERS-related bills introduced in the February session all quietly died without so much as a public hearing. HB 4033 would have made private the names of retirees receiving pension payments from the state. Some information has already been released, in November, as part of a public records request made by the Statesman Journal and The Oregonian. Another bill, HB 4155, sponsored by Rep. Gene Whisnant (D-Sunriver), would have required PERS to prepare and regularly update information relating to the unfunded liabilities of all public bodies, and post the information on the Oregon Transparency Website. Finally, Rep. Jason Conger (R-Bend) proposed the "School Savings Act," which would have made numerous adjustments to PERS, with all changes confined to school employees.

Federal Transportation Reauthorization Update

We received good news that Congressman Greg Walden has been working extensively with Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica and Highways Subcommittee Chairman John Duncan, along with Congressman Peter DeFazio and other western members on forest highways funding. The bill recently released by Chairman Mica had eliminated the Forest Highways program which would have meant a loss of about $22 million for Oregon. Thanks to the efforts of Rep. Walden and Rep. DeFazio, Chairman Mica and Chairman Duncan have agreed to add language to the bill preserving forest highways funding for states and counties. This change will ensure that funding for forest highways will remain and will be distributed to states and counties under the current formula. This will mean that money for forest highways is not diverted entirely to the Forest Service.

The House has delayed the vote on this bill for another two weeks so we may be in Washington, D.C. for the NACo Legislative Conference at the same time this bill comes up for a vote.

Connect Oregon, Special Public Works and Community Colleges

The House Transportation & Economic Development Committee included $10 million for Connect Oregon, $10 million for the Special Public Works Fund and $9.6 million for Community Colleges in HB 4028. The original bill included $20 million for the Oregon Growth Fund but this provision was removed in a subsequent amendment.

AOC testified in favor of this bill which was voted out of committee with a do pass recommendation on February 9th and a subsequent referral to Ways and Means. The state has about $50 million in remaining bonding authority for the biennium and it's likely this bill will be part of the final horse trading for the February session.

Home Foreclosures

Only two Senate bills dealing with home foreclosures are still alive. SB 1564 would end the dual track where banks work on foreclosures and loan modification simultaneously, and homeowners find themselves in foreclosure at the same time they are trying to have a loan modification approved. This bill passed out of the Senate General Government Committee on a party line vote.

SB 1552 is based on pre-foreclosure mediation programs that have proved to be successful in 21 other states. The bill would allow homeowners to meet with their lender in the presence of a neutral third party before a lender can proceed with a foreclosure sale.

In the House, HB 4111 passed on February 15. This bill sets a minimum amount that a property must be sold at to enforce unpaid liens and assessments.

Early Learning Council

HB 4165, the Early Learning Council bill, had three hearings over the past week. Governor Kitzhaber opened testimony at the House Human Services Committee on Wednesday by highlighting the need for reform in the early learning programs. There were two hours of testimony, mainly in support of the efforts. On Friday the bill was heard again, this time with the dash 11 amendments. The new amendments guarantee funding for the local commissions until June 30, 2013 and encourage transformation to the accountability hubs before January 1, 2014. Counties can continue to have an active role in the creation and operation of the accountability hubs but it will be up to individual counties to maintain an interested role. Monday the House Human Services Committee passed the bill on to a sub-committee of Ways and Means. At the time of publication it was not clear if the bill will go to the Human Services Sub or the Education Sub.

Three New Board of Forestry Members Confirmed

On Monday, the Senate confirmed appointments by the Governor of three new members to the Board of Forestry. Replaced were Peter Hayes of Portland, Cal Mukumoto of Coos Bay, and Jennifer Phillippi of Cave Junction. The three new members are:

Nils Christoffersen of Enterprise, who is Executive Director of the non-profit Wallowa Resources. His appointment was confirmed unanimously.
Tom Insko of LaGrande, who is Region Manager for Boise-Cascade's Inland region, which includes eight manufacturing facilities and 925 employees. He, too, was confirmed unanimously.
Cindy Williams of Medford, a consulting fisheries biologist. Her appointment was controversial, clearing the Senate by a 19-11 vote, largely due to her strong environmentalist background.

The Board of Forestry is critical to policy on state forests, which for the most part are lands transferred to the state by 15 counties - the Forest Trust Land Counties.

Pilot Program to Hunt Cougars with Dogs

On Tuesday, the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee moved a bill to the floor with a do pass recommendation that would require the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to adopt rules to create a pilot program that allows persons to use dogs to hunt cougars. The vote on HB 4119 was 6-1. AOC testified in favor. The pilot program would require a county to request to be included by resolution, documenting the need due to cougar conflicts, and demonstrating that current state management actions are not sufficient.

Forest Trustland Management

HB 4098, promoted as a jobs bill, was amended and passed with subsequent referral to Ways & Means by the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee by unanimous vote on Tuesday. As amended, the bill would require that annual timber harvest on state forestlands equal 85 percent of the annual growth on the forest. The bill advanced in spite of testimony against it by Governor Kitzhaber, who stated that the timber supply problem was due to federal non-management, with 18 million acres producing only 4 percent of annual timber volume. Committee members praised the Governor for his leadership in forest management issues. State Forester Doug Decker expressed unease, stating that the Greatest Permanent Value Rule and forest plans would have to be changed. Council of Forest Trust Land Counties Chair Tim Josi testified that forest management policies should reside in the Board of Forestry. He asked that the Legislature establish by statute a formal trust where counties are designated as beneficiaries to the Board of Forestry fiduciary duty.

Rest Areas

The Senate Business and Transportation Committee voted SB 1591 out of committee with a subsequent referral to Ways and Means. This bill would transfer 16 rest areas to the Travel Information Council and double funding in order to upgrade rest areas.

Reallocation of Jobs and Transportation Act Funding

Two bills are currently in play that would direct the Transportation Commission to report to the Legislature on reallocation of funds from projects that are completed or have lower costs. HB 4029 cleared the full House on Feb 8. On Tuesday, the Senate Business and Transportation Committee approved the dash 8 amendment to SB 1543 that in addition to requiring a report would reallocate more funding to two projects: Interstate 84 at the 257th Avenue interchange and U.S. 26 at the Shute Road Interchange. At the hearing, Senator Starr said he would also help find additional funds for the Sellwood Bridge project.

Narrowband Status Reporting Tool (this is important stuff - really!)

Got narrowband? Steve Noel, statewide interoperabilty coordinator (503-934-6940), passes this along to Oregon counties:

The Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) has updated the Narrowband status reporting tool. The "new" national, state and county level Narrowband status reporting tool is easier to use and provides a snapshot of each county in the state. When you select Oregon, the tool will present each county's status. This information is based upon the current records in the FCC database. If your county is colored in blue or green you may have to update your information in the FCC database to reflect your organizations current narrowband status. If you don't know who maintains your FCC license information please contact me (Steve Noel) and our office will assist your organization with this effort. Important, if you have not narrowbanded your radio equipment or do not think your organization will meet the January 1, 2013 FCC deadline to become narrowband compliant please contact our office for assistance. What are the consequences of not narrowbanding? Potential fines from the FCC that over time could add up substantially for the license holder.

Narrowbanding requirements impact users who operate in the VHF and UHF frequency spectrum. All non-federal radio licenses operating 25 kHz (wideband) systems in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands must migrate to more efficient 12.5 kHz (narrowband) channels by January 1, 2013.

A helpful tool that will allow you to drill down further is called the frequency mapping tool.

Other helpful information includes a high level document prepared by OEC on Narrowbanding and a quick fact sheet on the Frequency Mapping Tool.

NACo Briefing on President's FY 2013 Budget

Laura Cleland & Eric Schmidt

Association of Oregon Counties

503-585-8351