STATE
6A — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2021
Voters to decide whether health care is a right in Oregon
Passage could force legislators to put
health care spending ahead of other needs
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Mitch
Greenlick may achieve in
death what he was unable
to do during his 17 years in
the Oregon House.
A vote in the House
cleared the way for
Oregon voters to decide in
November 2022 whether
health care should be
considered a right in the
Oregon Constitution. The
House passed Senate Joint
Resolution 12 on a 34-23
vote along party lines on
Wednesday, May 19. The
resolution does not require
the governor’s signature.
Greenlick, a Democrat
from Portland, was in
his ninth and fi nal term
when he died a year ago
at age 85.
As leader or co-leader
of the House Health Care
Committee for more than
six cycles, going back to
2007, he sponsored and the
House passed similar res-
olutions four times. All of
them died in the Senate,
although his fi nal attempt
had reached the full Senate
before the Legislature
abruptly adjourned its
2020 regular session after
Republican walkouts.
“This is not the fi rst
version of this that you
tried,” Rep. Rob Nosse,
a Democrat from Port-
land who joined the Health
Care Committee upon his
appointment to the House
in 2015, said during the
debate.
“Passage of this reso-
lution and hoped-for pas-
sage on the ballot in the
fall of 2022 is an awesome
legacy to your work. Each
of us knows that access
to quality and aff ord-
able health care is a basic
human need for all the
people of this state. It is
a need that is worthy of
being a right in our state
Constitution.”
Nosse was the lead
House sponsor and Sen.
Elizabeth Steiner Hay-
ward, D-Beaverton, was
the lead Senate sponsor.
Her district includes
Greenlick’s former dis-
trict in Northwest Port-
land and northeast Wash-
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
A stack of ballots sits in the Union County Clerk’s Offi ce, La Grande,
as workers count the ballots for the special election Tuesday, May 18,
2021. Oregon voters can decide in November 2022 on a ballot mea-
sure that would change the state constitution to make health care a
fundamental right.
ington County.
Greenlick came to
Oregon in 1964 to start
and later direct the Kaiser
Permanente Center for
Health Research. He
became a vice president of
Kaiser Foundation Hos-
pital in 1981. He became a
professor and chairman of
public health and preven-
tive medicine at Oregon
Health & Science Univer-
sity from 1990 until he was
elected to the
House in 2002.
The proposed consti-
tutional amendment also
says this:
“The obligation of
the state … must be bal-
anced against the public
interest in funding public
schools and other essen-
tial public services, and
any remedy arising from
an action brought against
the state to enforce the
provisions of this section
may not interfere with the
balance described in this
subsection.”
Rep. Andrea Salinas,
D-Lake Oswego, said the
amendment would not
compel legislators to sup-
port health care spending
at the expense of state aid
to public schools and other
state services.
“The resolution is in no
way prescriptive in how
the Legislature gets from
here to there,” Salinas
said.
But Rep. Cedric
Hayden of Lowell, the top
Republican on the Health
Care Committee, said
he believes the constitu-
tional amendment would
open state government to
lawsuits.
“It is no longer some-
thing that every resident
of Oregon would have no
right of action — they
do,” Hayden, a dental sur-
geon, said. “It is no longer
something that would not
put pressure on all of our
other budgets.
“I do not believe that
our schools, our students
and our parents have a
private right of action to
sue the state to make sure
their school gets funded
appropriately. If people
feel that public safety in
their county or city is
not up to a standard that
it should be, they do not
have a private right of
action to sue the state that
it is funded.”
He estimated it would
cost up to $4 billion for
state-supported insur-
ance coverage to reach
everyone under the
Oregon Health Plan,
which is jointly funded
by federal and state
governments.
Oregon’s uninsured
adults are estimated at
6% of the population.
Most children are now
covered.
House Republican
Leader Christine Drazan
of Canby said passage of
the constitutional amend-
ment could compel legis-
lators to put health care
spending ahead of other
programs.
“Either this is aspira-
tional — and we should
vote on it today as such,
but not send it to voters to
enshrine it in our Consti-
tution — or it is an obliga-
tion of the state,” she said.
“If it is an obligation of
the state and does nothing
and costs us nothing, there
is no value in it.
“Be prepared to say no
to other things, because
otherwise it is pointless.”
Oregon revenue forecast: State coff ers and ‘kicker’ to surge
Taxpayers getting back total of $1.4
billion in credits against 2021 tax bills
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — For Oregon’s
state budget, and for Oregon
taxpayers, it appears every-
thing’s coming up roses
these days.
An economic surge as
the coronavirus pandemic
wanes will produce $1 bil-
lion more for state coff ers
than state economists pro-
jected just three months
ago. That will be enough
to boost state spending,
without cuts, as lawmakers
fi nish work on the state
budget for the next two
years.
Meanwhile, that surge
will result in an estimated
$1.4 billion — more than
twice the amount projected
back on Feb. 24 — going
back to taxpayers next year
in the form of “kicker”
credits against their 2021
tax bills. The fi nal fi gure
will be determined in the
September economic and
revenue forecast, but the
share of tax liability is pro-
jected at 13.6%.
For the average taxpayer
with a household income of
$67,400, the credit will be
$636. For the median with
household income between
$35,000 and $40,000 —
half are above and half
below that range — the
credit will be $312.
“I have never seen such a
strong outlook,” State Econ-
omist Mark McMullen told
members of the House and
Senate revenue committees
during his quarterly fore-
cast on Wednesday, May
20.
“There are a whole
lot more resources avail-
able than when we last
reported in March, and
even more than we reported
at the beginning of the ses-
sion, when the budget was
drafted. It’s quite a remark-
able turnaround from a few
months ago.
“When the pandemic
hit, we saw these massive
job losses that blew a $2
billion hole in the budget.
That hole was fi lled by the
March forecast (on Feb. 24),
and now we are past where
we thought we would be
even pre-pandemic.”
Gov. Kate Brown pro-
posed $25.6 billion in
spending from the tax-sup-
ported general fund and lot-
tery proceeds, the state’s
two most fl exible sources,
back on Dec. 1. Legisla-
tive budget writers, bol-
stered by $2.6 billion in fed-
eral aid from President Joe
Biden’s pandemic recovery
plan, unveiled a framework
for almost $28 billion in
spending on March 24.
Brown said in a state-
ment that the latest forecast,
coupled with projections for
the following two budget
cycles, sets the stage for a
better Oregon:
“Our anticipated state
revenues will allow us to
fully fund our state agency
base budgets, make invest-
ments prioritized by the
Racial Justice Council,
move forward with a $9.3
billion school budget, fully
fund the Student Success
Act, and ensure no one
is kicked off the Oregon
Health Plan, among other
things.
“These investments will
help Oregonians recover
from the COVID-19 pan-
demic and move Oregon
toward a future where
equity is realized and all are
equal.”
Some Democrats want
to spend more; Republi-
cans say spending should
focus on one-time purposes.
Budget writers have already
proposed to save some
of the federal aid for the
2023-25 budget period.
Senior economist Josh
Lehner said what has
helped prop up the economy
in Oregon and other states
is the massive federal
spending during the pan-
demic, including payments
to individuals and busi-
nesses. Biden’s plan gave
$1,400 payments to an esti-
mated 95% of Oregonians.
“It has been unprece-
dented outside of wartime,”
Lehner said. “It has allowed
households and fi rms to
keep their heads above
water. It does not mean that
some people haven’t fallen
through the cracks — they
have — and some busi-
nesses have closed.”
McMullen said econ-
omists have not seen the
steep downturn triggered
by the onset of the pan-
demic — Oregon’s unem-
ployment rate went from a
modern-low 3.5% in March
2020 to a modern-high
13.2% the following month
— and the equally speedy
recovery. The April 2021
rate was 6%; it has hovered
around that mark for a few
months.
McMullen said he still
projects it will be the
fourth quarter of 2022
before Oregon returns to
its pre-pandemic employ-
ment levels, still shorter
than the seven years fol-
lowing downturns in 1980
and 2007.
“Obviously, a lot of
things can happen in two
years,” he said. “But right
now we are on a pretty
strong footing. The con-
sensus (of economists)
ranges from good to great.”
McMullen said the
amount of the projected
kicker could change, given
that Oregon tax fi lings just
closed May 17, a month
later than usual because
of the pandemic. It would
not be the largest since the
kicker was created in 1979
and put into the Oregon
Constitution in 2000; $1.1
billion was rebated in
2007 and $1.7 billion in
2019, both just before Ore-
gon’s economy took sharp
nosedives.
Oregon offi cials bet lott ery
will boost COVID-19 shots
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — Oregon offi -
cials are betting that the
desire to win $1 million in
a lottery will boost the per-
centage of Oregonians who
are vaccinated against the
coronavirus.
With only half of the
people living in Oregon
either fully or partially vac-
cinated, Oregon Lottery
offi cials approved a plan
Friday to hold a lottery.
Those who have been vac-
cinated by June 27 will be
eligible.
“It’s never been easier to
get a vaccine, so don’t miss
your shot to enter,” Gov.
Kate Brown said.
She told reporters this
is an eff ort to raise the per-
centage of adult Orego-
nians who get vaccinated
to 70% in order to fully
reopen the state.
The Oregon Health
Authority reported 50% of
Oregonians are vaccinated,
with 39% having com-
pleted the series and 11% in
progress.
If Oregonians have
received at least a fi rst
dose of Pfi zer, Moderna or
Johnson & Johnson, they
are automatically entered
to win through the state’s
vaccine database. Brown,
responding to a question at
a Zoom news conference,
said people who are in
Oregon illegally and have
been vaccinated also are
eligible to win the prize.
Other states also are
YouTube/Screenshot
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks Friday, May 21, 2021, to announce
the state’s new $1 million in a lottery for those who are vaccinated
against the coronavirus. About half of the people living in Oregon
are either fully or partially vaccinated.
trying the tactic, including
New York, Maryland and
Ohio.
Oregon ranks 19th in
the nation in percentage of
people who have received
one dose, said Pat Allen,
director of the Oregon
Health Authority. Oregon
is on track to having 70%
of its residents being vac-
cinated by the end of June,
Allen said.
The Oregon campaign
is funded with $1.86 mil-
lion in federal pandemic
relief and is a collaboration
between the Oregon Health
Authority and the Oregon
Lottery.
Oregonians 18 and older
will have the chance to
win $1 million or one of 36
$10,000 prizes, with one
winner in each county. Res-
idents age 12 to 17 will have
a chance to win one of fi ve
$100,000 Oregon College
Savings Plan scholarships.
The drawing will take
place June 28.
EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Official Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Submit all photos
online at:
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the final
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for first, second and third
place.
lagrandeobserver.com/photocontest