OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015
GUEST COLUMN
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Mileage tax
has promise
W
Gas tax is outmoded
ith petroleum prices lower for the time being and more
drivers buying hybrid and electric cars, Oregon is about to
experiment with taxing vehicles based on the miles they are driven
instead of on the fuel they consume.
This is an interesting and valid
exercise, but one that raises a vari-
ety of issues that must be addressed.
The basic scheme is to replace
fuel taxes paid at the pump with a
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of public roads in Oregon. Up to
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digital devices to track their mile-
age. California, Washington and
Indiana all are at earlier stages of
considering the concept.
U.S. drivers, especially those
who don’t live in the Northeast
where there are more toll highways,
are pretty spoiled when it comes
to transportation costs. Generally,
our gasoline is taxed at far lower
rates than is the case in the rest of
the developed world. And we face
far fewer toll roads. Drive through
France, Mexico and scores of other
places, and you will be reaching for
your wallet every hour or so.
It’s safe to say nobody relishes
having to pay either taxes or tolls,
but expensive public infrastructure
like highways and bridges is one
of the best examples of govern-
ment providing something private
citizens need but are unable to ac-
complish on our own. Considering
the systemic changes underway in
oil markets and automobiles, fuel
taxes simply can’t keep up. Only
in recent years has technology
come along that will allow accu-
rate monitoring of actual miles
driven, giving a new option for
transportation funding.
Civil liberties activists see the
monitoring devises as a potential
intrusion on privacy, in effect giv-
ing government a real-time picture
of where all vehicles are moving
at any given time. Oregon has re-
sponded by designing one option
that uses global positioning satel-
lite tracking and another option
that relies on a simple odometer
that counts passing miles. Any
records that are collected are sup-
posed to be carefully controlled
and then destroyed after they have
served their revenue purpose.
In any event, such privacy worries
may be pointless in a nation where
smart phones can already be tracked
anywhere and cameras watch over
many streets and highways.
Another concern is expressed by
owners and dealers of hybrid and
electric cars, who fear they will lose
the tax advantage they gained from
avoiding having to buy gasoline or
diesel. But the fact is that they use
the roads, too, and should be help-
ing pay to maintain them.
As this trial of charging for
highway use moves forward, it
will bear watching to make cer-
tain that rural drivers — who are
bound to have to travel greater dis-
tances to jobs, schools, healthcare
and other necessities — are no
more burdened than they already
are by fuel taxes. Anything that
might worsen the state’s urban-ru-
ral divide must be avoided.
Oregonians are suspicious
about any changes in the tax sys-
tem. We do a better job than many
states of keeping it fair. People will
EHMXVWL¿DEO\ZDU\RIWKLVPLOHDJH
tax. But if it works, it might be a
equitable way to match our high-
way use with what we pay.
Not everything is an emergency
for a reason. It serves as a
will be deemed emergen-
check on legislators who
cy acts. It will become
can become so focused on
routine.
Perhaps
that’s
the
he Oregon Legislature is
what happens inside the
point. If citizens complain
beginning to resemble a that a controversial bill has
state Capitol building that
FDOOFHQWHU$OPRVWHYHU\ been labeled an emergen-
they forget there’s an en-
tire state outside the door.
cy to protect it from the
thing is an emergency.
We work in a grand,
people’s
veto
power,
leg-
Increasingly these are the words
majestic
building. It’s
islators
can
quell
any
sus-
\RX ¿QG LQ WKH +RXVH DQG 6HQDWH
open to the public. But
picion by simply saying,
bills coming out of the Legislature: “Most bills have an emer-
once the legislature is in
State Sen.
“An emergency is declared to exist, gency clause.”
session, a legislator’s time
Betsy Johnson
and this act takes effect on its pas-
is often consumed talking
Voters still have some
constitutional protection. Tax bills, to other legislators and lobbyists. We
sage.”
for example, cannot be enacted as an don’t always notice things like emer-
Any law with an emergency emergency.
gency clauses and whether they are
clause is protected from the people’s
If you’re a citizen curious about really needed. Some of my bills have
veto power. Voters cannot challenge the number of bills that were passed carried emergency clauses.
Our state’s frequent use of the
it through the referendum process.
as emergencies in the last regular
You might be surprised what con- session, the information may not emergency clause is not unique.
Former Washington Gov. Chris
stitutes an emergency. In this session be readily available. If you call the
so far, it includes bills like “banning OHJLVODWLYHDVVHPEO\RI¿FHWKH\PD\ Gregoire, concerned about similar
the box,” which makes it unlawful direct you to the state legislature’s abuse in her state, began vetoing
for employers to ask job applicants to website and a section called “Citizen emergency clauses on bills, leaving
intact the rest of the legislation. One
check a box if they’ve been convict- Engagement.”
ed of a felony. Why would ex-felons’
7KHUH\RX¶OO¿QGDSDJHGRF RIKHU¿UVWVXFKYHWRHVZDVDQHPHU
job hunts constitute an emergency? XPHQW FDOOHG WKH ³ 6XPPDU\ gency clause on a bill adding por-
There are many non-felons who en- of Legislation.” One caller I know phyria to the list of disabilities for
dure extended job searches.
prowled through that, read the brief special parking privileges.
The Olympian newspaper praised
Or how about the “mo-
descriptions and effec-
WRU YRWHU´ ODZ +%
tive dates of each bill that her in an editorial: “The Legisla-
The
which automatically reg-
passed, and found that ture’s overuse of the emergency
isters licensed drivers
about half of the roughly clause should incense the public be-
to vote. What kind of an people’s ELOOVOLVWHGWKHUHZHUH cause it takes away their right to re-
ject laws adopted by the Legislature.
emergency exists that re-
emergencies.
veto
quires drivers to be au-
One bill that slipped Where’s the outrage?”
tomatically registered to
power through without an emer- Oregon’s constitution also allows
vote?
JHQF\FODXVHZDV6% the governor to veto an emergency
exists and its fate is a lesson in provision in new bills without affect-
Then there’s the re-
cently approved gun law,
why referendum power is ing the rest of the bill.
for a
Gov. Kate Brown should use
6%ZKLFKUHTXLUHVOL
important.
censed gun dealers to con-
6% DOORZHG LOOH this power. As Secretary of State,
reason.
duct background checks
gal immigrants to obtain she pushed for the “motor voter”
for private sales of legal
driver cards. Since it bill, ostensibly to make it easier for
¿UHDUPV ,I \RX EX\ RU VHOO RQ WKH wasn’t an emergency, opponents had more voters to exercise their right
black market, you’re exempt from GD\VDIWHUWKHHQGRIWKHOHJLVOD to vote.
The emergency clause does ex-
this emergency.)
tive session to exercise the power of
Soon to come is SB 822, an emer- referendum. They collected enough actly the opposite.
It takes away the people’s right to
gency bill requested by criminal de- VLJQDWXUHVIURPTXDOL¿HGYRWHUVDQG
fense attorneys, who want grand jury IRUFHG 6% RQWR WKH 1RYHPEHU vote.
Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose,
proceedings tape-recorded. Criminal EDOORW$V %DOORW 0HDVXUH
defense attorneys, apparently, can’t voters rejected driver cards for ille- represents District 16, covering
ZDLWWR¿QGRXWWKHLGHQWLWLHVRIYLF JDO LPPLJUDQWV E\ DOPRVW D WR Clatsop and Columbia counties and
parts of Multnomah, Tillamook and
tims and witnesses.
margin.
At the rate we’re going, all bills
The people’s veto power exists Washington.
By STATE SEN. BETSY
JOHNSON
T
Hillary, Jeb, Facebook and disorder
major shift on the question
Press now uses computers,
of what’s worth owning.
not reporters, to generate
PRUH WKDQ ¿QDQFLDO
What all of the above com-
reports per quarter. This can
or a presidential campaign panies have in common is
free up workers to do more
that
they
have
either
created
that has started so early, it’s
creative work, but they
trust platforms that match
striking how little most of the supply and demand for
have to be trained for it.
candidates want to engage with things people never thought
On geopolitics, we still
have great power rivalries,
major issues of the day, let alone of supplying: a spare bed-
but the most relevant divide
room in their home or a seat
the future.
in the world will no lon-
in their car or a commercial
Thomas L.
Hillary Clinton won’t take a clear link between a small retail-
ger be East-West, capital-
Friedman
stand on two big issues she helped er in North Dakota and a
ist-communist. It will be the
to negotiate as secretary of state: the small manufacturer in Chi-
World of Order versus the
World
of
Disorder,
as environmental,
na.
Or
they
are
behavioral
platforms
IUHHWUDGH GHDO ZLWK 3DFL¿F QDWLRQV
sectarian
and
economic
pressures are
that
spin
off
extremely
valuable
data
and the nuclear deal with Iran.
for retailers and advertisers or they are pulverizing weak and failed states.
Jeb Bush’s campaign seems stuck behavioral platforms on which ordi-
Every day now you read about
on whether he is or is not his brother’s nary people can generate reputations SHRSOH ÀHHLQJ WKH:RUOG RI 'LVRUGHU
keeper. Marco Rubio was for compre- — for driving, hosting or any skill you for the World of Order. Rohingyas, a
hensive immigration reform before he can imagine — and then market them- mostly Muslim group, from Myanmar
and Bangladesh are trying to get into
was against it. While Sens. Rand Paul selves globally.
and Bernie Sanders are motivated by
This is a result of the exponential Thailand and Malaysia; Africans and
clear ideologies, the others, so far, growth in computing power, storage, Arabs are trying to cross the Mediter-
evince much more compelling ambi- networking, sensors and software ranean to Europe; Central American
tions to be president than compelling generation and interoperability, which parents have sent thousands of their
reasons for why they should be.
is allowing us to both gather massive kids to the United States. Israel’s gov-
That can’t last. Just
amounts of data and ernment has started sending letters to
follow the headlines.
apply software to that (ULWUHDQ DQG 6XGDQHVH UHIX
We’re at
We’re in the middle of
data to see patterns at gees — who walked, rode and sailed
some huge disruptive
the start a speed and scope un- to Israel in search of order and work
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known before. And it ²WHOOLQJWKHPWKH\KDYHGD\VWR
of a major is taking friction out DFFHSWLQFDVKDQGDRQHZD\
ogy, the labor market
of so many things at ticket home or to an unnamed third
KHKRUUL¿F$PWUDNWUDLQFUDVK OLNHO\EHQHDUWKHWRSRIWKH and geopolitics that
shift
on
the
will
raise
fundamental
once: from hailing country in Africa or face prison, The
near Philadelphia last week presidential discussion, the topic
questions about the fu-
cab to reserving a Washington Post reported last week.
question a room
exposed a technology gap, spur- goes to the heart of the essential ture of work and the so-
Last year, the U.N.’s refugee agen-
in someone’s
ring considerable discussion. But question — do Republicans want cial contracts between
of what’s home in Timbuktu to cy said there are more displaced peo-
buying groceries to SOHZRUOGZLGH²VRPHPLOOLRQ²
will it cause the political leader- to govern America or allow the governments and their
worth
people
and
employers
learning from anyone than at any time since World War II.
ship of this governing generation nation’s infrastructure to atrophy?
But here’s the rub: We don’t know
and employees. These
anywhere to designing
to take action?
It is not far-fetched to say that will all erupt in the next
owning.
an airplane part on a what to do. We used to rely on em-
House Speaker John Boehner’s the only reliable appropriation the presidency.
' SULQWHU LQ D ZHHN pires, colonizers and dictators to con-
What
are
the
signs
of
that?
Well,
instead
of
six
months.
Complexity is trol a lot of these places, but we’re
response to a reporter’s inquiry governing congressional party will
now in a post-imperial, post-colonial
my candidate for best lead paragraph becoming free.
about the accident tells us some- make is in weapons systems and on a news article so far this year goes
A recent study by the Oxford Mar- and, in many places, post-autocratic
thing. Asked whether the circum- military funding.
to Tom Goodwin, an executive at Ha- WLQ 6FKRRO FRQFOXGHG WKDW SHUFHQW age. No one wants to touch these dis-
stances were evidence of the need
“The Plot Against Trains” by YDV 0HGLD ZKRVH HVVD\ 0DUFK RQ of U.S. jobs are at high risk of being orderly zones because all you win is a
for investment in rail, Boehner Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker Techcrunch.com began: “Uber, the taken by smart machines and software bill. And most are incapable of demo-
world’s largest taxi company, owns no in the next two decades. And what is cratic self-governance. Who will con-
said that was a “stupid question.” discusses what he calls American vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most interesting, notes James Manyika, trol these areas? What if the answer is
The inadequacy of our rail declinism. “What we have, popular media owner, creates no con- a director of the McKinsey Global nobody? It will be one of the big lead-
network is an example of how uniquely in America, is a political tent. Alibaba, the most valuable retail- Institute and co-author of “No Ordi- ership challenges of the next decade.
So, to paraphrase Trotsky once
America resembles a Third World class, and an entire political party, er, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the nary Disruption,” is that, contrary to
world’s largest accommodation pro- expectations, “knowledge workers at more: Our presidential candidates may
country. In some parts of America devoted to the idea that any mon- vider, owns no real estate. Something the middle and the top” may be more not be interested in talking seriously
the condition of highways and ey spent on public goods is money interesting is happening.”
threatened than those doing physical about the future yet, but the future will
There sure is. We’re at the start of a work. For example, The Associated be interested in talking to them.
bridges evokes the same compar- misplaced, not because the state
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
New York Times News Service
F
No money for trains
T
Does the GOP want to governor or
allow infrastructure atrophy?
ison.
The New York Times on
Wednesday described the differen-
tial between U.S. investment in rail
and rail investment in European
and Asian countries. The Times
noted that even emerging econ-
omies such as India are investing
more in rail transit than the U.S.
While the rail network will not
goods might not be good but be-
cause they would distract us from
the larger principle that no ultimate
good can be found in the state.”
Sooner or later in this centu-
ry — unless we are resigned to a
permanent state of decline — our
leaders will have to reckon with a
decaying transportation network,
which includes trains.
Where to write
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D)5D\EXUQ+2%:DVKLQJ
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• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D):
+DUW 6HQDWH 2I¿FH %XLOGLQJ
:DVKLQJWRQ '& 3KRQH
:HE ZZZPHUNOH\
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D):
6WDWH&DSLWRO&RXUW6WUHHW1(
+ 6DOHP 25 3KRQH
:HE ZZZOHJVWDWH
RUXVZLWW (PDLO UHSEUDGZLWW#
state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone
(D)&RXUW6W1(+6D
OHP 25 3KRQH
(PDLO UHSGHERUDK ERRQH#
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&DQQRQ %HDFK 25
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