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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, MARcH 9, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
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Publisher
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GUEST COLUMN
Legislature considers unexpected revenue
T
he Oregon Senate began passing
legislation last week. But it’s not
yet time for Oregonians to worry.
Or applaud.
Although committees in the Sen-
ate and House are considering count-
less contentious bills, it will be a while
before those items reach the floor for
votes.
Among those upcoming issues: What
to do with the extra mil-
lions and millions of
dollars that the Legis-
lature unexpectedly has
available to spend. State
revenues are doing so
well despite the pan-
demic that an income tax
DICK
“kicker” refund appears
HUGHES
headed for taxpayers.
Gov. Kate Brown and
legislative leaders also continue advocat-
ing for more coronavirus-related federal
aid for states, including Oregon. Mean-
while, Oregon has not spent all the fed-
eral aid it already has received.
Given the unexpected revenue, state
House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland,
said she doesn’t anticipate needing to
pass major tax increases to balance the
state budget. However, legislators may
pass bills that make the tax system more
fair — fair at least in the eyes of the
advocates.
The Legislature also will decide
whether to make the federal stimu-
lus checks exempt from Oregon’s per-
sonal income taxes, as they are for fed-
eral taxes.
After being contacted by many “con-
fused and angry” constituents, U.S.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Demo-
crat, wrote to Brown, Kotek and Senate
President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and
Getty Images
asked that Oregon stop taxing the fed-
eral payments. State Sen. Dick Ander-
son, R-Lincoln City, and Senate Repub-
lican Leader Fred Girod, of Lyons, have
introduced such legislation, but their
Senate Bill 842 has not been scheduled
for a hearing.
Passing bills: On Thursday, the Sen-
ate passed eight bills — the first of this
year’s legislative session. None was
memorable.
But the tradition of initiating new
legislators was. New Sen. Kate Lieber,
D-Beaverton, was assigned to carry Sen-
ate Bill 37, which regulates real estate
appraisal companies. Several colleagues
peppered her with frivolous questions,
including Sen. James Manning Jr.,
D-Eugene, who asked whether someone
would have to pay fees on a pet duck.
A majority of senators then joined in
appearing to defeat the bill before chang-
ing their votes. SB 37 passed 26-1. Sen.
Dallas Heard, R-Myrtle Creek, who also
is the new chair of the Oregon Republi-
can Party, voted against all eight bills on
the agenda.
Like its predecessors, the 2021 Legis-
lature has started with routine bills, ones
that make slight, technical fixes in laws
or had overwhelming bipartisan support
in the 2020 Legislature but died when
that session collapsed. In fact, most bills
that become law are bipartisan.
However, bipartisanship alone
doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing. House
Republican Leader Christine Drazan,
of Canby, and Democratic Rep. David
Gomberg, of Otis, are sponsoring House
Bill 2638. The bill has been a priority of
House Republicans. Ten have signed as
co-sponsors. Democrats are not keen on
it, making Gomberg an anomaly. But he
is one of the few legislative Democrats
with an extensive business background.
The bill would limit the liability of
businesses and individuals for actions
during the COVID-19 emergency so
long as they had reasonably followed
government guidance. The House Sub-
committee on Civil Law, chaired by
Rep. Karin Power, D-Milwaukie, held a
recent video hearing.
Drazan, Gomberg and a lobbyist testi-
fied in favor. Four opponents then spoke.
One of the co-sponsors, Rep. Raquel
Moore-Green, R-Salem, took to the
House floor this week to complain that
the time for testimony ended before nine
supporters could speak, including Tom
Hoffert, the CEO of the Salem Area
Chamber of Commerce.
Three opponents who signed up to
testify also were unable to do so. As
of Thursday afternoon, the bill had not
been scheduled for additional testimony
or work.
Goodbye, Rep. Hernandez: Speaker
Kotek last week stripped Rep. Diego
Hernandez, D-Portland, of his com-
mittee assignments. Hernandez has
resigned, effective March 15, instead of
facing a House vote on whether to expel
him over allegations of sexual harass-
ment and creating a hostile workplace.
The House had been scheduled to
vote last week on that measure, HR 1.
With Hernandez’s resignation now irre-
vocable, action on the measure was
delayed to March 16, when the measure
will be tabled indefinitely.
Alas for the Round-Up: Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena, pointed out that none
of the contestants on a recent episode
of “Jeopardy” answered this question:
“September is when thousands of rodeo
fans are driven into northeast Oregon for
the annual Pendleton …”
The answer, of course, is the
world-famous Pendleton Round-Up.
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
AFTER BEING cONTAcTEd By MANy ‘cONFuSEd ANd ANGRy’ cONSTITuENTS,
u.S. REP. PETER dEFAZIO, AN OREGON dEMOcRAT, WROTE TO BROWN, KOTEK
ANd SENATE PRESIdENT PETER cOuRTNEy, d-SALEM, ANd ASKEd THAT OREGON STOP
TAXING THE FEdERAL PAyMENTS. STATE SEN. dIcK ANdERSON, R-LINcOLN cITy,
ANd SENATE REPuBLIcAN LEAdER FREd GIROd, OF LyONS, HAVE INTROducEd SucH
LEGISLATION, BuT THEIR SENATE BILL 842 HAS NOT BEEN ScHEduLEd FOR A HEARING.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sense of hope
he coronavirus pandemic has under-
scored the importance of medical
research. As Congress addresses the needs
of our nation’s most vulnerable, they’re also
working to address another disease affecting
millions of Americans — Alzheimer’s.
My family has been impacted by Alz-
heimer’s. My mom suffered for over 10
years. I watched my dad struggle to meet
the demands of caretaking, while also navi-
gating the emotional, physical and financial
stress Alzheimer’s puts on families. Sadly,
in June, we lost my mom to this disease.
Today, over 5 million Americans are liv-
ing with Alzheimer’s, a number expected
to triple by 2050. In Oregon, 69,000 peo-
ple are suffering from Alzheimer’s and that
is projected to rise to 84,000 by 2025. With-
out medical breakthroughs, this number will
continue to rise.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici can play
an important role in addressing this issue.
By increasing funding for Alzheimer’s and
dementia research at the National Institutes
of Health by $289 million, Bonamici could
provide millions of Americans a sense of
hope.
With these increases, scientists can work
quicker to advance basic disease knowledge,
explore ways to reduce risk, uncover new
biomarkers for early diagnosis and drug tar-
geting and make discoveries that can lead to
a treatment or cure. We can’t afford not to
fund research.
As our nation continues its collective
focus in 2021 on keeping people safe and
healthy, it is time to honor the requests of
scientists for additional funding, so they can
bring hope to millions of Americans affected
by Alzheimer’s.
KELLY KALKOFEN
Beaverton
T
Economic backbone
n response to Regan Fisher’s letter, “Rein-
state,” on Feb. 20, I’d like to offer another
view.
Contrary to Fisher’s assertions, timber
jobs and businesses have always been, and
remain, the economic backbone of rural
Oregon. The industry provides over 60,000
family wage jobs in Oregon, mostly in rural
communities.
In many Oregon counties, forestry jobs
are the best around. In Clatsop County, for-
estry jobs pay almost twice as much as the
I
average annual wage. Our community can’t
afford to lose these good-paying jobs.
While we can agree that county bud-
gets are tight, and critical services are under-
funded, a variety of events caused that real-
ity. It is short-sighted to target the forest
sector for causing these budget shortfalls.
Now is the worst possible time to impose
a new timber tax. Rural communities can-
not afford it. In 2020, these communities
have endured massive layoffs, and the worst
wildfires in Oregon history and are strug-
gling to recover and rebuild.
A new tax on timber will eliminate more
jobs and businesses in rural communities
that are already suffering multiple extreme
hardships. Sixty-four percent of Oregonians
oppose new taxes and regulations on busi-
nesses struggling to recover, according to a
January survey funded by the Oregon Busi-
ness & Industry Foundation.
Our focus should remain on restoring
hundreds of thousands of acres of burned
forests back to healthy, thriving forests that
prevent future fires, protect water quality
and capture and store carbon — not taxing
the very people doing that work.
JENNY JOHNSON
Astoria
A big thanks
y wife and I headed over to the Clat-
sop County Fairgrounds for our first
COVID-19 vaccination on Feb. 25. The
cars were lined up on the street, but moving,
and the parking lot looked full, but a man
pointed us west and we found a good spot.
The line of people outside was long, and
M
it was cold and drizzling, but volunteers
kept us moving quickly, and once inside the
arena, we were greeted by more helpers, and
we followed the line through the building
until we arrived at a desk, where our names
were checked off, and into the warm main
hall we proceeded, where we received our
shots.
After a 15-minute waiting period, we
were comfortable and left.
The Clatsop County Public Health
Department and their corps of volunteers
coordinated this action flawlessly, helpful in
each stop, and answered every question we
had and processed hundreds of us.
A big ‘thank you’ to the staff and volun-
teers for all the planning and thought that
made this event a success.
MIKE GREEN
Astoria