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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2017)
A12 State news wallowa.com Draft ODOT reform plan released in wake of review By Paris Achen Capital Bureau SALEM — The state’s ad- ministrative agency has laid out a draft plan for reforming weaknesses at the Oregon De- partment of Transportation, but deadlines for the reforms lag behind legislators’ sched- ule for approving a transporta- tion package. The draft recommendations by the Department of Admin- istrative Services are based on the findings of an independent consultant’s management re- view of the agency, finalized Feb. 1. The state paid New York- based McKinsey & Co. $1 million to evaluate the per- formance of ODOT before lawmakers consider approving hundreds of millions of dollars in new transportation funding later this session. The revenue to pay for projects would like- ly come largely from a hike in the state’s gas tax and registra- tion fees. Gov. Kate Brown ordered the review to help allay some lawmakers’ concerns the agen- cy wasn’t prepared to handle the new projects efficiently and effectively. The consultants concluded there is an unclear governance structure for ODOT and the Oregon Transportation Com- mission, which sets policy for the agency. The agency also lacks a strategic vision for the future and accountability mea- sures, the consultants found. Capital Bureau The Department of Administrative Services has released draft recommendations to reform the Department of Transportation based on the results of a consultant’s evaluation. In its draft, DAS recom- mended that the governor and Legislature convene a work group to clarify the gover- nance structure and report back Nov. 1. ODOT should seek the expertise of a management consulting company to de- velop a management plan for the agency that would define structure, roles and measure- ments for success. The agency also should seek out a consulting compa- ny to address waste in its fleet and facilities programs and convene procurement experts from other state agencies to review potential improve- ments for contracting. Other recommendations ask for a communications plan, align legislative stan- dards with the realities of the agency’s operations and ask the secretary of state to conduct an audit specifical- ly on ODOT’s management of funds in the highway pro- gram. Finally, DAS recommends conducting another manage- ment review to identify the progress of any changes. The draft recommenda- tions by DAS were released to the Pamplin Media Group/EO Media Group Friday, March 24, in response to a public re- cords request. The finalized recommen- dations are scheduled to be released next week, March 27-31, said DAS spokesman Matt Shelby. The records were submitted to the OTC and ODOT earlier this month. The commission and agency have been asked to give feed- back on the recommendations by Monday, March 27, Shelby said. The first of several work products recommended in the draft plan wouldn’t be due until Nov. 1, months after the state Legislature is scheduled to adjourn. Lawmakers on a legisla- tive committee crafting the transportation package say they plan to move forward with their own ODOT re- forms. The co-chairs of the Committee on Transportation Preservation and Moderniza- tion formed an accountabil- ity subgroup to look at such issues. “When we decided to go with the accountability group, we kind of put aside what the executive department was do- ing and said, we are going to do what we think needs to be done from a legislative per- spective for accountability and transparency,” said com- mittee Co-Chairman Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield. Rep. Alan Olson, R-Alba- ny, who heads the account- ability subgroup, said he would consider the draft plan in a separate set of recommen- dations he plans to present to the full, 14-member trans- portation package committee April 3. His recommendations are likely going to include sug- gestions for changing or clar- ifying ODOT’s governance structure and other account- ability measures. Olson said he is partic- ularly interested in an idea to provide a website to the public where they can track the progress of transportation packages and whether the projects are on schedule and on budget. Advocates and legislators seek more money for veteran services By Claire Withycombe Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon vet- erans’ groups have been up in arms since the governor’s budget reduced allocations to the Oregon Department of Vet- erans’ Affairs from the state’s general fund and backfilled it with most of the lottery fund dollars set aside for veterans’ services by a voter-approved ballot measure. Now they’ve brought their concerns to a Legislature busy trying to fill a $1.6 billion short- fall. Ballot Measure 96 amended the state’s constitution to allo- cate 1.5 percent of state lottery net proceeds to direct services for veterans. Advocates have been vocal about what they say is a need for more support — such as for veterans’ services officers, who help returned veterans sign up for federal benefits. Byron Whipple, a veterans’ services officer in Union Coun- ty, told legislators last month that in his area of northeastern Oregon, veterans face problems accessing travel to get medical care. In February, community members housed a 75-year-old veteran with dementia for five days because local agencies could not arrange services for him sooner, Whipple wrote in testimony to the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development. “We do not have local missions and shelters that cer- tain cities and counties have,” Whipple wrote. “We do not have the extra tax dollars to fund these emergencies. Last November, we did have hope.” In December, Gov. Kate Brown released a budget that decreased the amount of gen- eral fund dollars for veterans’ services from $10 million to $2 million, provoking the ire of veterans’ advocates, who said that the ballot measure was in- tended to supplement, not sup- plant, current state funding for veterans. The Governor’s Office said in a statement this week that at $19.8 million, the governor’s budget reflected the intent of Measure 96 by increasing the overall budget for the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Af- fairs. Although $19.8 million would be a near doubling of funding for veterans’ services in the next budget cycle, veter- ans groups’ say it’s not enough, and that the governor’s plan may meet the letter, but not the spirit, of Measure 96. The co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, the legislative budget-writing committee, proposed $23.5 million in combined lottery and general funds for veterans’ services as part of their prelim- inary spending framework in January. Some legislators have called for boosting the amount higher still. State Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, is one of them. Evans acknowledged in a statement Thursday that state legislators were facing an “ex- traordinarily difficult budget environment.” “Now we have to find a way to increase funding to a lev- el where we can do some real good for the men and women we’ve sent into harm’s way, while also strengthening our schools, providing quality health care and investing in oth- er critical services,” Evans said. Freshman Rep. Ron Noble, R-McMinnville, wants to bump the amount of money the veter- ans’ services program gets by amending the agency’s funding bill, bringing the total to about $30 million for veterans’ ser- vices. Noble says he wants to obey the will of the voters. Accord- ing to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, 83 percent of Oregon voters voted in favor of Measure 96. However, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Office, the measure did not re- quire that the amount of money allocated to veterans’ services in the general fund be main- tained. “There’s nothing in the bill that says you cannot supplant the dollars,” Noble said. “But I think that’s, I’m going to be blunt, I think that’s just a chick- en way out.” Noble did not have spe- cific proposals Thursday as to where he’d cut back else- where in the state’s general fund to increase veterans’ ser- vices. Businesses: Paid family leave adds to fatigue of Legislature-imposed mandates By Pais Achen Capital Bureau SALEM — A bill to require 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave would bring Or- egon up to the living standards of most other developed nations but represents another financial setback to the state’s business community, said speakers at a hearing Thursday, March 23, at the Capitol. The hearing in front of the House Committee on Early Childhood and Family Sup- ports drew a standing room-on- ly crowd with attendees watch- ing from an overflow room and in the hallway. “It is beyond time for Ore- gon and the U.S. to join the rest of the civilized world,” said Diane Solomon, a psychiatric nurse practitioner with the Or- egon Nurses Association. While many businesses support and offer family and medical leave, the bill is over- reaching,” said Betsy Earls of Associated Oregon Industries. The legislation “creates conditions that would make it costly and difficult for busi- nesses — especially small ones — to plan and manage their op- erations,” Earls said. The bill, sponsored by four House Democrats, would re- quire a mandatory ½ percent deduction from employees’ pay. Employers would be re- quired to contribute an equal amount. The money would go to a paid leave insurance pro- gram administered by the Or- egon Department of Business and Consumer Services. Employees who have been on the job for at least 90 days would be eligible to use a por- tion of the benefit; after 12 months, they would be eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid leave for illness or a family member’s illness. Employees could take up to 18 months of parental leave for a new baby, adoption or foster care child placement and receive at least 90 percent of their regular wages or salary. Four states — California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York — have devel- oped some type of paid family leave program. Paid leave for new parents is available for 16 weeks in France, 15 weeks in Canada, a full year in Germany and 15 weeks in Japan, Solo- mon noted. About 14 percent of workers across the nation have access to paid family and medical leave at work, according to the Time for Oregon Coalition, which supports the bill. Federal and Oregon law provide up to 12 weeks of un- paid leave for some workers — however, these laws don’t apply to everyone and don’t provide lost income. Some family members are excluded by workplace and economic policies that fail to recognize the nearly 80 percent of American families that don’t fit the nuclear family model of a married mother and father and their biologically related chil- dren, said Rose King, a coali- tion spokeswoman. Proponents cite research that shows women who are forced to go back to work too soon after having a baby are predisposed to postpartum de- pression. Meanwhile, babies benefit from receiving care from their parents during the first 12 weeks of life, said Dr. Evan Shereck, a pediatrician at Portland’s Oregon Health Science University. “This is a time when chil- dren are at their most vulner- able and it is critical to have a caregiver with them 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, not ev- eryone has the option to stay home and care for their new baby,” Shereck said. Opponents said the re- quirement would add to a mounting burden of new laws squeezing money out of busi- nesses, including mandatory paid sick leave and increases in the minimum wage. March 29, 2017 Wallowa County Chieftain