Northwest labor press., July 15, 2011, Page 3, Image 3

July 15, 2011 _NWLP 7/12/11 10:12 Am Page 3
...Lawmakers punt on labor-backed ‘Buy American’ bill
(From Page 1)
thor and state representative Jules
Bailey (D-Portland) explains it, the
state has a large existing fund that
loans money for small-scale energy
efficiency projects, but the 4 percent
interest rate has discouraged finan-
cially strapped schools from borrow-
ing. The Cool Schools bill directs
$1.3 million in unspent lottery dol-
lars, $16 million in one-time federal
money, and money from a public pur-
pose charge on PGE and Pacific
Power electric bills, to pay the interest
on the loans. That will incentivize
school districts to undertake the en-
ergy efficiency projects, Bailey said:
They wouldn’t need to come up with
the principal, or pay the interest, and
hopefully the utility bill savings will
be enough to repay the loans. While
the bill specifies that the work will be
subject to the requirement to pay pre-
vailing wage, it didn’t include local-
hire requirements and other labor
standards that were proposed. Work is
supposed to begin on several schools
this summer.
2) Linear fill and removal. It may
not sound very interesting, but HB
2700 was considered a top priority
“jobs bill” for the Oregon AFL-CIO
and building trades unions. The bill
would let developers of linear con-
struction projects like gas, water, and
electric transmission lines get a condi-
tional permit from the state before ob-
taining permission from landowners.
In the past, they could spend much
time getting landowner permission,
only to have state agencies tell them
the route was unacceptable for one or
another reason. Sierra Club and River-
keepers opposed the bill, saying it
would fast-track liquid natural gas
pipeline projects, which they oppose.
The bill failed to pass in two previous
legislative sessions, but passed this
time, backed by most Republicans and
about half of Democrats.
3) Scaling back tax giveaways.
Under the current income tax system,
it’s said that for every dollar collected,
another dollar slips away in deduc-
tions and credits. In an era when
politicians are hesitant to raise taxes
on anyone for any purpose, scaling
back such tax breaks is a way to in-
crease revenue. That’s become easier
to do under a 2009 law which man-
dates that most state income tax cred-
its expire every six years unless reau-
thorized. State lawmakers scrutinize a
third of the tax credits every two years
to see if they’re living up to promises
that they produce jobs and other bene-
fits. This year, lawmakers reduced
and reformed the tax credits, includ-
ing a film industry payroll subsidy
and the Business Energy Tax Credit,
which became controversial in recent
years as its fiscal impact mush-
roomed. But those savings were more
than eliminated by two other tax
changes lawmakers approved. At the
beginning of the session, they voted
to allow businesses to apply “bonus
depreciation” features of the Bush tax
breaks to their state tax bill. And at
the very end of the session, they voted
to match with state income tax credits
a federal New Markets Tax Credit that
benefits business and real estate in-
vestors.
4) Reversing the drift toward too
many managers. HB 2020, which
passed almost unanimously, was an
idea from the ranks of state employ-
ees represented by Service Employ-
ees International Union (SEIU) Local
503. They observed that state man-
agers often seem to be spared when
layoffs take place; a study by SEIU
found 1 manager for every 5.7 work-
ers, higher than other state govern-
ments. The new law directs legislative
budget writers, beginning in 2013, to
set an employee-to-manager ratio of
11-to-1 whenever possible in state
agencies with at least 100 employees,
or explain why, if they think another
ratio is better.
Other labor-backed bills were
stalled:
• Unionists lobbied once again to
legislate “Buy American” require-
ments for state purchasing, without
success. A “Buy Oregon” bill did pass
(HB 3000) but the Oregon AFL-CIO
was neutral on it, because it allows
state purchasers to give preference to
Oregon-made goods and services —
if the cost is not more than 10 percent
more than out-of-state goods and
services — but it doesn’t require state
purchasers to give the preference.
• The Oregon State Building and
Construction Trades Council pushed
for a law requiring companies to pay
prevailing wage on construction proj-
ects that get the state’s Enterprise
Zone property tax abatements. The
bill, HB 2586, was referred to the
House Business and Labor commit-
tee, but didn’t get a hearing.
• Oregon Working Families Party,
a union-supported minor political
party, worked on a proposal to with-
draw state money from big out-of-
state banks and loan it, through com-
munity banks, to Oregon farms and
businesses. In its first incarnation, the
idea was to form a state bank along
the lines of the Bank of North Dakota.
State Treasurer Ted Wheeler got on
board, and the idea was reborn as a
plan to form an “Economic Develop-
ment Finance Authority,” which
would pool a set of economic devel-
opment funds currently managed by
entities like Credit Suisse and place
them in community banks for use in
“participatory lending.” OWFP culti-
vated support from farmers, commu-
nity bankers, and business owners,
and had bipartisan support for the bill,
HB 2519. It passed House and Senate
committees with only one no vote,
but failed to get a vote in the Joint
Ways and Means Committee. “We
felt like the bill was in play ‘til the
very end,” said OWFP organizer
Steve Hughes. As a result, Hughes
said, backers are in a strong position
to take up the bill again in the next
legislative session.
• Bakers Union member Robin
Zimmerman spearheaded a bill to al-
low workers to take two weeks un-
paid bereavement leave after the
death of a family member. The bill,
SB 506, passed the Senate but failed
to get a hearing in the House Business
and Labor committee.
For Oregon AFSCME Council 75,
success this year meant “dodging bul-
lets” all session long — avoiding ma-
jor budget cuts to agencies like Cor-
rections that employ their members,
and staving off numerous proposals
aimed at reducing retirement benefits.
As AFSCME political director Joe
Baessler put it, “Little things passed,
but big things got watered down so
that they weren’t as scary or as good.”
With the House split, it was hard to
pass game-changing legislation.
“We’ll do it next time,” was a fre-
quent refrain among lawmakers of
both parties in the 2011 session,
Baessler said.
This Legislature will convene once
again for a one-month session in Feb-
ruary 2012.
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JULY 15, 2011
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