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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 2016)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Thursday, April 28, 2016 Grocers drop liquor privatization Bill would help state ind to ight gross receipts tax debtors’ bank accounts By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau A grocers coalition says it plans to withdraw an initia- tive to privatize liquor sales in Oregon so the group can focus resources on defeating a corporate sales tax proposed for the November ballot. Oregonians for Compe- tition, led by the Northwest Grocery Association and Distilled Spirits Council, suspended Wednesday its collection of signatures in support of Initiative Petition 71. The measure would end state sale and distribution of distilled spirits and allow grocery stores to sell the products alongside beer and wine. “We know Oregonians want to buy liquor in grocery stores alongside beer and wine, like consumers in most other states,” said coalition spokesman Pat McCormick in an April 27 statement. “Right now, we are shifting our focus to defeating IP 28, the unprecedented $5 billion tax on Oregon sales that would increase costs for working families and consumers.” Initiative Petition 28 would tax certain corpora- tions 2.5 percent on their annual Oregon sales above $25 million. The Distilled Spirits Council does not plan to participate in the campaign against the corporate sales tax measure but will look for a way to move forward its effort to allow the sale of distilled spirits in grocery stores, said Eric Reller of the Distilled Spirits Council. McCormick said the grocers coalition also would continue to advocate for allowing the sale of distilled spirits in grocery stores in the next 12 months. The grocers coalition hopes lawmakers will pass legislation in 2016 to privatize the sale of distilled spirits or that there will be more movement incrementally by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission toward allowing sale of distilled spirits in grocery stores. Laura Illig, a chief sponsor of the corporate sales tax initiative, said she doesn’t anticipate any major changes in the campaign in the wake of the grocers’ decision. “Our plan is to continue to focus on what we always have focused on, which is explaining the need for and importance of what IP 28 is going to do and why it is the right way for the state.” ‘Doing our part to defeat it’ Pushing for alternatives Oregonians Against the Takeover, which campaigned against liquor privatization, celebrated the news. “We are pleased the national grocers have decided to withdraw their unpopular ballot initiative to take over Oregon’s thriving liquor marketplace,” said Ryan Frank, the group’s spokesman. “Keeping liquor local will protect revenues that support critical government services, will ensure consumers are not subjected to unreasonable price increases and will allow Oregon beer, wine and spirits businesses to continue to succeed and grow.” McCormick declined to discuss what kind of resources the grocers coalition will dedicate to defeating the corporate sales tax measure. “Sufice it say the members of our coalition are very concerned about the $5 billion tax on sales and its implications for consumers and increasing costs, with no exemptions for food, medicine and other kinds of essentials,” McCormick said. “It is certainly is going to have an effect on prices and costs so we want to make sure we are doing our part to make sure it is defeated.” The grocers’ decision to end their liquor privatiza- tion campaign came after members concluded there was insuficient movement toward a special session on coming up with an alternative to the corporate sales tax, McCormick said. State Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, who has been pushing for the governor and lawmakers to negotiate an alternative, lower corporate sales tax bill, has said the ballot measure could result in a bitter ight between unions and businesses with tens of millions of dollars spent on political campaigns. Hass and some other lawmakers have been trying to get the Legislature to hold a special session before the November election, in order to pass an alternative measure to increase corporate taxes. The moment of truth for that effort will likely come in late May, when lawmakers hold interim committee hearings in Salem. Legislative econ- omists are working on an analysis of the economic impact of Our Oregon’s tax measure, and lawmakers expect the economists to release the indings during the May hearings. By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — Two months after Oregon lawmakers wrapped up the 2016 legislative session, some are already working to revive a proposal next year that would make it easier to track down debtors who together owe the state more than $3 billion. A bill that would have forced banks to help the state locate the accounts of people who are delinquent on taxes and other debt died in early March. Now, state Rep. Kathleen Taylor, D-Milwaukie, is working with banks to bring the bill back in 2017. “This was something that was supported by the Governor’s Ofice and Department of Justice and credit unions, and we had bipartisan support,” Taylor, a chief sponsor of the 2016 bill, said. “But we’re going to do it next session. The positive note is the (Oregon) Bankers Association has agreed to work on this in the interim.” The bill would have brought the state an esti- mated $18 million from 2017 through 2021 by increasing the state’s debt collection rate, according to the Legislative Revenue Ofice. It’s a small amount relative to the $19.5 billion in total revenues expected under the current two-year budget, but lawmakers might be looking for any additional money they can get in 2017. Sen. Richard Devlin, R-Tualatin, said in a recent interview that in the 2017- 2019 budget, lawmakers Didn’t receive your paper? Call 1-800-522-0255 before noon Tuesday through Friday or before 10 a.m. Saturday for same-day redelivery 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Ofice hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and Dec. 25, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Corrections Classiied & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classiieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: • call 541-966-0818 • fax 541-276-8314 • email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers in at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit a Letter to the Editor: mail to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Terri Briggs 541-278-2678 • tbriggs@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-966-0806 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Stephanie Newsom 541-278-2687 • snewsom@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com • Chris McClellan 541-966-0802 • cmcclellan@eastoregonian.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge www.eastoregonian.com Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com Copyright © 2016, EO Media Group REGIONAL CITIES Forecast FRIDAY TODAY Nice with clouds and sun Periods of sun; breezy, cooler 69° 47° 61° 42° SATURDAY Sunshine and patchy clouds SUNDAY Nice with sunshine MONDAY Partly sunny and pleasant PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 68° 41° 74° 45° 79° 50° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 73° 49° 66° 45° PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH LOW 59° 66° 95° (1926) 45° 41° 29° (1935) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.03" 0.40" 1.04" 4.39" 3.02" 5.04" HERMISTON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH Yesterday Normals Records LOW 64° 68° 88° (1947) 49° 42° 28° (1970) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.00" 0.28" 0.78" 2.98" 1.78" 3.92" SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Last New Apr 29 May 6 5:47 a.m. 7:59 p.m. 12:56 a.m. 10:44 a.m. First Full May 13 80° 44° 83° 50° Seattle 66/48 ALMANAC Yesterday Normals Records 73° 42° May 21 Today Spokane Wenatchee 65/45 74/49 Tacoma Moses 66/44 Lake Pullman Aberdeen Olympia Yakima 73/43 62/43 58/47 65/43 74/44 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 63/45 68/49 Lewiston 76/49 Astoria 68/48 59/46 Portland Enterprise Hermiston 65/47 Pendleton 57/37 The Dalles 73/49 69/47 70/50 La Grande Salem 63/40 65/45 Albany Corvallis 64/43 66/44 John Day 62/41 Ontario Eugene Bend 72/44 63/43 60/31 Caldwell Burns 70/44 64/32 Astoria Baker City Bend Brookings Burns Enterprise Eugene Heppner Hermiston John Day Klamath Falls La Grande Meacham Medford Newport North Bend Ontario Pasco Pendleton Portland Redmond Salem Spokane Ukiah Vancouver Walla Walla Yakima Hi 59 63 60 62 64 57 63 66 73 62 61 63 59 68 56 59 72 75 69 65 64 65 65 60 64 68 74 Lo 46 33 31 47 32 37 43 41 49 41 31 40 39 43 45 47 44 46 47 47 32 45 45 36 45 49 44 W s pc pc s c sh s pc c c pc pc pc s s s c pc pc s pc s pc pc s pc pc NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Fri. Hi 58 58 56 60 59 55 59 58 66 58 60 59 55 67 56 59 68 69 61 59 59 59 60 54 57 61 67 Lo 45 33 27 46 31 37 39 38 45 39 30 40 38 41 43 45 43 43 42 45 27 43 42 35 43 45 42 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W c pc pc s pc pc pc pc pc pc s pc pc s r s pc pc pc sh pc pc pc r sh pc pc WORLD CITIES Today Beijing Hong Kong Jerusalem London Mexico City Moscow Paris Rome Seoul Sydney Tokyo Hi 79 82 69 52 85 61 54 66 70 77 65 Lo 52 73 51 41 51 43 39 50 49 61 59 W pc pc s pc pc pc sh t pc pc r Fri. Hi 84 81 73 53 85 55 55 68 69 78 67 Lo 57 74 56 38 51 39 41 50 50 65 54 W c pc s t pc pc r pc s pc r WINDS Medford 68/43 (in mph) Klamath Falls 61/31 Boardman Pendleton REGIONAL FORECAST Coastal Oregon: Sunny to partly cloudy today. Mostly cloudy tonight; a passing shower across the north. Eastern and Central Oregon: Mostly cloudy today, except sunnier near the Cascades; a shower in the south. Western Washington: Sunny to partly cloudy today. Eastern Washington: Times of clouds and sun today. Cascades: Partial sunshine today. Partly cloudy tonight, except cloudy across the north. Northern California: Warmer in central parts today; mostly sunny at the coast. Partly cloudy tonight. Today Friday WSW 4-8 W 6-12 WSW 10-20 WSW 10-20 UV INDEX TODAY Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. 1 4 6 6 4 Under the Oregon bill, each quarter the Department of Revenue would have sent banks a list of debtors’ names and social security numbers, and banks would notify the state if they had accounts that matched the data. Banks could have charged the state reasonable fees to cover the costs matching accounts and debtors, and the state could have passed that fee along to the debtors. The bill would also have allowed the Department of Revenue to track down debtors using a Department of Justice child support database of newly hired employees and issue writs of garnishments to banks operating in Oregon for out-of-state accounts. That last provision was among the problems cited by banks during hearings earlier this year. “That is not consumer friendly,” Ken Sherman, a lawyer for the Oregon Bankers Association, said during a hearing in February. “That is a terrible precedent for this state, which has been very much in the forefront in leading on consumer protec- tion, to make.” Taylor, the bill’s sponsor, said banks have repeatedly asked for more time to prepare to expand the data match program beyond child support. “They have always said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re willing participants,’” Taylor said. The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. ADVERTISING Advertising Director: Jennine Perkinson 541-278-2683 • jperkinson@eastoregonian.com Subscriber services: For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255 — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — could face “potentially up to a $1.3 billion deicit even to fund what we would consider continuing services.” Devlin is one of the co-chairs of the budget writing Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Looming costs range from the anticipated bill for the state’s Medicaid expansion, to minimum wage increases and the unfunded public employee pension liability. The 2016 debt collec- tion bill was based on the recommendations in a 2015 audit report produced by the Secretary of State’s Ofice, which found debt owed to the state — everything from delinquent taxes and pension over-payments, child support and court ines — had nearly doubled since 2008 as state agencies failed to implement collection strategies that worked in other states. “When it comes to bank garnishments and levies, all but one of Oregon’s largest debtor agencies have to guess where a debtor might be banking,” auditors wrote in the report. The Depart- ment of Justice’s child support program can match debtors to bank accounts, a requirement under federal law. Meanwhile, banks have worked with the govern- ment to match accounts for other types of debtors in states such as California and Wisconsin, according to Oregon auditors. 1 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 0-2, Low 3-5, Moderate 6-7, High; 8-10, Very High; 11+, Extreme The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num- ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016 -10s -0s showers t-storms 0s 10s rain 20s flurries 30s 40s snow ice 50s 60s cold front 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low National Summary: Damp weather will stretch from the northern Plains to the mid-Atlantic with spotty heavy storms from the Ohio Valley to the Southeast today. Showers and spotty storms will affect a large part of the West. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 100° in McAllen, Texas Low 10° in Laramie, Wyo. NATIONAL CITIES Today Albuquerque Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Fargo Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Little Rock Los Angeles Hi 70 81 56 58 44 84 69 53 87 79 49 56 85 49 49 83 61 56 84 85 72 89 65 69 84 70 Lo 41 63 47 46 33 60 44 42 66 56 39 42 68 34 40 56 34 34 73 72 47 66 46 57 60 55 W pc t r r c pc pc s t t r c pc sh r s s c sh pc t t s sh pc pc Fri. Hi 62 87 53 57 53 87 67 49 90 74 54 51 79 40 59 75 62 61 84 83 65 89 62 80 73 72 Lo 43 65 45 43 37 66 43 40 63 50 41 40 67 31 40 53 36 39 73 70 48 64 54 60 65 56 Today W s s sh sh c s pc pc s pc pc c t sn pc s pc c pc t pc s c pc r s Louisville Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Oklahoma City Omaha Philadelphia Phoenix Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Diego San Francisco Seattle Tucson Washington, DC Wichita Hi 80 85 87 44 49 85 84 59 76 57 60 76 53 58 83 40 63 79 73 60 66 67 66 77 61 71 Lo 57 62 74 37 39 57 74 46 59 41 47 59 31 40 62 29 40 50 52 44 59 52 48 51 52 52 W t pc pc r r pc t pc s c r pc s pc t c c pc s c c s s pc r s Fri. Hi 76 79 89 50 60 82 87 55 73 59 57 82 49 57 83 42 70 81 71 61 71 66 59 77 60 66 Lo 58 67 73 40 46 62 74 45 52 47 46 63 31 39 57 32 41 54 57 47 59 53 46 54 48 51 Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice. W pc c s pc pc pc pc r t c r pc pc pc pc c pc s c pc s s sh pc sh t
