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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 2015)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015 PERS reform a Oregon ‘motor voter’ system set to launch priority for business leaders at summit By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau Oregon is only state to not require employee contributions ing public employees to con- tribute to the pension fund, ab- sorbing some of the expense currently being borne by pub- lic employers and taxpayers. Panelists said Oregon is the only state in the nation that requires no contribution to its public pension system from employees. That has been the By TED SICKINGER case since 2004, when previ- The Oregonian ous pension reforms redirected public employees’ 6 P O RT L A N D percent retirement (AP) — Reforms contributions out of to Oregon’s public the pension system pension system took and into a supple- a prominent posi- mentary retirement tion in the playbook account owned by business leaders un- employees. veiled at their annu- Putting some or al economic confab all of those contri- with legislators. butions back into Organizers of the retirement sys- Steve the Oregon Leader- tem could offset Rodeman ship Summit iden- as much as $1.2 ti¿ed soaring pension costs billion in required contribu- as one of the main headwinds tions from employers every that could stall or derail ¿scal biennium. That’s about half of and economic progress. the incremental cost increases But Democratic lead- expected to kick in over the ers who spoke at Monday’s next six years. summit gave the issue a wide (ugene attorney Bill Gary berth. Gov. Kate Brown didn’t recently delivered a legal mention it. Nor did House opinion on the issue to the Speaker Tina Kotek. And Sen. Oregon Business Council, President Peter Courtney gave which organizes the summit. it an oblique reference as a He said such a move would contributor to the budgetary almost certainly be declared Civil War that he says could legal by the Oregon Supreme unfold in 2017. Court. Away from the main con- “There are various mech- vention ballroom, however, anisms out there to establish the state’s looming pension to establish cost sharing and problems took center stage at increased employee contribu- a sparsely attended breakout tions, and that’s what we’ve session late in the day. A panel put out there in concept,” said of experts dissected their his- Tim Nesbitt, an advisor to two tory and their looming impact past governors and former on government budgets. labor leader who served as They urged lawmakers not a consultant on the business to ignore the problem: an $18 plan. billion-and-growing funding The business plan’s pol- de¿cit in the Public (mploy- icy playbook also suggested ees Retirement System. In that the state could reduce order to bail it out, required the interest rate it uses when payments from government calculating members’ annuity employers will go up by 20 payouts under its controver- percent in each of the next sial money-match formula. three budget cycles, said Steve The system currently uses its Rodeman, P(RS executive di- assumed earnings rate on in- rector. vestments — 7.5 percent — By 2021, that means in that calculation instead of schools, municipalities and a market rate, which would government agencies will be be several percentage points dedicating almost one-third lower. of their payroll dollars to the That not only inÀates retirement system. members starting bene¿ts, John Tapogna, an econ- but is compounded as retirees omist with (CONorthwest, earn annual cost-of-living in- said legislators had designed creases in future years. Using an “unusually exotic” and ex- a market-based interest rate pensive pension system. He in the calculation could save called it a generational mis- more than a $1 billion over take, and said the state contin- time, the panelists said. ues to deal with its aftermath. Sen Tim Knopp, R-Bend In May, the Oregon Su- and a veteran of Oregon’s pen- preme Court threw out most sion wars, plans to introduce a of the pension reforms enact- bill with several cost-cutting ed by the Legislature in 2013. measures in the upcoming In the process, it put any re- session. He said it would in- duction in current retiree ben- clude both the ¿xes outlined e¿ts off limits. That eliminat- in the business community’s ed the reforms lawmakers felt policy playbook, along with a were most equitable, because few more. retiree bene¿ts comprise the Knopp said there would be bulk of the system’s unfunded plenty of political pressure to liability. ignore the issue in the upcom- Yet panelists on Monday ing legislative session, and discussed several ways in it would take both political which the cost increases ex- courage and public pressure to pected in coming years could make any progress. be more equitably absorbed or “It needs to be ¿xed,” he minimized. said. “It will devastate public Chief among them: requir- budgets if we don’t act.” SAL(M — Oregon is on track to launch its automatic voter registration system in Jan- uary, Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins said Monday. Under the new law, people who are eligible to vote will be registered after they obtain or renew their driver’s licenses, permits or identi¿cation cards. Oregon is the ¿rst state to enact an automatic voter registration law, and the legislation was a top priority for Gov. Kate Brown dating back to when she was secretary of state. Atkins said during a press brie¿ng Monday that people outside of Oregon are watching to see how the new system un- folds. “We’ll probably see the na- tion paying attention, in addition to Oregonians paying attention,” Atkins said. “We’ve been very pleased with the work that’s been done so far and our ability to run end-to-end tests here in December.” State of¿cials expect the new system will add approximately 10,000 voters to the rolls each month starting in January. The secretary of state will also use By GOSIA WOZNIACKA Associated Press PORTLAND — With a new fee for some states using the federal health insurance portal on the horizon, Oregon says it’s looking into running its own exchange again, but with another state’s software. Oregon of¿cials say they’re planning to solicit proposals this month for technology that’s successfully running an exist- ing health insurance exchange. The move would be an interesting twist for Ore- gon, which ditched its prob- lem-plagued Cover Oregon portal last spring and switched to the federal website. Ore- gonians now use HealthCare. Gov to enroll in coverage, but the state continues to certify insurance plans, do communi- ty outreach and education. The proposed fee concerns four states including Oregon that run federally supported state-based marketplaces. Ne- vada, New Mexico and Hawaii also abandoned their exchang- es due to technology ¿ascos and switched to the federal portal, but have retained some state functions. The proposed user fee of 3 percent of the monthly premi- ums would be paid by insurance carriers who offer plans in those states via HealthCare.Gov. Car- riers are expected to pass the new costs on to consumers in the form of higher premiums. The Department of Health and Human Services says the fee covers the costs of running the federal IT platform. A re- duced fee rate of 1.5 percent is being considered for the 2017 bene¿t year to ease the transi- tion for states, said spokesman Aaron Albright. The government already charges a 3.5 percent fee on premiums in states that rely on HealthCare.Gov and other ser- vices. States that run their own exchange portals don’t have www.colum biam em orial.org Fo r a $10 d o n a tio n , w e w ill pla ce a ha n d m a d e hea rt o rn a m en t o n a tree in m em o ry o r ho n o r o f the perso n yo u cho o se. In Honor of Name on ornament: The new law also affects peo- ple who update their addresses through the DMV, although they will not be registered to vote. Instead, the (lections Division will send the updated addresses to county clerks so they can up- date the information of existing registered voters. Shamus Hannan, an appli- cation development manager in the Secretary of State’s of¿ce who has overseen the project, said the state did not create it from scratch. Instead, the au- tomatic registration program built upon Oregon’s existing system of data sharing between the DMV and the (lections Di- vision which the state uses for functions including online vot- er registration. The program is expected to cost approximately $753,000 during the current two-year budget, according to the Legislative )iscal Of¿ce. It’s “a variation on a theme, rather than something complete- ly new for us,” Hannan said. “Currently, we are in ¿nal test- ing of the application with our partners from all the other agen- cies, including the counties.” The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Me- dia Group and Pamplin Media Group. Faced with federal fee, Oregon reconsiders own health exchange C olum bia M em orial H ospital 2111 E xch ange St., A storia (503) 325-4321 In Memory of Oregon Driver and tomatic voter registra- Motor Vehicle Ser- tion, the (lections Di- vices Division data to vision will not contact register people who the person in the future obtained or renewed when he or she renews their driver’s licenses, a drivers license or up- permits or identi¿- dates an address at the cation cards over the DMV. The other voter last two years, agency registration options spokeswoman Mol- will still be available, ly Woon wrote in an including registering Jeanne email. This provision to vote online and at P. Atkins could add as many the DMV. as 275,000 voters to the rolls, “How many people will say Atkins said. However, the state ‘no thank you’ is a little bit of an will not implement that portion unknown,” Atkins said. of the law until after the May People exempt from the au- primary. tomatic registration process in- It’s less clear how many peo- clude certain law enforcement ple will opt out of voter registra- and other individuals who have tion. signed up through the state to The DMV will only send keep their addresses con¿dential data to the (lections Division for for personal safety reasons, ac- people who have demonstrated, cording to the state’s new voter through documents shared with registration manual. the DMV, that they are eligible The law goes into effect Jan. to vote. This means Oregon res- 1, when the DMV will be closed idents who are U.S. Citizens and for the holiday. As a result, the at least 17 years old. The (lec- ¿rst people to be affected by the tions Division will send mailers law will those who obtain driv- to people identi¿ed as eligible, er’s licenses or update their ad- giving them 21 days to opt out dresses Jan. 4. These people will of registration or to register with begin to receive mailers from a political party. If people do the state sometime after Jan. 5, nothing, the state will register when state elections workers them as unaf¿liated voters. will begin to send out the mate- Once a citizen opts out of au- rials. Send acknowledgment to: Name and address 1. 2. 3. TAX DEDUCTIBLE: Make checks payable to Lower Columbia Hospice at Columbia Memorial Hospital. Please m ark location of the tree you w ish to decorate: Your name: Columbia Memorial Hospital, Astoria Address: Providence Seaside Hospital City/State/Zip: Bob Chisholm Community Center M a il fo rm a n d d o n a tio n to : Hea rts for Hos p ice, c/ o Low er Colu m bia Hos p ice, 2111 Excha n g e S t., A s toria , O reg on 97103 federal user fees — but may charge carriers their own fees. In Oregon, where insurers lost millions on claims over the past two years because they set their rates too low, the new fee could be another set- back. (arlier this year, carriers whose medical claims costs were higher than expected were told they would get only a fraction of the money prom- ised under a federal program to help stabilize premiums. As a result, Oregonians en- rolling in plans for 2016 are facing some of the highest rate increases in the country — and rates could reach even higher with the new fee, of¿cials said. The 3 percent fee means a total cost of $13 million per year for all the carriers, said Patrick Allen, director of Or- egon’s Department of Con- sumer and Business Services. That’s a high amount, consid- ering Oregon already charges carriers a 2.9 percent fee on premiums for certifying plans, community outreach and other services. “We always knew the feder- al government would propose a fee, we knew it wouldn’t be free forever,” Allen said. The state, he said, isn’t looking to develop an ex- change website from scratch like it did with the failed Cov- er Oregon process. Oregon is ¿ghting in court with its con- tractor Oracle Corp. to recoup millions it paid the tech giant to construct the glitch-¿lled exchange. Instead, Allen said, Or- egon would consider using exchange software that has “a demonstrated track record” if it’s more cost-effective. Con- necticut’s exchange has been touted as a national model, and at least one state — Mary- land — has adopted it. Oregon is also currently working to adopt the Kentucky eligibili- ty and enrollment system for Medicaid. T han ks for your support! North Coast Chapter of ABATE of Oregon, Inc. We wish to thank the supporters of our 2015 motorcycle rides and fundraising events. Your generous support puts more food on tables for families in need through Clatsop County food banks in 2016. AFSCME Local 2746, Astoria North Coast ABATE members and officers Astoria Moose Lodge Sen. Betsy Johnson, Scappoose Eleanor (Ellie) Thompson, Long Beach, WA Astoria Sign Works Fernhill Glass Studio, Astoria North Coast Motorcycle Works, Astoria Keepsake Tattoo, Astoria Home Bakery, Astoria Jeffers Garden Inn, Astoria Lower Columbia Bowling Lanes, Astoria The Daily Astorian Don & Bobbie Kelly, Astoria Barbara Webb, Astoria Rollin Thunder BBQ, Astoria Astoria Warehousing Mary Todd’s Workers Bar & Grill, Astoria “Bruce the Moose” Westerlund, Astoria Carl & Laura Earl, Astoria Driftwood Inn Gang, Cannon Beach Colvin’s Pub & Grill, Clatskanie Troller Restaurant & Lounge, Garibaldi Laird Adkins, Hammond Buoy 9 Restaurant & Lounge, Hammond Teevin Brothers, Knappa The Logger Restaurant, Knappa Vinson Brothers Construction, Knappa Knappa Market, Knappa Columbia Motor Parts, Knappa Loves Leathers Outpost, Battle Ground, WA North Coast Truck, Astoria Uncaged Cycles, Longview, WA Big O Saloon, Olney All In Pub & Eatery, Vernonia Mark & Sheila Radich, Svensen The Waves Motel, Cannon Beach Bob & Susan Hutson, Astoria Astoria Tattoo Company Chuck Miller, Cannon Beach John Jensen, Astoria Ann Gyde, Astoria A Coastal Lock-N-Key, Astoria Sears Hometown Store, Astoria Warren L. 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