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East Oregonian
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
WITNESS: UAS industry ‘growing by leaps and bounds’
Continued from 1A
declined to talk about the
fire and referred all ques-
tions about the incident to
Abling.
Abling said Ciraulo’s
referral was in line with
the range’s process manual,
which requires one person
be appointed a public infor-
mation officer to avoid the
spread of misinformation
and speculation.
Ciraulo did comment
on Fire Station No. 3, the
facility at the airport that the
fire department maintains
but does not staff.
Per FAA rules, the depart-
ment houses its aircraft
rescue and firefighting
truck and a foam-spraying
rig from the Oregon
Office of State Fire
Marshal.
Although Cirualo said
the vehicles are capable of
putting out fires for aircraft
of any size, responding to
an emergency at the airport
is also about bringing in the
right personnel.
Fire Station No. 3 is
typically unstaffed, but
Ciraulo said the two to four
Photo courtesy Harold Nelson
Pilot Harold Nelson took this photo from his airplane after a UAS crashed near the Pendleton airport, burning a couple acres of a nearby
wheat field (the black spot on the left side of the photo.)
firefighters usually staffed
at Fire Station No. 2 on
Southgate are close enough
to the airport to respond
quickly.
Ciraulo said the depart-
ment has sent staff to the
airport fire station in antic-
ipation of important UAS
tests, such as the Project
Vahana air taxi’s first test
flight, but he estimates that
has only happened a couple
of times.
Despite being an eyewit-
ness to the dangerous crash,
Nelson is supportive of the
UAS industry.
“It’s growing by leaps
and bounds and we need to
embrace it,” he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
SESSION: Democrats are poised to try for a broader revenue overhaul again
Continued from 1A
The lower tax rates were
initially engineered in 2013
during a special session as
part of a package referred to
as the “Grand Bargain.”
“Sole proprietors were
kept out of the 2013
special session bill as the
Democrats did not want to
lose anymore revenue by
adding them into the state
(pass-through entity) law,”
Boquist wrote. “Since I was
in the room, I know this as
fact. Now after raising taxes
$244 million this biennium,
and placing the funds in the
ending balance, they want to
be able to campaign on ‘tax
cuts.’”
Boquist also says the
Legislature could wait until
the 2019 regular session to
extend the lower rates to
sole proprietorships. That
would still allow those busi-
ness owners to opt in to the
rates for the 2018 tax year,
Boquist says.
After efforts to make
broader changes to the
state’s corporate tax system
stalled last session, Demo-
crats are poised to try for a
broader revenue overhaul
again in the 2019 session.
Adding the sole propri-
etorship provision into the
mix could complicate that
agenda.
State Sen. Mark Hass,
D-Beaverton,
chairman
of the Senate Finance and
Revenue Committee, said
he supports the governor’s
efforts.
In fact, the provision was
initially a component of SB
1528, Hass said.
“It didn’t seem to move
them (Republicans),” Hass
said Monday. “They just
wanted to connect to the
federal tax bill and didn’t
care what other things we
did.”
But Hass said that the top
priority was to disconnect
from the federal pass-
through deduction, which
was part of the Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act signed into law by
the President in December.
“(Senate President) Peter
Courtney and I decided,
let’s just get the clean bill
through and not try to save
the world,” Hass said.
Boquist maintains rela-
tively few sole proprietor-
ships would benefit from the
proposed change.
The Legislative Revenue
Office is working to figure
out just how many Oregon
taxpayers could be affected
by that tweak to the state tax
code.
Early estimates suggest
there are about 250,000 sole
proprietorships in Oregon,
said Legislative Revenue
Officer Chris Allanach.
It’s not clear how many
meet the qualifications for
the lower tax rates, though,
Allanach said.
In order to qualify an
owner or partner of a pass-
through business has to
make “active” income, such
as tangible sales, rather than
“passive” income such as
rental property, and employ
at least one non-owner
person who works 1,200
hours a year.
Jim Moore, director of
the Tom McCall Center for
Policy Innovation, noted
that the budget doesn’t
require the immediate atten-
tion of a special session,
which have been called in
the past when the state has
faced recessions or severe
dips in revenues.
“This is not a special
session that is really
required because of the
budget,” Moore said. “This
is clearly a special session
that is more for political
reasons.”
The Governor’s Office
did not comment on the
contention that the special
session was a campaign or
politically-oriented move.
The state’s constitution
doesn’t allow the governor
to limit the topic of a special
session.
Historically, successful
special sessions have stayed
in their lane, and also benefit
from plenty of advance
planning, Moore said.
“Absolutely, they can
do more than one topic,”
Moore said. “So it’s up to
the leadership of the Legis-
lature to make sure they stay
on track.”
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MUSEUM: ‘There’s so
much people have never seen’
Continued from 1A
Old military uniforms
on wire hangers now are in
shadow boxes on a wall, they
arranged displays to allow
for more walking room, and
they dedicated one room to
the development of McNary
Dam.
Simmons and Nobles said
plans are afoot to show the
Chinese and Latino influence
on the community, as well
as tell the story of the 1916
city election, when voters
elected all women into the
offices of mayor, treasurer,
recorder and every seat on
the council.
Larry Carrick and Chris
Crabtree of Hermiston
checked out the museum,
which used to be home to
Umatilla’s city hall, police
department and more. They
praised the cleaner appear-
ance and the effort to tell
the local history. Carrick, a
retired barber, said all three
of his children graduated
high school in Umatilla.
“We need a museum
here,” he said. “There’s so
much people have never
seen.”
The museum drew about
200 people last year. Admis-
sion is free. Simmons said
the foundation is working on
updating promotional mate-
rials to draw more visitors
and volunteers.
Robertson looked around
a bit more before he headed
out. The place, he said, has a
much better look now.
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