Opinion
4A
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Our View
Oregon Capital Bureau, File
Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney’s proposal, Senate Bill 846,
could reduce the kicker tax refund.
Legislators should
clearly state what
bills would do
Other Views
tate Senate President Peter Courtney
held a news conference before the 2021
legislative session to announce steps
to keep the legislative process accessible to
Oregonians.
“We have never seen a session like this
before. We need to keep members and staff
safe,” he said. “Legislative staff worked hard
to come up with a plan that is safe and trans-
parent. Every session, Oregonians make their
voices heard on issues they care about. We
need these voices.”
But if you don’t know what the Legisla-
ture is talking about it’s hard to voice your
opinion. Consider Courtney’s Senate Bill
846. It’s a model of translucency, not trans-
parency. The bill shifts money around. It also
potentially reduces the kicker tax refund.
Does the language of the bill clearly state
it potentially reduces the kicker? No.
Does it even mention the kicker? No.
Shouldn’t a bill that potentially reduces the
kicker clearly state that? Yes, we think so.
Now if you are fl uent in the budget-speak
of the Legislature you could fi gure it out
from the language of the bill — maybe.
What the bill does, in part, is repeal transfers
to the general fund of $15 million from the
state’s insurance fund and from an operating
account of the Department of Justice. The
money stays where it is, at least temporarily.
It just doesn’t get shifted over to the general
fund.
That matters because it eff ectively reduces
the general fund by that $15 million. That
aff ects the kicker. The kicker is Oregon’s
unique law that voters passed. It occurs if
state revenues exceed forecasted revenues
by 2% or more over a two-year budget cycle.
If that happens, the excess, including the
trigger amount, gets returned to taxpayers.
No fi nal determination has been made;
there will be a kicker for the 2019-2021 bien-
nium. But the kicker is on target to kick,
according to the latest revenue forecast.
And because SB 846 is moving forward the
amount returned to taxpayers would be less.
Look, legislators need to be able to move
money around, such as in this bill. They need
to be able to balance the budget and line
money up how they want to spend it. They
also should be transparent about what they
are doing and clearly state in a bill if it
would reduce the kicker.
S
A free market should be free to all, all the time
LISA NELSON
AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE
EXCHANGE COUNCIL
year after the fi rst COVID-19
shutdown, President Biden
signed the American Rescue
Plan Act — the $1.9 trillion corona-
virus legislation that truly has little to
do with coronavirus at all.
The third of its kind since 2020, the
bill was proposed with the intention
to provide COVID relief and bail out
states with federal funds. But in this
case, the third time isn’t the charm as
once again, federal decision makers
have turned to quick fi xes that create
long-term issues rather than long-term
solutions.
Our recent history teaches us a fed-
eral bailout of the states threatens to
further harm taxpayers, federalism
and ultimately the states themselves.
This third state bailout, with less than
10% going to COVID relief and only
1% going to vaccine distribution,
proves that this will be the case again.
Since the fi rst discussion on fed-
eral bailout of the states began in
2020, hundreds of state lawmakers
addressed the policy problems with
a federal bailout. State leaders were
concerned with the federal “solution”
prescribed to help them, because a
state bailout wrongly rewards those
who have made poor fi nancial deci-
sions at the expense of prosperity
states.
A
In 2020, state and local govern-
ments already received hundreds
of billions in CARES Act funding.
In many states, much of the funds
remain unspent. My home state of
California has a $25 billion surplus,
and will now receive $42.63 billion
more. Giving more only incentivizes
more fi scally irresponsible decision
making and will unjustifi ably punish
the fi nancially responsible states.
We’ve seen the consequences of
federal bailout before. In 2009, state
legislators voiced concerns over
the strings attached to federal dol-
lars during debate on the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
acknowledging the costly conse-
quence of accepting a bailout. Federal
aid will unfortunately always come
with strings attached and will more
than likely only lead to increase in
spending and higher state taxes.
Today, though, our national debt
lingers at almost three times what
it was in 2009. The stakes are too
high to continue a cycle that prom-
ises quick fi xes from the federal gov-
ernment. Quick fi xes turn into long-
term issues, and if we continue to
dig the hole so deep we may never
escape. We should instead rely on fact
and experience, and learn from our
history.
The only real way to make pro-
ductive, responsible decisions for our
states is for our states to practice fi scal
discipline. It is one of the more dif-
fi cult roads to take, but to bring true
relief to our communities, we should
look to policy solutions in the pros-
perity states that lead the way in fi scal
responsibility. Prosperity doesn’t
come from luck, but from the diffi cult
and necessary work to balance state
budgets and keep spending in check.
Organizations like the American
Legislative Exchange Council release
annual publications, like Rich States,
Poor States, ranking the states’ perfor-
mances in policy variables that have
proven to build fi nancially resilient
prosperity states. Many of the states at
the top of this ranking, such as Utah
and Wyoming, fi nd themselves in the
best position coming out the other
side of the pandemic. Practicing fi scal
responsibility in state policy solutions
is proven to build state competitive-
ness in both times of prosperity and
turmoil.
Nearly a year ago, over 200 state
lawmakers and nearly 1,500 state
leaders and activists signed a letter to
raise policy concerns with a bailout —
and Congress noticed.
The fi ght is not over, and voices
are still needed to commit to fi scal
responsibility in the states.
Encourage your state lawmakers to
choose solutions that build true pros-
perity in your state.
———
Lisa Nelson is the chief executive
offi ce of the American Legislative
Exchange Council, an organization
bringing state legislators and stake-
holders together to develop public
policy benefi cial to the free market
and individual liberty.
Letters
Voting law changes
reminiscent of Jim Crow
In the aftermath of an election
that was declared fraudulent without
evidence, legislatures in many states
are introducing 200+ changes to
voting laws that make it more com-
plicated and/or inconvenient to vote.
It’s reminiscent of the South’s Jim
Crow laws instituted after the 13th
Amendment abolished slavery and
the 15th Amendment guaranteed
the right to vote to all male citizens,
including former slaves. In spite of
having lost the Civil War, Southern
states instituted Jim Crow laws,
which perpetuated racial segregation
and discrimination for decades, the
aftermath of which the U.S. is still
wrestling with.
Below I quote from a speech
by the most famous man to escape
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slavery, Frederick Douglass, 1818-
95. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester,
New York, Douglass, a decade before
the Civil War, addressing his speech
to proponents of slavery, gave his
impression in “The Meaning of July
Fourth for the Negro”:
“What, to the American slave, is
your 4th of July? I answer: a day that
reveals to him, more than all other
days in the year, the gross injustice
and cruelty to which he is the con-
stant victim. To him, your celebra-
tion is a sham; your boasted liberty,
an unholy license; your national
greatness, swelling vanity; your
sounds of rejoicing are empty and
heartless; your denunciations of
tyrants, brass fronted impudence;
your shouts of liberty and equality,
hollow mockery; your prayers and
hymns, your sermons and thanksgiv-
ings, with all your religious parade,
and solemnity, are, to him, mere
bombast, fraud, deception, impiety,
and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover
up crimes which would disgrace a
nation of savages.”
Gary Dielman
Baker City