Spared budget cuts by voters approving new taxes, Oregon legislators say ‘Whew,’ go to work

Oregon legislators say ‘Whew,’ go back to work

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s state legislators are sitting pretty. At least prettier than most.

When they go into session Monday, they do so with voters having approved new taxes on the wealthy and on businesses, adding about $727 million in state revenues during the next two years.

As a result, the lawmakers won’t have to chain-saw their way through the school aid program or social service agencies.

That’s in contrast to many other statehouses, where legislators have begun sessions short on tax revenue and long on people needing government help.

“This is a vote of confidence by the people of Oregon,” said Senate President Peter Courtney. “Now I have to get back to work helping our people. They’re banking on it.”

Even Oregon’s legislators, though, may not be so flush once they hear the latest forecast of state revenues — Courtney says it will show them off by $100 million.

But that’s less than a percent of the general fund, in a range that allows budget-makers to talk about “adjusting” the budget. It’s a signal, though, that legislators won’t have money just to play with.

They’ll also have little time for complex or ambitious work.

Courtney and his House counterpart, Speaker Dave Hunt, have scheduled a four-week session and insist it won’t dribble into March.

The leaders of the Democratic majorities want to demonstrate discipline as they plan to send a constitutional amendment to the voters this fall that would allow annual sessions.

As used to be common in small, rural states, Oregon’s Legislature is scheduled to meet every other year, in odd-numbered years. But also as in many such states, Oregon legislators want to make a transition to annual sessions to keep up with rapidly changing economic conditions.

In practice, Oregon legislators have made liberal use in recent years of special sessions, which can be called by the governor, or by majority votes in each chamber. Legislators themselves called the February session.

Hunt says it will focus on jobs and helping people hurt by the recession.

There are proposals to expand access to a small business loan program and extend unemployment benefits. The State Employment Department says that 14,000 Oregonians will have exhausted their benefits by the end of March — many after drawing checks for two years.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Wednesday called on the Legislature to reform the “kicker,” rebates to taxpayers when revenues are 2 percent above projections. But legislative leaders said it may be too soon after the most recent tax struggle to take on the delicate task of diverting some of the popular kicker money into a state savings account.

Other issues that may draw attention:

— A 1920s ban on teachers wearing religious garb. The Legislature passed a law forbidding employers to deny workers the right to wear religious garb but left intact the law dealing with teachers. The ACLU says the garb could invite proselytizing. Hunt says he thinks there are enough votes now to repeal the ban.

— Tax subsidies for green energy. Kulongoski vetoed a bill last year to reduce the maximum amount of credits, which have fueled the wind-energy business. But after stories in The Oregonian reported that the credits have ballooned, their cost was downplayed, and some projects went bankrupt or didn’t produce energy savings, the governor said he would support paring the subsidies.

— A budget-cutting bill from 2009 that was supposed to allow shorter sentences for some nonviolent criminals. Legislators failed to exclude some serious crimes, leading to court hearings that caused anguish for victims’ families.

— Proposals to keep lawmakers from jumping quickly into executive branch jobs, to ban plastic bags at checkout counters, to allow sobriety checkpoints, and to ban the chemical bisphenol A in containers intended for infants.

Hunt said it’s inevitable that tight deadlines will mean some ideas will have to await a lengthier session in 2011.

“There are going to be good bills that will die,” he said.