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. Junes Ltd, Astoria
Les Schwab Tire Center, Warrenton
Allan M. Schumacher, Astoria
Stan Sporseen, Knappa
Kinney & Sons Trucking & Excavation,
Knappa
Woody’s Rabbits Inc., Knappa
J.M. Browning Logging & Trucking, Knappa
Seaside Muffler
Seaside American Legion, Post 99
Elderberry Inn, Seaside
Shear Pleasures Salon & Spa, Seaside
Frank & Leighland Heinrichs, Seaside
L&D Race Tech, Warrenton
Billy & Brenda Varozza, Warrenton
Dan Peden, Warrenton
Pizza Hut, Warrenton
Pacific County Chapter of ABATE, WA
Relief Pitcher, Seaside
Driftwood Restaurant, Seaside
Mick & Kris Inniss, Knappa
Kelly Barendse, Knappa
Linda Long, Astoria
Al Jaques, Astoria
Big Creek Coffeehouse, Knappa
Nisa’s Thai Kitchen, Warrenton