Mixed bag reviewed, as Legislature hears gavel
Although the final gavel for the 2007 Oregon Legislature fell Thursday, June 28, the potential effects of the laws passed won’t be immediately clear to the public.
But local legislators now have the chance to reflect on the last six months spent in Salem.
Rep. Ron Maurer
(R-Grants Pass)
Elected in November 2006, Maurer is a newcomer to the law-making process. His district encompasses most of Josephine County, including Illinois Valley.
Republicans were in the minority in the House and Senate, which put them in a defensive posture for the entire session, Maurer said.
“I think winning and losing is determined by which side of the aisle you’re sitting on,” he said. “If you’re sitting on the side of the aisle where you’re wanting an expanded role for government, you’ll consider this session as a significant victory.”
“If you’re on the side of less government intervention and lower taxes, you’ll see this session as a significant loss.”
Despite being a freshman legislator in the minority party, Maurer said that he did have some successes this session.
He sponsored a health-care access study bill, which aims to use technology to improve primary-care access. That bill was passed into law, along with another piece of legislation addressing health insurance for public bodies.
But Maurer noted that when it came to bad bills introduced and passed, “the list is endless.”
“The worst bill to pass this session, from a financial standpoint, is Senate Bill 426, the pooling of school district health insurance,” he said.
SB 426 was a top legislative priority for Democratic Gov. Kulongoski’s office. It was signed into law in March, and took effect immediately thereafter.
Maurer said that the bill was a “huge payoff” for the Oregon Education Association (OEA), the statewide teachers union. That group contributed large sums to Kulongoski’s 2006 re-election campaign. Plus, the governor’s chief of staff, Chip Terhune, worked as an OEA lobbyist prior to his current stint.
The passage of SB 426 will have “unintended consequences on the direction of the center of power in this state,” Maurer said.
Maurer said that SB 426 will enable OEA to win its continuing battle with the Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA), which is partially funded through its own insurance pool.
“In my opinion, it has nothing to do with health insurance,” Maurer said. “It’s the power struggle between the OSBA and OEA. This was the OEA’s way of cutting off financing to their enemy.”
He also found fault with SB 2 and HB 2007, which outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation and established the legal framework for civil unions.
An attempted rewrite of Measure 37, a property rights law passed by voters in the 2004 election, was passed during the session and will be referred to voters in November. Maurer said that he disagreed with the proposed changes.
“Measure 37 clearly is an example of how Portland Democrats controlled the process,” Maurer said. “The battle is really not about Josephine County. The battle truly is about the Willamette Valley, where there are a number of very contentious Measure 37 claims, which are really the basis for the whole animosity and vitriolic rhetoric that surrounds it.”
Maurer said that he learned a lot during his first session, and was able to work well with legislators including Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis) and Tina Kotek (D-Portland).
“It’s a steep learning curve, but I enjoyed the process,” Maurer said. “I have every intention of returning.”
Sen. Alan Bates (D-Ashland)
Bates, a legislative veteran, couldn’t be happier about the 2007 Legislature.
“This is one of the best sessions I’ve had,” Bates said. “I accomplished more this time than any of the previous ones.”
Adequate funding for K-12 education, along with the state’s universities and
community colleges, tops Bates’ list of positive developments at the capitol. A bill to add recycling deposits to water bottles also was included, along with a statewide system for reclaiming old television sets and computers, statewide renewable energy goals, increased pay for Oregon judges and hiring 100 new Oregon State Police patrol officers.
Bates sponsored legislation to provide incentives for physicians to operate in rural areas, on the basis that it will increase access to health care. It didn’t come easily, though.
“I had to battle for that one,” Bates said. “That was one of my bigger bills. It was a hassle to get it passed. But ultimately, we got that bill passed, and it did what we wanted to do to get
everyone covered.”
Another health-care bill, SB 329, was co-sponsored by Bates and Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo), and provides a “road map” to ensure coverage to all Oregonians by 2009.
Bates, a member of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, also was pleased at establishing a so-called rainy day fund.
Legislators set aside nearly half a billion dollars, Bates said, adding that, “I expect it to go to $3 billion within the next three or four years.”
Having those reserves in place will serve the state well during its next economic downturn, Bates said. A lack of revenue during the last two legislative sessions forced lawmakers to make drastic cuts in programs, and having a rainy day fund will make it easier to avoid such a scenario, he said.
“Those of us who went through the last recession up there know what it’s like,” Bates said. “We don’t want to repeat that for ourselves or anybody else in the future, especially not for the people of Oregon. They deserve better.”
Bates, a physician, said that he plans to continue his practice full time after taking some time to fish on the Rogue River. He also will ponder whether or not to challenge U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in the 2008 election, but won’t make a decision for another month or two.
Rep. Peter Buckley (D-Ashland)
Like Bates, Buckley is pleased that the Legislature was able to fund K-12 education at $6.2 billion, after several years of painful cuts.
“We turned the corner on education and got back moving in the right direction,” Buckley said. He also is proud that Oregon lawmakers were able to pass bills capping the interest rates on payday and auto title loans.
“I think that’s going to have a very positive impact on families and communities,” Buckley said. “People will have less problems falling into that spiral of debt.”
As chairman of the House Education Committee, Buckley said that more work is needed on the formula for community college funding.
“Rogue Community College is still not getting a fair shake,” he said.
Buckley said that during the next session, legislators need to seriously examine how the state handles its senior and mental health service programs.
Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point)
Richardson began his stint in the Legislature during the 2003 session. He served as speaker pro tem during the 2005 session, but found himself in the minority for the first time this year.
Those circumstances required some adjustment for Richardson and the other members of his caucus.
“We had to react to one piece of legislation after another that was all carefully orchestrated through the session,” he said.
House Republicans maintained a united front in defeating several tax proposals, Richardson said, as well as preventing some legislation from being passed.
“I feel like we accomplished some things, and as a minority party, we were able to stop some bad bills from going through,” Richardson said. “We prevented a number of tax increases from being placed on the backs of Oregon taxpayers at a time when there was more than $2.5 billion of additional revenues to spend.”
Richardson said he was pleased by the Legislature’s actions on education funding, the rainy day fund and OSP. However, he was disappointed at the lack of immigration reform this session, although Republican legislators proposed several bills addressing that issue.
Land-use was a sticking point for Richardson, who opposed the Measure 37 rewrite.
“A huge disappointment was the way the Measure 37 issue was handled,” he said. “Although the Democrats said there would be a bipartisan approach to solving the problems with Measure 37, in reality, it was really a liberal Democrat-controlled campaign to rewrite Measure 37 in a way that’s pleasing to 1,000 Friends of Oregon and other supporters of the current land use system,” Richardson said.
He said that he plans to seek re-election in 2008.
“I hope we regain the majority, but either way, I’m planning on continuing to serve,” Richardson said.
