A8
OREGON
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Oregon forecasts a Avian fl u epidemic reaches wild birds
$3B kicker in 2024
By DOUGLAS PERRY
The Oregonian
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Taxes kept
rolling into Oregon’s coff ers
at record amounts this year,
but state economists say
much of that money is likely
to go back to taxpayers in
2024 in record credits against
their state tax bills.
While not forecasting
an economic downturn
soon, the economists say
that if it happens in 2023 or
2024, Oregon’s tax collec-
tions could drop by as much
as 20% — and the state’s
discretionary budget still
relies largely on personal and
corporate income taxes.
Still, shortly after the
state’s quarterly economic
and revenue forecast was
released Wednesday, May 18,
Gov. Kate Brown said the
forecast will yield slightly
more money that can be spent
on one-time needs in the next
state budget cycle in 2023-25.
Brown said in a statement:
“The good news is that
the continued strength in
the economy will allow the
Legislature to look at addi-
tional one-time investments
in the coming budget cycle
— like those we’ve recently
made in housing, behavioral
health and child care — to
further spur growth and
support working families,
so that all Oregonians see
and feel the benefi ts of our
economic bounce back.”
Though Brown leaves
offi ce on Jan. 9, 2023, her
administration will prepare
most of the next state budget
that goes to the Legislature.
Whoever is elected governor
Nov. 8 will have until Feb. 1
to propose changes.
Even allowing for $1.9
billion in credits against
taxes after the 2019-21
budget cycle, state econo-
mist Mark McMullen said
Oregon still collected $1.2
billion more than economists
projected a year ago, when
they prepared a forecast for
the current two-year budget.
Though McMullen said the
trend is similar in other states
dependent on income taxes,
their gains were 35% to 40%
above forecasts; Oregon’s
was 70%.
“We never really could
have imagined the sort
of things we have seen in
the past couple of months.
What that has left us with is
unprecedented balances for
the current cycle,” he told
lawmakers on the House and
Senate revenue committees.
“Those are largely, but not
entirely, offset by a larger
kicker in 2023.”
McMullen also added,
“We’re going to do our best
to explain how we could
possibly be this stupid to
make this kind of forecast-
ing error in the outlook.”
Forecast: $3 billion
kicker
The latest projections are
for a record “kicker” of $3
billion in credits to taxpay-
ers against their 2023 tax
bills — paid out when they
fi le returns in spring 2024 —
and $931 million in excess
corporate income taxes that
will go automatically into
the state school fund.
Under a 1979 law, which
voters wrote into the Oregon
Constit ution in 2000,
taxpayers get a “kicker”
when actual tax collec-
tions exceed 2% of the fore-
casted amounts at the time
that lawmakers approve the
two-year budget. The rebate
covers the entire excess, not
just the amount above 2%.
No other state has a simi-
lar rebate law.
McMullen said the princi-
pal reason tax collections are
higher now is that higher-in-
come taxpayers are cashing
in on capital gains, which
are profi ts from the sale of
assets such as stock. Unlike
the federal tax code, which
off ers a tax break, Oregon
taxes capital gains as ordi-
nary income with a top
rate of 9.9%. Some taxpay-
ers may anticipate federal
changes that will increase
their taxes.
Based on a conference
call with economists from
other states the previous day,
McMullen said:
“The trend is the same;
it’s not an Oregon phenome-
non. We are seeing it across
the board. It’s a lot higher
than our 2% threshold for
the kicker, which made a
dramatic change for the
outlook for 2023-25.”
Working group to
draft plans for drone
management in parks
P
V I H t u o b a g n i k l a t y B . n o i t a c i d e m f o p l e h
East Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon Parks
and Recreation Department
is convening a workgroup to
draft criteria for managing
drone take-off s and landings
in state parks and along the
ocean shore.
Adopting the formal
administrative rules began
in January, but department
Director Lisa Sumption
paused the process to allow
the group to conduct research
and suggest ways to develop
maps, according to a recent
news release from OPRD.
State parks and recreation
invited members to the work-
group who represent a wide
range of interests and exper-
tise, including conservation
organizations, drone enthu-
siasts and trail users. The
workgroup, which will report
its results to Sumption, fi rst
has to draft criteria for loca-
tions allowing and restricting
drone take-off s and landings.
Then park managers will
apply the criteria to create
maps showing the proposed
sites in state parks and along
the ocean shore.
Sumption’s move to hit
pause came after a conver-
sation with the Oregon
State Parks and Recreation
Commission and members
of the public at an April 13,
commission meeting. The
decision follows a two-month
public rulemaking process
that generated much public
feedback in support and crit-
ical of the proposed rules.
“Drones are growing in
popularity as a way to get
outside and enjoy parks,” said
Guy Rodrigue, OPRD central
resources manager, who will
convene the workgroup.
“This workgroup gives us a
chance to hear from a diverse
group of stakeholders on the
best way to balance provid-
ing places for drone pilots
to capture photos while also
protecting wildlife and park
lands.”
Once the drone crite-
ria and maps are drafted
and delivered to Sumption,
the department expects to
reconvene a Rule Advi-
sory Committee and restart
the process of amending
the Oregon Administrative
Rules. The committee will be
able to refer to the criteria and
maps as part of the process
of drafting rules for drone
pilots, hobbyists and the
general public. The Oregon
State Parks and Recreation
Commission has the task of
approving the amended rules.
Oregon has no state
park rules that specifi cally
prohibit people from fl ying
a drone in an Oregon state
park, though Federal Avia-
tion Authority rules apply.
However, some park manag-
ers have created temporary
limits on the places and times
a person can use a drone to
protect sensitive plants and
animals as well as public and
private property.
OPRD cannot adopt rules
specifi cally related to drones
without following the formal
public process for amending
the Oregon Administrative
Rules. Updates on the project
and more information about
fl ying drones is online at bit.
ly/3M7xfNU.
SALEM — Avian fl u has
been detected in wild birds
in Oregon.
Several Canada goose
goslings in Lane County,
along with an osprey and a
red-tailed hawk, have tested
positive for the deadly bird
disease, Oregon Fish and
Wildlife reported Wednes-
day, May 18.
This follows detection of
the highly contagious virus
earlier this month in a back-
yard fl ock in Linn County.
That was Oregon’s first
confi rmed avian-fl u case in
seven years.
“We knew (it) was
coming our way after a bald
eagle in British Colum-
bia tested positive in early
March,” state veterinar-
ian Ryan Scholz said in
an Oregon Department of
Agriculture statement. The
goslings were collected in
Eugene’s Alton Baker Park,
the osprey in Eugene and
hawk at Dorena Reservoir
near Cottage Grove.
Humans are at very little
risk of contracting or spread-
ing avian fl u, also known as
H5N1, but it can happen.
In April, a man who was
working on a Colorado farm
with infected poultry was
found to have the virus. He
remained “largely asymp-
tomatic,” the Colorado
Department of Health and
Environment reported.
People can be infected
when saliva, mucus or
feces from an infected bird
gets into their eyes, nose or
mouth.
Most of the viruses that
fall into the bird-fl u category
do not sicken humans. But
those that do, such as H5N1,
John Bazemore/The Associated Press, File
A bald eagle sits on a nest in March 2007 overlooking Lake Oconee near Greensboro, Geor-
gia. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported Wednesday, May 18, 2022, that
avian fl u had been detected in wild birds in the Willamette Valley.
AVIAN FLU
The Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife cautions
Oregonians “to avoid close
contact with waterfowl
(ducks and geese) this
spring and summer. This
includes feeding waterfowl,
which congregates suscep-
tible birds and enables the
disease to spread between
birds more easily.”
The agency advises people
to avoid touching dead
birds or birds that appear
sick — and to notify the
can be quite deadly. Over the
past two decades, reports
the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control & Prevention, “19
countries have reported more
than 860 total human infec-
tions with (H5N1) viruses to
agency by calling 866-968-
2600 or emailing to Wildlife.
Health@odfw.oregon.gov.
People with domesticated
backyard birds are asked
to be extra-vigilant and in-
crease their safety measures
in handling their birds.
It remains safe to eat poul-
try that has been properly
handled and cooked,
experts point out.
Cooking poultry and eggs
to an internal temperature
of 165 degrees Fahrenheit
kills all avian-fl u viruses and
other bacteria and viruses.
the World Health Organiza-
tion, with about 53% of those
resulting in death.”
For months, Europe
has been enduring, in the
words of Germany’s federal
animal-disease agency, its
“strongest avian fl u epidemic
ever.”
Avian flu can be cata-
strophic to commercial
bird populations, as well as
devastating to wild birds
and domesticated back-
yard birds, but the poten-
tial impact in Oregon at this
point remains little more
than guesswork.
“This is a novel strain of
Highly Pathogenic Avian
Influenza that has some
unique qualities associated
with its virulence in that it
is aff ecting a large number
of species (68 so far) and it
is causing mortalities among
many of its wild avian hosts,
a characteristic we do not see
in most (such) outbreaks,”
state wildlife veterinarian
Colin Gillin told The Orego-
nian in an email. “Europe
and Asia have seen similar
high wild bird mortalities.”
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