14
community
april7
2016
Oregon Legislative Wrap Up
By State Senator Betsy Johnson
There was a
carefree moment before
the start of the 2016
legislative session when
Newfoundland
dogs
bounded into the state
capitol, their owners lobbying to make
the breed Oregon’s official state dog.
They didn’t succeed, and it’s
just as well. This session devolved into
a cat fight.
Immediately after the session
ended, it was as if peace and prosperity
now reigned over Oregon, what with a
new minimum wage and bills promoting
“affordable” housing and “clean energy.”
Many Oregonians are not
fooled. They understand we have real
problems, and we need real solutions –
not symbolic gestures.
For example, the minimum
wage. It turns out that the state’s seven
public universities have penciled out
how much the increase in the minimum
wage will cost them. The schools employ
thousands of student workers, who will
now earn millions more as the multiple
tiers of the pay increase kick in over the
next six years.
How will the schools pay for
this? New revenues. In other words,
tuition increases. Small businesses won’t
have that option to meet the demands of
the new wages. What will they do? Pass
along the costs to their customers?
I voted against the minimum-
wage increase for this very reason. So
many of these ideas that sound good in
a legislative bill later mutate and take on
new lives when they become law. The
same people keep getting hurt, in this
case working- and middle-class people.
Instead of minimum wage, I
continued to push for family-wage jobs.
Satsrday, April 9 at 6:00 pm
VHS Gymnasism
Benefits VHS Girls Basketball Program
In particular, an Advanced Manufacturing
Research Center (AMRC) in Columbia
County.
Modeled after a very successful
project developed by Boeing and the
University of Sheffield in England, the
Oregon AMRC would provide training
for students through industry-sponsored
apprenticeships.
On my own time and expense,
I visited the facility in Sheffield. To
see what the center looks like, go to
http://www.amrc.co.uk/. These are
opportunities to learn skills leading
to jobs in research, design and
manufacturing for businesses of all sizes,
from aerospace giants to local small and
medium-sized enterprises. These are
life-time careers for Oregonians who
want a future, not minimum wage.
Boeing would like to emulate
the Sheffield model in Oregon through
a partnership with Portland Community
College and an array of stakeholders
that government can help bring together,
including: Oregon State University,
the Oregon Institute of Technology,
the Oregon Employment Department,
Portland State University, the Oregon
State Building and Construction Trades
Council, the International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers and
International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers 48.
The legislature agreed to spend
$7.5 million to help start the project.
This was my highest priority for the 2016
session. This is how politics can help
create meaningful economic change.
Unfortunately, too much of what
came out of the 2016 legislative session
may prove disappointing to the people
who are supposed to be helped.
Look at the “landmark” housing
bills. What will these really mean to
someone trying to buy or rent a place? One
bill will allow cities to use inclusionary
zoning to require developers to include
“affordable” apartments in projects of at
least 20 units. Developers may stick to
building smaller apartment projects to
avoid the requirements.
The definition of “affordable”
can be slippery. How affordable will
these rents actually be? Who will make
up the difference? Probably other tenants
paying an even higher market rate.
Another housing bill restricts
landlords from raising rents for a tenant’s
first year and requires a 90-day notice
of rent increases. While this will give
renters more time to look for housing, it
does nothing to increase the number of
available units.
The way to lower housing costs
is to increase the amount of housing
available so it isn’t overwhelmingly a
seller’s or landlord’s market. Planners
should have seen this coming at least a
decade ago. A failure to acknowledge
mistakes and learn from them increases
the likelihood of more mistakes.
Another bill hailed as
“pioneering” will require Oregon to
phase out coal-generated electricity
and increase reliance on wind and solar
resources. Sold as “clean energy,” it will
increase costs to consumers but do little
to reduce carbon emissions.
One of the strangest aspects
of this bill is that while wind and
solar are used in the calculations for
what is considered renewable energy,
hydropower was excluded. Why would
environmentalists denounce coal, but
also oppose hydropower as a renewable
– given its natural fit with Oregon’s
weather. Is there less money to be made
off of rain?
As we saw in the unraveling
career of former Gov. John Kitzhaber
and his first lady, there is money to be
made off of environmental causes. It
was of particular concern to me that the
Oregon Public Utility Commission was
silenced in its investigation of this anti-
coal bill with its anti-hydro provisions.
As e-mails later released to the media
revealed, the commission was told to
hold off on public criticism.
This act of political intimidation
succeeded – for now. It helps to
remember, though, that the Oregon
Legislature is part of the larger political
world. There may be a warning for us
in what is happening in the presidential
race. Republican and Democratic party
pundits have been reminded who really
calls the shots - Voters.
Admire them or not, Bernie
Sanders and Donald Trump are
forcing Democrats and Republicans to
acknowledge that the same old political
machinations don’t work anymore.
Vernonia’s Voice is published on the 1st and 3rd
Thursday. Look for our next issue on April 21.
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