Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed SB 822, the PERS reform bill brought forward by the Ways and Means Co-Chairs (Sen. Devlin and Rep. Buckley). The bill, which passed largely on party lines (one Democrat, Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem) -voted no), essentially contains three components:

• Places limits on cost-of-living-adjustments (COLA's) for PERS retirees making more than $20,000 a year in retirement.
• Eliminates reimbursements for Oregon income tax liabilities paid to out-of-state retirees.
• Directs PERS Board to delay payments due during this biennium, and push the payments off into subsequent biennia. 

House Bill 2140, which would allow counties and other local governments the ability to invest in the Oregon Intermediate Term Pool, passed the House 60-0 last Thursday and now moves on to the Senate floor. A product of the Government Efficiency Task Force chaired by Rep. Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene), the bill is designed to give local governments with funds containing reserves of longer than a three-year duration a more attractive investment option than currently available. Many counties invest in the extremely stable (but low return) Oregon Short-Term Fund and, with the passage of this bill, would now have the ability to shift some of the funds to the Intermediate Pool and earn more interest. AOC testified in support of this bill along with Portland Community College. 

House Bill 2143 sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last week on a unanimous vote following testimony from Oregon State Sheriffs Association lobbyist Darrell Fuller and AOC Public Safety Policy Manager Patrick Sieng. The bill previously passed the House on a unanimous vote as well.

The bill comes from the Government Efficiency Task Force (GETF). AOC President Mary Stern, Yamhill County Commissioner, chaired the subcommittee on criminal justice for the GETF. House Bill 2143 is aimed at eliminating duplicate audits of county jails conducted by the sheriffs association and the state corrections department. Jeremiah Stromberg, Assistant Director for Community Corrections at the Department of Corrections, also testified in support.

Some concerns about the bill came from the American Civil Liberties Union, which wanted a broader conversation about increasing jail audit standards. 

Sieng, in this testimony to the committee, thanked Rep. Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene) for her leadership in chairing the GETF and listed the county representatives that served on the task force. In addition to Commissioner Stern, that list included district attorneys, sheriffs, community corrections directors, and juvenile department directors.

House Bill 2143 will now go to the Senate floor where it will be considered. Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene) who chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary will carry the bill. 

The Executive Committee of the Association of O&C Counties has sent a letter to Oregon's United States Senators urging them to address the failed federal forest policies that are devastating our federal forests and our rural communities. Without strong leadership from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) all hope of restoring the health and survival of our valuable forests and communities across the state will be lost.  

Josephine County Commissioner Simon Hare sat on Governor Kitzhaber's O&C Task Force and has spent considerable time and effort lobbying Congress to deal with federal forest stability and sustainability. He wrote an op-ed for the newspaper in Grants Pass that is well worth your time reading.   

Tillamook County Commissioner Tim Josi weighed in on the issue of federal forest management and rural community economic vitality with an op-ed in the Salem Statesman-Journal.

As Congress tries to find a solution to federal forest management in the weeks and months to come, Oregon counties will continue to play a significant role in crafting the policies that will impact our forests and our communities.  

Tim McCabe, Director of the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD), testified on the Manufacturing Business Energy Tax Credit before the Joint Committee on Tax Credits. 

OBDD is proposing to broaden this tax credit, make it more flexible, and allow it to be spent on other manufacturing industries, not just energy related. The key items in their proposal include:

1. Changing the name from Manufacturing BETC to the Oregon Manufacturing Initiative;
2. Reducing the total program cap from $200 million per biennium to $100 million per biennium; 
3. Limiting the incentive to one tax credit of up to a $10 million maximum per company;
4. Provide that the tax credit apply to new or expanded manufacturing activities that create new jobs for at least five years;
5. Minimum amount of qualifying expenses for the incentive eligibility would be $1 million;
6. Eligible manufacturing industries include key industries defined by the OBDD commission and jobs created must pay 150 percent of average wages, either statewide or in the county where jobs are created;
7. The tax credit would continue to be transferable and could be taken in equal amounts over five years.

Director McCabe said the purpose of the credit is to create jobs and provide an incentive to manufacturing companies to expand or locate in Oregon. 

The Joint Committee asked questions on how the Manufacturing BETC has been used and whether the state would be reimbursed if a company does not meet its commitments.   Director McCabe said the BETC would need to be repaid if contractual commitments are not met. The Committee also discussed whether the credit should be allowed to be sold. Director McCabe replied that the BETC is attractive to companies because they can sell a credit if they do not have a tax liability. The Committee discussed whether the credit should be a grant rather than a tax credit. Since this was a public hearing, no formal action on the bill was taken. 

The Oregon Business Development Department is hosting seminars in Portland, Eugene and Bend for Oregon small and medium size businesses during the week of May 13-17. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about assistance from state, local, and federal government agencies designed to help Oregon companies tap into foreign markets. For more information about the seminars and locations go to this link.