Oregon Trails

An Occasional Newsletter

from

The Association of Oregon Counties

Plugging Away

Second Month Begins

March 8, 2013

The co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means are no strangers to tough budgets. Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, and Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, have been at the helm of the powerful committee for two sessions. Their budget proposal was released this past Monday.

AOC Policy Managers have reviewed the budget plan and have prepared an analysis.  Needless to say, the budget process is really just getting underway in Salem. There will be plenty of twists and turns before the final product is ready for the governor's signature, hopefully sometime before July 4th. 

On Tuesday, Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson, President of the O&C Counties Association, addressed the Senate Rural Communities and Economic Development Committee, Chaired by Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, as part of a panel to brief the committee on the Governor's work group on the future of O&C lands.

Dubbed the Gang of 14, the group, representing counties, industry, and the environmental community, ultimately produced a 94-page analysis of potential solutions to management of the federal forestlands, but did not come to agreement on a single solution. Tom Tuchmann presented the report's findings. You can read the full report here.  

Commissioner Robertson noted that the Governor participated in all but one meeting of the group. 

The Oregonian had an interesting editorial directed toward O & C counties in today's edition. 

Linn County Commissioner Will Tucker, former Oregon Parks Association President Brian Carroll, and AOC testified in favor of the Oregon Park and Recreation Department's budget on March 6, 2013. They thanked OPRD for working with counties on SB 331 which changes the allocation of RV registration revenues to 55 percent for OPRD and 45 percent for county parks from the current 65/35 percent split. They also urged support for increasing state campground fees which have not been raised in six years and an appropriation for the state fair to reduce the burden on OPRD's budget.

House Bill 2060, introduced at the request of the attorney general, is intended to permit the attorney general to disqualify a charitable organization from receiving contributions that are deductible from state income tax, if the AG finds that the organization failed to expend at least 30 percent of total functional expenses on program services when averaged over the last three years. The House Consumer Protection and Government Efficiency Committee, chaired by Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, sent the bill to the House floor this week after it added an amendment applying the disqualification to exemption under the property tax system. HB 2060A thus will provide clarity to county assessors as they judge the legitimacy a charitable organization. The bill is expected to pass the House.

Yamhill County Commissioner Kathy George testified at a hearing for SB 665 which transfers the State Interoperability Executive Council (SIEC) from the Department of Transportation (ODOT) to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS). The hear was held Thursday in front of the Senate Veterans and Emergency Preparedness Committee. 

The bill also prepares Oregon to accept competitive federal grants for new communications technology and support the state's effort to streamline public safety communications systems.

"Over the last 11 years, the SIEC has worked to bring our state's radios into federal compliance," Commissioner George testified. George chairs the SIEC Partnership Sub-Committee and has represented AOC on the SIEC since 2003. ODOT has submitted amendments to the bill which will be considered by the committee at the next hearing for the bill. 

Three ambitious bills aimed at streamlining the often cumbersome Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) expansion process received initial hearings on Thursday in the House Land Use Committee. While more work is needed on all three concepts (HB 2253, HB 2254, HB 2255), they appeared to receive a favorable response from the committee members. 

HB 2253 would designate population forecasts as non-land use decisions, thereby bypassing the Land Use Board of Appeals, while designating Portland State University's Population Research Center as the entity to conduct the forecasts on a more updated schedule. The new process would also be paid for entirely by the state but would transfer authority for conducting the forecasts from the county to PSU. HB 2254 would create new simplified ways for cities to add land and development capacity, based in large part on the more timely population forecasts, while HB 2255 creates new paths for the creation of industrial reserves as well as a new permit-based, siting process for very large new industrial uses. All three bills will likely require further conversation and amendments.

The House Transportation and Economic Development Committee held a public hearing on HB 2453 which would require road user fees for high mileage vehicles such as electric and hybrid vehicles. AOC testified in support because this legislation is important for the long term sustainable funding of our state and local road system and to ensure that all users contribute to the cost of maintaining our roads on an equitable basis. There was strong support for the bill especially from Transportation Commissioner Mary Olson, League of Oregon Cities, AAA, and other transportation advocates. Electric car dealerships voiced the only opposition to the bill.

HB 2800 cleared the next hurdle with the Senate passing the bill by a vote of 18-11. Senators Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, and Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, carried the bill. Attention now turns to Washington State to see if the project will also be approved for funding. 

It's been eight years since hearings on bills to ban or charge fees for studded tires have been held. The House Transportation and Economic Development Department heard three bills put forward by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, and Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie. HB 2278, HB 2277 and HB 2397 would charge fees or require a permit for studded tires. Proponents cited a 2000 Oregon Department of Transportation Study on the impacts of studded damage. Concern was expressed by Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, about whether the volume of cars on the west side of the state affects the amount of damage and asked why east side residents should pay the same amount as on the west side where damage is greater due to the higher number of vehicles.

There are a number of important bills up for a public hearings next week. HB 2013 (described above) will have a public hearing on Monday, March 11th. HB 2275, a bill to increase the tobacco tax and invest more money in tobacco prevention programs, has its public hearing on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, the Department of Human Services budget bill, SB 5529 has a series of hearings Monday through Thursday. 

Monday, March 11th, AOC Steering Committees meet at 8:00 and 10:00 am, the Legislative Committee meets at Noon and the Board of Directors meets following the Legislative Committee. Please go to our website for more informaton about the agendas and check your in-box for updates from AOC staff. A number of important bills will be discussed and your participation is vital to the process. Remember, we have video conferencing and teleconferencing available for those of you who can't make the trip to Salem. For those of you who do make the trip, we'll serve lunch. 

And we apologize for a number of typos in the early Oregon Trails this week. The editorial staff learned a lesson about how many lap tops to take on road trips and such boo boos won't happen again. Well, we'll try not to make those same mistakes at any rate. We admit to being human.