Republican state reps blast Democrat budgets
From our weekly issue dated September 09, 2009
Rep. Ron Maurer (right) with (from left) Rep. Tim Freeman and Oregon House Republican Leader, Rep. Bruce Hanna. (Photo by Scott Jorgensen, I.V. News)
Approximately 100 people packed a side room at the Grants Pass High School Performing Arts Center on the evening of Monday, Aug. 31 for a legislative town hall meeting.
Oregon House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna (R-Roseburg) was present, along with Rep. Ron Maurer (R-Grants Pass), Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point) and Rep. Tim Freeman (R-Roseburg).
Hanna said that prior to the start of the 2009 legislative session, constituents asked him to focus on jobs and the economy. But, he added, Democrats held a super-majority in the House and Senate, which made it difficult for Republicans to advance legislation.
“I hope you understand our frustration,” Hanna said.
The state’s tax and fee burden increased by around $1.6 billion during the legislative session, Hanna said. Despite that, he said that the budget still contained a 9.3 percent spending increase.
“We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a jobs problem,” Hanna said.
To bolster his point, Hanna quoted an independent analysis stating that the increases in Oregon’s personal and corporate taxes will lead to a loss of 79,000 jobs.
Richardson stated that the state’s 2007 revenue forecasts were overly optimistic, even though the housing slump was already under way. He added that the budget adopted by the Legislature that year was 22 percent larger than the ‘05 budget.
“We cannot allow that to continue,” he said.
Maurer discussed several health-care issues, and said that a government option won’t bring down costs and will only serve to drive providers out of the state. Tort reform won’t solve the issue completely, Maurer said, but it will help.
During a question-and-answer session, Hanna stated that Gov. Kulongoski gave out $237 million in pay raises to state employees as legislators dealt with difficult budgetary decisions. Richardson said that some employees received raises of as much as $4,000 per month.
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Questions also were raised regarding the state’s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). Richardson said that during 2003, employees who worked for the state for 30 years were retiring with 103 percent of their salaries. That figure has since dropped to 85 percent, Richardson said, but does not include Social Security benefits.
School districts throughout the state pay around 20 percent of their budgets toward PERS, Richardson said, and that will go up substantially during the 2011-13 biennium.
Hanna addressed the $176 million state stimulus package passed by legislators. He said it will cost taxpayers $11 million in debt service per year until it is paid off.
Oregon Democrats claimed the package would create 3,000 jobs, Hanna said, but it only created around 350. The average job length was 35 hours.
“That’s not even a full week’s work,” Hanna said.
Republicans proposed a Main Street Plan to “incentivize” businesses and home owners to invest in their buildings, Hanna said. That plan promoted renewable energy projects and compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, he said, but was never seriously considered by majority Democrats.
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