Oregon Trails

An Occasional Newsletter

from

The Association of Oregon Counties

Busy on Both Coasts

Congress heads home, the state legislature not just yet

March 2, 2012

HB 4093 A-Engrossed passed both the House and the Senate this week. It now awaits the Governor's siganture. The bill will:

• Expand the number of enterprise zones the Oregon Business Development Department can approve to 20 rural enterprise zones, and up to 15 areas as urban or rural enterprise zones;
• Enlarge the size of rural enterprise zones zones from 12 to 15 miles (Note: the original bill had also allowed urban enterprise zones to expand but this provision was removed in a House amendment);
• Allow a sponsor of a terminated enterprise program to re-apply for a new enterprise zone after ten years; and
• Require new enterprise zones that have been created as a result of this legislation to report to the Legislature on the economic benefits.

Once a new revenue source was identified (increasing the fee for accessing DMV records), SB 1591 and SB 1543 moved rapidly through Ways & Means. The Legislature used the additional funding to pay for both the current and increased cost of the rest areas, the remaining gap financing for the Sellwood Bridge, and improvements to Cornelius Pass. Since current rest area costs amounting to $3 million are funded "off the top," having the cost paid for by the DMV fee will translate into $900,000 additional revenues to be distributed to county road funds. In addition to allocating money for the Sellwood Bridge and Cornelius Pass, SB 1543 includes funding for Interstate 84 at the 257th Avenue interchange and U.S. 26 at the Shute Road Interchange. In SB 1591, management of seventeen rest areas will be transferred from ODOT to the Travel Information Council.

Ways & Means also approved ODOT's amendment specifying that if fee revenues are not realized as projected, the Oregon Transportation Commission would have the authority to proportionately reduce the rest area funding allocation to the Travel Information Council.

Both the House and Senate passed the bills this week and the two bills now await the Governor's signature.

When Rep. Hunt found that HB 4028 was stuck in Ways & Means, he attempted to use a Minority Report procedure to insert HB 4028 into SB 1544, a bill promoted by the city of Redmond to address transportation planning issues. Rep. Hunt's bill, HB 4028, would have boosted funding for Connect Oregon and Special Public Works Fund by $10 million each. Co-Speaker Hanna led the opposition to increased bonding by citing the state's Debt Management Report and expressed concerns that the state was close to the limit for bonding capacity. Rep. Hunt's Minority Report failed 30-30 on a strict party line vote. SB 1544 was then approved 60-0 without the minority report. As a result, HB 4028 to increase funding for Connect Oregon and the Special Public Works Fund died.

Both the House and Senate approved temporary changes to allow access by more businesses to the state's Credit Enhancement Fund. Recognizing the difficulty many small businesses are facing to secure loans and since the Oregon Business Development Department received a large federal grant to boost the program, this bill moved quickly through both chambers. The bill awaits signature by the Governor.

It appears that two bills dealing with home foreclosures have stalled in the House after approval by the Senate. SB 1552 allows mediation before a lender can proceed with a foreclosure sale and SB 1564 eliminates the dual-track process in which banks that are in the process of negotiating a mortgage modification with a homeowner are simultaneously pursuing foreclosure.

SB 1580 passed both chambers and was signed by the Governor on Friday. AOC and its affiliates are working on a short summary to help commissioners engage in their community discussions around health care reform. Contact Mark Nystrom with any questions.

Last week's Oregon Trail contained a minor typo, the article should have read:

The current language does call for an extension of the local commissions on children and families through January 1, 2014. The bill also has a section (77) that outlines how the new entities will coordinate with the counties. However, this language still needs a bit of tweaking to ensure that this coordination stays in statute past 2014. Section 133 spells out the continued funding for the local commissions. In the hearing today a Department of Administrative Services analyst stated that the intention of the bill was to continue the current funding for the local commissions through July 1, 2013 (as opposed to the January 1, 2014 date previously published.)  

Legislators have stated that the six month difference is to provide an incentive for communities to develop "community-based coordinators of early learning services."

HB 4165 received a work session in the Human Services Subcommittee of Ways & Means late last week, got "held up" again, and finally got unstuck as part of compromise package late this week. It received a work session in the Capital Construction Subcommittee, then the full Ways & Means and is now headed for the House Floor. It is assumed that it will pass both chambers and will be on its way to the Governor's desk for his signature.

AOC and its affiliates are working on a short summary to help commissioners engage in their community discussions around developing community-based coordinators of early learning services (CBCELS? Maybe we can keep calling them "hubs.") Contact Mark Nystrom with any questions.

Senators Wyden and Merkley meet with Oregon commissioners and judges

March 1st turned out to be a pretty nice day in Washington, D.C. Blue skies, a light wind, temperatures in the mid 60's. The climate inside the House and Senate Office Buildings was nearly as pleasant, thanks to our Oregon Congressional delegation. Eighteen Oregon county commissioners and judges trekked the marble halls for meetings with Congressmen Walden, DeFazio and Schrader, Congresswoman Bonamici and both U.S. Senators.

One of the main topics of discussion was federal forest payments. The House members told our delegation that there is movement right now at the staff and committee levels on the O&C plan that representatives Walden, Schrader and DeFazio have crafted. There is also movement on HR 4019, the Hastings land management bill. In fact, the two bills could end up being merged as the proposals are considered on the House floor possibly as early as March 19th.

Senators Wyden and Merkley were confident that a reauthorization of federal forest payments could be attached to one of the remaining bills being considered by the Senate, but action on that front will have to wait until after Congress returns from a week long recess beginning Friday, March 2nd.

The Oregon county officials brought many other issues of importance to the Congressional delegation's attention. The meetings were productive, cordial and practical, a rarity in Washington, D.C. Senator Wyden commented how county officials know how to get things done and serve as an example of good public service.

The annual National Association of Counties Legislative Conference begins March 3rd in Washington, D.C.