10
community
april6
2017
Johnson and Witt Hold Town Hall in Vernonia
tory budget” that isn’t based on current
law, while the legislature wrote a cur-
rent revenue budget that Johnson termed
“stark.” “I’ve been hunting for additional
revenue to help fix the systemic problem
with our budget,” said Johnson about the
current $1.8 to $2 billion shortfall in the
legislative budget. Johnson also men-
tioned that she is working on the trans-
portation plan, PERS reform, and trying
to find a way to keep health insurance for
350,000 Oregonians.
Johnson discussed in detail the
working group for the transportation
package she is part of, that is address-
ing funding for non-highway modes of
transportation, transit safety, preserving
the transit system infrastructure, traffic
congestion, and management account-
ability. Johnson noted that she is ad-
vocating for highway improvements in
Portland – improvements to I-205, to
state highway 217, and I-5 at the Rose
Quarter – designed to address conges-
tion. Johnson addressed a specific ques-
tion about finding ways to make bicycles
pay their share for development and use
of infrastructure, and said there is a
growing recognition that
everyone has to “have
skin in the game.” She
said the transportation
package may include a
point of sale tax on bicy-
cles that would provide
revenue for bicycle pro-
grams.
Both Witt and
Johnson expressed dis-
agreement with the Gov-
ernor’s declaration mak-
ing Oregon a Sanctuary
State through Executive
Action. “This was de-
clared by one branch
of the government and
I don’t think it is any-
where close to a universally held prin-
ciple by members of the other branches
of the government,” said Witt. The au-
dience and Johnson expressed dismay
that federal funding to Oregon could be
cut because of the Governor’s actions,
including CDBG funding, which the
City of Vernonia has used in the past to
build the Vernonia Community Learning
Center, helped to upgrade the City sewer
system, and to build the new Senior Cen-
ter/Food Bank. “Rural communities use
that process a lot to get money for proj-
ects,” said Vernonia City Administrator
Josette Mitchell, who was in attendance.
“I believe this imperils those funds,”
said Johnson.
When asked if they agree with
the way the federal government is ad-
dressing undocumented immigration
at this time, particularly children born
in this country, Witt stated, “We had an
election in November and the people
spoke. We have a President who has
a position that is more aggressive than
we’ve seen in the past and I think the
discussions we’re having reflect that,
as do the number of cities and states
that have declared that they are not en-
forcing federal law. Elections do have
continued from page 3
consequences and when
we cast our vote we need
to fully understand at
least some of the impli-
cations of that.”
“We don’t have a com-
prehensive immigration
policy and as a result of
that I think we are not
delivering very well and
everybody is dissatis-
fied,” added Johnson
“We’re all over the place
because Congress, in my
view, has abdicated their
responsibility to come
up with a comprehensive
immigration plan.”
Both Witt and John-
son stated that they opposed proposed
changes to the Forest Practices Act, with
Witt saying he did not believe the bill
would even get out of committee. Both
encouraged voters to continue to pres-
sure legislatures other than themselves
on the issue “I’m a hard no on this and I
will work like a dog to kill it in the Sen-
ate,” added Johnson.
On fisheries, Johnson said that
the Governor needs to respect the deci-
sions of citizen boards and commissions
that do a lot of the work to create and
recommend policy.
Johnson encouraged citizens
and voters to visit the Oregon Legisla-
tive Information System website (olis.
leg.state.or.us) for updates on what is
ongoing in Salem and in Oregon govern-
ment.
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