3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016
Business quiet on
minimum wage rules
Staff who work
in many spots
create sticky
payroll issues
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
The business commu-
nity was nearly absent from
a public hearing Monday on
draft rules for how itinerant
employees will be paid under
Oregon’s new regional mini-
mum wage law.
The law sets three differ-
ent regional minimum wage
rates. It pays workers the
highest rate in the Portland
metro area, the lowest rate in
most coastal and rural areas
and a midlevel rate in Clat-
sop County and elsewhere in
the state.
The proposed rules require
employers to pay the regional
wage that applies in the loca-
tion where the employee actu-
ally worked in a given week,
unless the employee was
working outside of their regu-
lar location for an “incidental
period of time.” Incidental is
deined as less than four hours
per week.
About 20 people, a com-
bination of workers and
labor activists, turned out at
the hearing at the Bureau of
Labor and Industries to speak
in favor of the proposal. Some
speakers requested that the
labor bureau deine an “inci-
dental period of time” as one
hour instead of four hours.
Melchor Rodriguez, a
janitor from Beaverton who
is a member of the Service
Employees
International
Union 49, said the proposed
rules would help him because
he often cleans buildings in
different cities. He said the
rules also would help pre-
vent employers from abus-
ing the system by locating in
a region with the lowest min-
imum wage and dispatching
their employees to the Port-
land area, where wages and
cost of living are greater.
Kate Newhall of Family
Forward Oregon, which sup-
ported the new law, said the
intent of the regional mini-
mum wage was to “recog-
nize we want people working
full time to not live in pov-
erty” and to take “into con-
sideration cost variations in
the state.” She said the pro-
posed rules were in line with
that intent.
The business side
Written comments
“I was actually hoping
there would be more busi-
ness owners here so I could
hear their concerns,” said
state Sen. Michael Dembrow,
D-Portland, who was active in
developing the new minimum
wage law. “My understand-
ing is most of that is going to
come from written comments.
For many of them, Portland is
a long trip.”
As of Monday, the labor
bureau had received only
two written comments, said
Paloma Sparks, the agency’s
legislative director.
The labor bureau will
accept public comments on
the proposed rules until May
23, Sparks said.
Labor Commissioner Brad
Avakian plans to inalize the
rules by June.
The irst-of-its-kind law
takes effect July 1, bumping
up the state’s minimum wage
from $9.25 to $9.75 state-
wide. In 2017, wage increases
will diverge according to
region.
Under the law, the min-
imum gradually climbs to
$14.75 in 2022 in the Port-
land urban growth bound-
ary. It will rise to $13.50 in
Benton, Clatsop, Columbia,
Deschutes, Hood River, Jack-
son, Josephine, Lane, Lin-
coln, Linn, Marion, Polk,
Tillamook, Wasco and Yam-
hill counties, and parts of
Multnomah, Clackamas and
Washington counties out-
side Portland’s urban growth
boundary.
In rural areas, the wage
increases to $12.50.
That’s when the proposed
rules could become compli-
cated for some employers.
For example, an employee
who works in Salem for 35
hours and in Portland for ive
hours per week in 2017 would
earn $10.25 per hour for the
time in Salem and $11.25 per
hour for the time in Portland.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Astoria spending
plan includes
sewer and water
rate increases
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
A city budget commit-
tee on Monday night rec-
ommended a $37.9 million
spending plan for next is-
cal year that includes sewer
and water rate increases
and using tourism dollars
to help maintain the Astoria
Riverwalk and Smith Point
roundabout.
The budget, which is down
slightly from $41.3 million
this iscal year, will now go
before the City Council.
The blueprint contains 6
percent increases in sewer
and water rates needed to
cover cost-of-living raises
for public workers and higher
costs for materials. City
inance staff estimates the
rate hikes will generate about
$311,000 annually.
Some residents com-
plained about the rate
increases, which come on top
of 2 percent bumps this is-
cal year for water and sewer
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Democratic
secretary of state candidate
Brad Avakian wants to lease
out public rangelands in central
and Eastern Oregon for renew-
able energy development.
Avakian, the state’s labor
commissioner, said he would
use the secretary of state’s posi-
tion on the three-member State
Land Board to push for wind,
solar and geothermal leases on
lands that belong to the Com-
mon School Fund.
The land board, whose
other members are the gover-
nor and state treasurer, carries
out a mandate in the state Con-
stitution to manage the lands to
raise money for public schools.
“We’re not using any inno-
vative approaches in order
to get the best use out of that
land,” Avakian said in a recent
interview. “I think we should be
doing geothermal technologies
in central Oregon. I think we
should be doing environmen-
tally-safe solar ields in the east
... And we don’t do any of that
on our state lands, which by the
way are some of the best in the
world suited for these kinds of
technologies.”
As it turns out, the state
already leases some of the par-
cels for renewable energy proj-
ects. Solar, geothermal and
wind energy developers have
leased land over the years and
more applications are in the
pipeline, according to Lanny
Quackenbush, eastern region
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Portland Loo
LaMear said she will likely
continue to call for a perma-
nent restroom on the Astoria
Riverwalk. A Portland Loo,
a stainless-steel facility that
is easy to maintain and resis-
tant to vandalism, would cost
about $100,000.
While the money for
a Portland Loo was not
included in the proposed bud-
get, it could be added later,
and would probably come
out of the Promote Astoria or
capital improvement project
funds.
Portable restrooms have
been installed near the Riv-
erwalk, but LaMear said she
thinks it is “inhumane” not to
have a permanent restroom
on the trail.
The budget committee
voted 9-1 to recommend the
spending plan to the City
Council. Cantor voted against
the recommendation because
of his concerns about the lack
of detail in the Chamber of
Commerce spending.
See
all e
nt
in th ries
e
May
manager at the Department of
State Lands.
“Yes, we do have some
leased — one solar (undevel-
oped) in Christmas Valley, and
one geothermal (undeveloped)
in Warner Valley,” Quacken-
bush wrote in an email. “We
had two additional geothermal
leases where we only owned
subsurface mineral rights, but
they’ve been dropped. We’ve
had some wind turbine inter-
est at the level of testing where
they install meteorological
‘met’ towers to measure wind
speeds over a period of several
years.”
The department has four
applications for these types of
wind turbines currently under
review.
State Sen. Richard Devlin,
D-Tualatin, is also running for
secretary of state in the May
17 Democratic primary. Devlin
said it would impractical to
lease out much of the range-
lands for renewable energy
development because a major-
ity of the rangelands are already
under 15- to 20-year leases for
other uses. Many of the loca-
tions are not ideal for solar
projects, “and although there
are long-term plans to put in
grid systems there, there are not
the grid systems there.” Devlin
said the state Legislature is in
a better position to set climate
change policy than the State
Land Board.
The state owns 630,000
acres of rangeland in south-
eastern Oregon, which ranch-
ers mostly use for grazing.
Julie Curtis, a spokeswoman
for the Department of State
Lands, wrote in an email that
97 percent of the rangelands are
already leased.
“Geothermal and wind
energy projects do not take up
the entire surface, so there are
some options for dual leasing,”
she said.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
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503.325.3211 x231
949 Exchange St., Astoria
year. Her motion failed on a
6-4 vote.
The budget committee
voted 7-3 on the Promote
Astoria spending, with Her-
zig, Miltenberger and Shel
Cantor, a retired engineer,
voting “no.”
Little interest from energy companies in state land
W A NTED
M
UB
and a 5 percent increase in
Chamber scrutinized
the surcharge used to help
For the second year in a
inance a $48 million sewer row, some on the budget com-
improvement project.
mittee were skeptical about
City Councilor Drew the hotel-room tax money
Herzig said he is concerned that goes to the Astoria War-
about the impact of the rate renton Chamber of Com-
increases on residents. With- merce. The chamber receives
out the rate hikes, however, $125,000 in tourism dollars
the city could fall behind on for visitor services, while the
improvements to aging pipes chamber’s Lower Colum-
and other infrastructure and bia Tourism Committee gets
be forced to
$180,750.
seek
even
Herzig said
steeper rate
promoters
‘I don’t
increases in
have “over-
think we
the future.
sold Astoria”
“I
don’t
to tourists, so
think
we can’t do it.’ he wanted to
can’t do it,”
divert $25,000
Arline LaMear
Mayor Arline
from
the
Astoria mayor, on sewer
LaMear said.
chamber’s
vis-
and water rate hikes
The budget
itor services
committee,
and $25,000
made up of the mayor, City from the chamber’s tourism
Council and ive appointed committee into a contingency
residents, also agreed to use that could be used for trash
$98,000 from the Promote pickup and restroom options
Astoria fund to hire pri- on the Astoria Riverwalk.
vate contractors to mow and
Herzig’s motion failed on
maintain the Astoria River- a 6-4 vote.
walk, the Smith Point round-
Janet Miltenberger, a for-
about and other small down- mer college administrative
town parks and triangles.
specialist who serves on the
The private contractors budget committee, wanted to
could help take pressure off make the release of the cham-
the Parks and Recreation ber’s visitor services money
Department, which is strug- contingent upon the chamber
gling to maintain parks and providing greater detail about
other attractions.
how the money was spent this
Photo by James Olson | Alderbrook Imaging
Representatives from busi-
ness and industry have indi-
cated the proposed rules
would be too onerous.
Amanda Dalton, who rep-
resents Northwest Grocery
Association and other agri-
culture groups, issued a state-
ment after the hearing that
employee wages should be
based on where the employee
regularly reports to work, not
on where the employee works
for a temporary period of
time.
“Setting any hourly thresh-
old, whether it is four hours or
two hours or even one hour
in the higher regions as some
have proposed, is arbitrary
and requires employers and
employees to track their loca-
tion throughout the day and
work week, resulting in mas-
sive paperwork and record
keeping,” Dalton said. “We
were told this new law would
be as simple as possible for
employees and employers.
That is not what we are seeing
in the draft rules.”
Only one employer turned
up at Monday’s hearing.
Pieper Sweeney, of Coun-
try Heritage Farm in Yamhill
County, said it would be dif-
icult to track hours employ-
ees spend in rush hour trafic
moving from one minimum
wage zone to another.
“We want to do the right
thing,” Sweeney said. “If it is
simple for us to use, it makes
it a lot easier.”
Committee advances budget
5:00 pm
May 4 th
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