Special legislati v e session ga v els to a close
No major union-related bills are heard during the three-week experiment
SALEM — The Oregon Legisla-
ture’s first-ever experiment with an
annual session wrapped up Feb. 22.
No major union-related bills were de-
bated during the three-week session,
but labor organizations took sides in
favor of a handful of bills. And not
many of those passed, despite Democ-
ratic leadership of the Oregon House,
Oregon Senate and governor’s office.
The top priority of the Oregon
AFL-CIO was a package of mortgage
reforms supported by a consumer
coalition that included AARP, OS-
PIRG, and the union-backed group
Our Oregon. State Senator Ben West-
lund (D-Tupelo) led the campaign, in-
troducing a bill that contained six pro-
posals to protect borrowers from
onerous mortgage lending practices.
But the mortgage industry mounted
fierce opposition, and four of the six
were amended out of the bill.
On the House side, Speaker Jeff
Merkely (D-Portland) backed the
stripped-down bill, and managed to
get it passed by a single vote. Three
Democratic House members voted
against the bill — Larry Galizio of
Tigard, Deborah Boone of Cannon
Beach, and Mike Schaufler of Happy
Valley. But Merkely was also able to
get three Republicans to vote for it —
John Lim of R-Gresham, Donna Nel-
son of McMinnville, and Bill Garrard
of Klamath Falls. In the end, it didn’t
matter: Senate leaders Peter Courtney
(D-Salem) and Richard Devlin (D-Tu-
alatin) refused to give the bill a vote,
saying it wouldn’t pass, even though
Democrats controlled 18 of 30 seats in
the Senate.
“The industry was lobbying from
day one to stop any lending reform
from moving forward,” said Angela
Martin, Economic Fairness Coalition
Director for Our Oregon.
The mortgage reform proposals
will likely be back for debate next
year, when the next Legislature meets
in January.
“We will see more pain in the
mortgage lending arena for homeown-
ers,” Martin said. “The banking com-
munity has gone way overboard with
excessive fees and abusive contract
terms, and it’s eating into the pockets
of too many working families.”
Two mortgage reform bills did
pass, however — bills that were sup-
ported by a gubernatorial task force
heavy with mortgage industry repre-
sentatives. One will limit “rescue
mortgage” scams that prey on bor-
rowers in foreclosure; the other will
require mortgage bankers and brokers
to file an annual report about their ac-
tivities.
Supporters of a union-backed third
party, the Oregon Working Families
Party (OWFP), were disappointed
again when their proposal to restore
“fusion” voting failed. Fusion, which
exists in several other states, allows
candidates to be listed on ballots as
the nominee of more than one politi-
cal party. OWFP has ballot status as a
minor party in Oregon, but hasn’t yet
run candidates for fear of the “spoiler”
effect, in which voting for a third-
party candidate helps elect the less ap-
pealing major party candidate. Instead
OWFP has focused on restoring fu-
sion, which Oregon once had. Passing
fusion would breathe life into a party
like OWFP, enabling workers to vote
on the ballot line of a party that sticks
to bread-and-butter economic issues
and avoids divisive social issues.
Last year, OWFP tried and failed to
win passage of a fusion bill in the
Legislature’s regular session. In Feb-
ruary, OWFP went to work again on
state lawmakers with the help of a
paid organizer and two contract lob-
byists. They managed to get commit-
ments of support from a majority in
each chamber, said party co-chair
Barbara Dudley — including numer-
ous Republicans, who believe fusion
would lessen the spoiler effect of con-
servative third parties like the Liber-
tarians. But the bill died in the Ways
and Means Committee, because Sen-
ate Democratic leaders, including
Senate President Peter Courtney, re-
fused to give the bill a vote. Dudley
credits three Democratic lawmakers
in particular as having fought for the
bill: state senators Brad Avakian and
Ben Westlund, and state representa-
tive Chip Shields. OWFP leaders plan
to meet soon to consider options,
which include a ballot initiative for
2008 or 2010, another try at the Legis-
lature in 2009, and a third, unnamed
option.
On the issue of health care, several
union groups backed a proposal for
additional money to expand the rolls
of poor children on the Oregon Health
Plan. Right now the kids are dropped
from the rolls if they don’t reapply
every six months; the bill would have
given them at least a year’s worth of
health coverage once they qualify. But
a scaled-back state budget forecast
drove a nail into the coffin of that
idea, said AFL-CIO president Tom
Chamberlain.
Behind the scenes, there was also
talk of adding a representative of or-
If the Feds can lower their rates,
so can we!
Second
Mortgage
&
Home Equity
Line of
Credit Rates
Have
Dropped
Call or Click to Apply Today!
800-356-6507 ext 340
www.ibewuwfcu.com
New
&
Used
Auto Rates
Have
Dropped
Too
We can help with
all of your financial
dreams.
9955 SE Washington St
PO Box 16877
Portland, Oregon 97292
www.ibewuwfcu.com
Electricians, Carpenters, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofer, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
Electricians, Carpenters, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofer, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
Carpenters, Electricians, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofers, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
ganized labor to the governor-ap-
pointed Global Warming Commis-
sion. But that went nowhere.
A bright spot for labor was a bill to
require energy conservation improve-
ments in state buildings, sponsored by
Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie), former sec-
retary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-
CIO and a union rep for United Food
and Commercial Workers Local 555.
Witt sponsored a similar bill last year,
which failed to pass. This time, an
amended version passed with a unani-
mous vote in the Oregon House, and
all but one vote in the Oregon Senate.
The bill could result in thousands of
jobs for union building trades work-
ers.
Witt also was able to get $500,000
appropriated to a revolving loan fund
for reconstruction efforts in communi-
ties like Vernonia that were hit hard
by last year’s severe storms.
AFSCME, one of the larger public
employee unions, helped pass a bill
aimed at heading off a major budget
threat. Lawmakers voted to refer to
voters a bill to provide drug treatment
and longer prison sentences for repeat
offenders committing property
crimes. The legislature’s proposal is
put forth as an alternative to a much
more expensive ballot measure au-
thored by Kevin Mannix that would
require mandatory minimum sen-
tences for property crimes and iden-
tity theft, even for first time offenders
whose crimes were committed to feed
drug habits. The way the referral is
written, if voters approve it, it will in-
validate the Mannix measure.
Alltold, AFL-CIO President Cham-
berlain termed it a successful legisla-
tive session, which passed consensus
bills and ended short and under
budget.
“Could they have done more? Of
course they could have,” Chamberlain
said. “We didn’t bring forward
groundbreaking legislation because
we didn’t have time to build support
for that.”
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon
as a voice of the labor movement.
4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150,
Portland, Ore. 97213
Telephone: (503) 288-3311
E-mail: Michael492@comcast.net
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice
Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of
each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-
profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the
Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore-
gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union
members.
Group rates available to trade union organizations.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID
AT PORTLAND, OREGON.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a
change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old
and new addresses and the name and number of your local union.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150-0150,
PORTLAND, OR 97213
Glaziers, Carpenters, Laborers, Electricians, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofers, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
PAGE 2
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MARCH 7, 2008