News From Association of Oregon Counties

Salem - The Oregon Legislature returned to Salem from a quick spring break "in-district" day to pass PERS reform, tax reform, health care improvements, fully funding public safety and public health and giving the state's education system from K through higher ed a 1000 percent funding increase. Then, as they finished work on the last bill, both chambers declared "sine die" and left the building with a job well done.

OK - April Fools.

Actually, the Oregon Legislature left Salem last Friday for an "in-district" day. Presumably, the three day weekend allowed lawmakers to do a little reconnection with their constituents and a little R and R as well.

Getting back to their desks in the Capitol must seem like a daunting task for many legislators these days. Much of the heavy lifting for this session remains ahead and it appears that the divides over some of the most contentious issues are deep, very deep. Crossing those chasms is going to take a lot of work, work that is bound to be fractious.

Some of the tension surrounding Oregon counties right now resides in our nation's Capitol as well as in Salem. We have much to report this week. Welcome to this April 1st edition of Oregon Trails.

Spring Capitol

Community Corrections Incentive Fund

AOC hosted a workshop last week on Governor John Kitzhaber's $32 million public safety reinvestment fund, which was attended by nearly 100 people in person and by phone and video. Attendees included county commissioners, sheriffs and their deputies, district attorneys, community corrections staff, and state agency representatives. Thirty counties were represented at the workshop that detailed how dollars would be allocated under the new incentive fund.

AOC President Mary Stern, Yamhill County Commissioner, chaired the meeting. She was joined by a panel that included long-time Kitzhaber policy advisor Steve Marks, Criminal Justice Commission executive director Craig Prins, Multnomah County community justice director Scott Taylor, Benton County Commissioner Jay Dixon, and Clackamas County Commissioner Jim Bernard. Commissioners Dixon and Bernard chair AOC's public safety steering committee.

In his balanced budget, Governor Kitzhaber built in $40 million to be allocated to public safety - $8 million for drug courts and $32 million for counties to invest - based on policy options from the Governor's Commission on Public Safety to curb prison growth over the next 10 years. The commission's goal in forwarding options to the Legislature for consideration was to keep the prison population flat and avoid opening or building another prison, saving approximately $600 million over the decade.

House Bill 3194 contains all 19 policy options from the commission and was also discussed at the workshop.

Commissioners Dixon and Bernard attended a legislative hearing on the bill in the Joint Committee on Public Safety to testify about the incentive fund and how it would help counties.

"This incentive fund gives counties a reward for doing things more effectively," said Bernard, who mentioned reentry programs in Clackamas County that provide transitional housing for everyone returning from prison.

At both meetings, Prins provided a spreadsheet detailing the payments to each of the 36 counties.

Prins said, "The workgroup made sure that the baseline funding for community corrections was a priority." The budget workgroup that worked on the details for the $32 million fund consisted of county commissioners, two sheriffs, and representatives from the community corrections directors association.

Workshop

Jim Bernard, Jay Dixon, Steve Marks, Craig Prins, Scott Taylor, Mary Stern, Mike McArthur

Hearing

Commissioners Dixon and Bernard testify before the Joint Committee on Public Safety

AOC Supports DOR and WRD

Last Thursday, AOC testified before the Joint Ways & Means Subcommittee on General Government urging adequate funding of the Property Tax Division of the Department of Revenue, and to restore the state general fund contribution of $5.2 million to the state assessment and taxation funding program. AOC cited the $4.6 billion collected statewide for education during the 2011-13 biennium, the mere 18 percent of collections staying with counties, the disappointing performance of the County Assessment Function Funding Assistance Account (CAFFAA), and that county budgets for property tax administration in FY 2011-12 were over $92 million, of which only $19 million were CAFFAA contributions. The original intent of the A&T funding program created in 1989 was that CAFFAA would provide at least 35 percent of the cost of administration. Moreover, in 2009 the Legislature eliminated its 10 year old biennial appropriation to CAFFAA, made as partial repayment for county spending to collect revenues for the state school system. AOC complimented counties for doing their best to keep up with A&T requirements despite having to fund a full array of state-county shared services, gridlock of federal forest management, the end of federal forest payments to counties, and the growing long-term gap between annual county revenues and expenditures.

Meanwhile, Commissioners Craig Pope of Polk County and Dennis Doherty of Umatilla County offered AOC support in the Ways & Means Natural Resources Subcommittee for a budget for the Water Resources Department that returns it to a fully functioning capacity. Commissioner Pope, AOC Treasurer and co-chair of the AOC Water Policy Committee, presented a letter from AOC President Mary Stern on behalf of AOC. In the letter, AOC noted that all counties agree that securing the future of Oregon's water resources is critical to quality of life in the state, for its economy, communities, and environment. Counties need reliable information from the department on water availability to make appropriate land use decisions, and have been hands-on in development and implementation of the ground-breaking Integrated Water Resources Strategy. Commissioner Doherty added comments about local successes that will continue only with a fully functioning Water Resources Department.

Sequestration Frustration

The U.S. Government is demanding that counties in 41 states, including Oregon, return $18 million in federal forest payments. In Oregon, that totals an estimated $3.6 million. Uncle Sam says the payments are subject to the sequester and therefore subject to recall.

More than 30 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR, Rep. Greg Walden, R-OR and Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-OR, signed a letter to the Obama Administration objecting to the return of the funds and demanding to know why counties should have to return the funds. Oregon's U.S. Senators issued a joint statement saying the federal government should reverse its request for repayment of the funds.

AOC is working with Governor Kitzhaber's office and the Association of O&C Counties on a solution. We will keep you abreast of developments as they become available.

Gas Tax For Roads

HJR 9 calls for a vote of the people of Oregon to allow gas tax funds to be used for bicycle paths, pedestrian walkways and other alternative forms of transportation. The House Transportation and Economic Development held a public hearing on the proposed ballot referral Monday afternoon. KATU-TV news in Portland produced and aired a story for the weekend on the issue. AOC Executive Director Mike McArthur is featured in the Channel 2 story.

Co-Chairs PERS Bill Passes Rules Committees

SB 822, the PERS bill introduced by Ways and Means Co-Chairs Senator Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin) and Representative Peter Buckley (D-Ashland), received a hearing last Wednesday in a joint meeting of the House and Senate Rules Committee. On Thursday, the bill passed out of the Senate committee on a party-line vote and was sent to the Committee on Ways and Means to be explored further. The bill would establish a graduated cap on the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) granted to retirees. It would also eliminate the additional benefits granted to out-of-state retirees to supplement Oregon income taxes the retirees don't actually pay. As currently drafted, the bill would reduce employer liabilities by $455 or 2.7 percent of payroll. This proposal would result in less savings than the Governor's proposal ($865 million) or the package introduced by the Oregon School Boards Association that AOC has previously expressed a preference for (estimated to save $1.3 billion).

While AOC has expressed support for some form of a COLA cap, the proposal to defer some employer payments for two years is concerning. The co-chairs' budget calls for deferring $350 million of expected payments into the 2015-2017 biennium. AOC is concerned that this "kick the can" approach will do little to alleviate the long-term challenges of meeting PERS funding obligations. In actuality, as the financial analysts for PERS attested to at last Friday's Board meeting, deferring $350 million in payments now will actually cost $402.5 million by 2015 (a 15 percent increase). One thing is for certain: this story is far from over. Passing some version of PERS reform is crucial to both passing a school budget and also to securing needed votes on other critical issues.

Automatic DMV Voter Registration Proposed

The dash-1 amendment to HB 2198 was introduced Wednesday March 20th and quickly received considerable attention from both the House Rules Committee and the news media. The proposal from Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown, is aimed at ensuring virtually all eligible voters actually get registered. The concept calls for driver license information (and potentially from other government agencies in the future) to be provided to the Secretary of State's office and then to the county. New registrants would first be registered as "non-partisan," and then would receive a letter asking the registrant if they wish to "opt out" and explain how to register with a political party.

Linn County Clerk Steve Druckenmiller and Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott testified in favor of the bill, stating this would be both an innovative expansion of Oregon's pioneering "vote by mail" system and a more efficient process for registering voters, since electronic registrations from the online registration system take one-tenth the time to process as paper forms. However, it is important to note there would be a potentially significant upfront fiscal impact to counties because of the cost of adding a significant number of voters to the rolls in Oregon. The bill was held over by the House Rules Committee for future consideration and faces an uncertain future this session.

County Control of GMO?

On Tuesday, AOC offered testimony before the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee against House Bill 2715, which would authorize a county to establish control areas for commodities containing genetically engineered material. Earlier in the session, AOC had testified in favor of Senate Bill 633, which would reserve to the State the authority over such matters. AOC noted that our approach to this issue is an exception to the bedrock AOC principle of support for local control, but one based on sound reasoning. Counties do not have the expertise, budgets, staff, or other resources to carry this responsibility. The expertise lies at the state and federal levels. Moreover, it is likely that a county with this controversial authority will be facing lawsuits, whether it exercised the authority or not.

Human Services Notes

Early Learning Council

There were no concrete developments this week in the Early Learning Hub development or the transition period from commissions on children and families to hubs. HB 2013 has not been scheduled for a work session nor have any new amendments been released. However, AOC leadership will be meeting with Jada Rupley, ELC Director, and Duke Shepard, the Governor's policy advisor on Monday, April 1st. We are hoping to share the county perspective and to learn more about the vision for the future of the hubs.

Youth Development Council

HB 2392 has been scheduled for a work session this week. This bill would ensure the role of county commissioners in the YDC and spell out a distribution formula for the funds. Marion County Commissioner Janet Carlson has worked closely with Iris Bell, Director of the YDC, and the governor's office to ensure that all parties are satisfied with current version of the bill.

Veterans Notes

Oregon passes Veterans' Day Legislation: SB 1 moves on to Governor for his signature

SB 1 requires an employer to provide a veteran with paid or unpaid time off for Veterans Day if the employee provides the employer with a 21-day advance notice and documentation. Under the bill, the employer is allowed to deny the request or choose an alternate day to provide time off. Many Oregon veterans who are public employees currently receive Veterans Day as a holiday. In 2010, Iowa became the first state to pass a law requiring all employers to give veterans a paid or unpaid day off on Veterans Day.

SB 1 allows employers to decide whether the day off is paid or unpaid. Further, it allows employers to deny the request altogether if the absence will cause a "significant economic or operational disruption" to the business. Additionally, it allows flexibility - if Veterans' Day isn't convenient for the employer, he or she can offer the veteran a different day off.

Since original introduction of similar legislation in 2011, the sponsors of the bill have worked with the business community to address their concerns and have amended the bill significantly from the original to give discretion and flexibility to the employer. An identical version of SB 1 was considered but not passed by the Legislature in the 2011 Session

Senate President Peter Courtney is the chief sponsor of the measure. The bill was passed in the Senate on a 29-0 vote on Febrary 26th. On Tuesday, March 26th, House members approved the measure 46-1.

Disabled Vet Tax Break and Veterans In-State Tuition

Two bills supported by the AOC Veterans Subcommittee were discussed at the Senate Veterans and Emergency Preparedness Committee. The first bill, SB 808, provides a property tax reduction for 100 percent disabled vets. The bill initially seemed as if it would put an administrative burden on county staff, an amendment simplified the bill and was met with strong enthusiasm. The second bill, SB 820, provides in-state tuition for any nonresident veteran who was honorably discharged. Both bills are expected to receive work sessions in the next week.

A RARE Opportunity

Do you have a community building, natural resource or planning project that you don't have the resources to complete? If so, the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) Program might be your solution!

The mission of the RARE AmeriCorps Program is to increase the capacity of rural communities to improve their economic, social, and environmental conditions, through the assistance of trained graduate-level participants from across the US. These RARE AmeriCorps members live in and serve the communities for 11 months. RARE AmeriCorps participants assist communities in the development and implementation of projects for achieving a sustainable natural resource base and improving rural economic conditions. The RARE program is now in its 19th year; over the years we have placed more than 400 volunteers and served nearly every Oregon County.

For more information about RARE, including the benefits and the costs of the program, please visit the RARE website. Pre-applications (due April 15, 2013) are available online as well. If you have any questions, please email RARE at: rare@uoregon.edu or call 541.346.2879.

A Word or Two from OSSC

Does your organization want to increase the level of service they provide to the community? The Oregon State Service Corps (OSSC) is now accepting proposals for the 2013-2014 service year!

The Oregon State Service Corps is a statewide AmeriCorps program administered by the Oregon Red Cross. Since 2002, the program has provided nonprofits, community and faith-based organizations, government agencies and schools with the opportunity to sponsor an AmeriCorps member.

For 2013-2014, OSSC has applied for an AmeriCorps grant to have 63 members (57 full-time, 6 part-time), who will be divided into two teams:

Disaster Services Team: 30 full-time members will focus solely on disaster preparedness, response, resilience and/or mitigation (including disaster-related volunteer generation).

Community Services Team: 27 full-time and 6 part-time members will focus on community-determined needs in one, two, or three of the following focus areas: disaster services, economic opportunity, education, healthy futures, veterans and military families and/or volunteer generation.

The OSSC Request for Proposal (RFP) includes several pages of information about OSSC and the application process. To download a PDF copy of the RFP, you can go to this link. To have a WORD copy of the RFP emailed to you (or if you have any questions about the process), please contact OSSC Program Director Mark Johnson. Proposals from organizations are due into the OSSC office by Friday, April 26, 2013.

Conferences, Education, Opportunities - aka, "The Kitchen Sink"

Energy Star Benchmarking

The federal Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, has developed a program to help you understand the current and past energy use of all your buildings. Such information can be used to develop strategies to improve your energy usage.

Oregon Future Energy Conference, April 16-17, Portland Red Lion Hotel Jantzen Beach

Central Oregon Workshop on Economic Development Incentives

Business Oregon's Art Fish, resident expert on all things related to incentives and enterprise zones, will be holding a workshop in the Central Oregon region at Redmond City Hall on Friday, April 5, 2013 from 10:00am to 3:00pm. Cost is $10 (to cover lunch). Art is a wealth of information about nearly all incentives in the state for business development so this workshop is ideal training for economic development professionals, chamber of commerce directors, enterprise zone managers, county assessors and appraisers, business owners and local city and county elected leaders and staff. These enterprise zone and incentive workshop opportunities only roll around once every two to three years, so if you'd like to attend, please RSVP to Erin Reilly at EDCO, 541-388-3236 no later than Wednesday, April 3.

Regards to Rural Conference, June 21-22, Corvallis.

Scott Parker Says Good to Go

If he reads this far. Thanks for staying with us. More to come.

Have a great week.

Please feel free to submit your story ideas, announcements, recipes, photos and job changes to your Oregon Trails staff for inclusion in the next riveting edition.

See you next week - your Oregon Trails staff,

Laura Cleland & Eric Schmidt

Association of Oregon Counties

503-585-8351