Oregon Trails

An Occasional Newsletter

from

The Association of Oregon Counties

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March 15, 2012

In the volatile and unpredictable environment of the U.S. Congress, a bit of a bi-partisan surprise emerged this week when the U.S. Senate passed a transportation bill with a comfortable 74-22 margin. The measure, which includes continued funding for major highway projects across the country, now goes to the House, where its future is uncertain. House leaders have made it clear they aren't certain if they will bring the Senate bill before the House. The House is currently in recess. The current transportation law expires at the end of this month. The House would have to act quickly when it returns in order to prevent provisions of the current law from expiring, such as the federal gas tax. We don't know if there is a general will among House members to act before the end of March.The other option for the transportation bill is to pass a continuing resolution of the current authorization which does not include federal forest payments and regroup next year on a new bill.

The Senate package includes a one-year reauthorization of federal forest payments and a one-year reappropriation of PILT. The funding level for federal forest payments is 95 percent of the 2011 levels, and if it manages to get through the House, wouldn't be effective until late this year with the checks being cut in January of 2013. Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR, made it clear that level of funding is only a stop gap and he plans to address the reauthorization issue in the next Congress in 2013. Representative Greg Walden, R-OR, thinks the reauthorization provision will pass muster with certain House rules and if the House considers the Senate transportation bill, the reauthorization should be included. Other members of the Oregon House delegation have pledged to work with Rep. Walden to insure a reauthorization provision emerges from the House should there be a transportation package. 

In the words of the cliche journalist, "we have to wait to see what happens next."  Bottom line, federal forest payments aren't dead yet, but they're far from a done deal.

The Government Efficiency Task Force (GETF), chaired by Rep. Nancy Nathanson, D-Eugene, held its second meeting this past week and sped through a laundry list of issues that will now be tackled by several subcommittees. Many of the issues are familar to counties and other local government entities, but haven't been addressed thoroughly by a forum such as the GETF which brings state agencies, local governments and interested stakeholders to the same table. AOC is hopeful the discussions of the GETF will lead to significant changes in the partnership agreements between the state and counties for the delivery of vital, shared public services.

The GETF is on a tight time table, with a report due to the next session of the Oregon Legislature. AOC staff is providing assistance to the subcommittee chairs in setting up meetings and providing technical experts for the subcommittees as they wend their way through the list of issues and new issues that will no doubt be brought to the discussion. Don't be surprised to hear from one of the subcommittee chairs, which include Yamhill County Commissioner and AOC 1st VP Mary Stern. Commissioner Stern chairs the Criminal Justice Subcommittee. We will update you on the progress of the GETF in coming weeks and months. 

The ELC was given a set of requirements for the interim. The ELC is putting together a number of work groups that will meet to fulfill these requirements. These workgroups will be similar to those put together for the CCO workgroups. The groups include the Child Care and Early Learning Education iWorkgroup, Screening Tools Workgroup, and Community Based Coordinator of Early Learning Services Characteristics Workgroup. If you are interested in participating in one of these workgroups you can contact Duke Shepard at the ELC directly or Mark Nystrom at AOC if you would like some assistance.

AOC staff is currently working on a toolkit for counties on how to address the upcoming transition from the local commissions on children and families to the ELC.

SB 5701 is the omnibus budget rebalance bill that passed in the waning hours of the legislative session last week. Some of the budget changes it made affect county public safety in particular. Here are some highlights:

Department of Corrections: The community corrections reductions that were made as part of the overall creation of the supplemental ending balance were restored. This brings that budget up to the statutory base budget and eliminates the opt-out for the rest of the biennium.

Oregon Criminal Justice Commission: Anticipated federal funding has been firmed up as reflected in a new expenditure limitation. Drug court funding should continue at historical levels for the rest of the biennium.

District attorneys: Their salaries have been restored.

Oregon Military Department: The department received funding to respond to flooding of local schools in the hardest hit areas that were the subject of declared federal disaster areas, and the department was directed to prepare a statewide information technology plan for 9-1-1. The plan must include a detailed component on consolidation of Public Safety Answering Points based on a 2012 report the department received from the consulting firm of L.R. Kimball.

Oregon Youth Authority: County programs that were cut as part of the supplemental ending balance exercise were restored, including diversion, juvenile crime prevention and Multnomah County gang funding. Given the fact that a primary focus of this legislative session was to adjust budgets to address revenue shortfalls, the county programs above were treated fairly well.

The state regulatory streamlining project is actively soliciting submission of "real world" examples of problems with the regulatory processes. In order to collect the examples, an online questionnaire has been posted and the public is encouraged to complete the questionnaire with any examples they wish to offer. The questionnaire is crafted to exact specifics of the examples to transcend from the general, broad complaints of "too slow" and "too hard" to a crisper, more focused identification of the problems encountered. 

The questionnaire will only be available through March 21.

It's raining like a son of gun on the west side of the mountains. Hope everyone's keeping their head above water!