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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 2016)
State Blue Mountain Eagle ISSUES Continued from Page A1 The economy The irst third of the debate focused around the economy. Brown, in response to a question about the effects of the increased minimum wage on rural business, defended the state’s mandated mini- mum wage increases, which will vary by area, saying she would not apologize for advo- cating for “working families.” Pierce, asked about rec- reational marijuana, said the state’s law legalizing recreational marijuana was “well-crafted,” and that he supported local control over regulations. He also said he wished to bring the industry into mainstream banking, say- ing that a cash-only system was open to corruption. Brown, in reiterating her support for Measure 97, said that state government needed suficient revenue for basic services and that large cor- porations should pay a “fair share.” Brown, in an interview with Oregon Public Broad- casting last month, acknowl- edged consumers in Oregon would bear some of the bur- den should the measure pass. But in Saturday’s debate she said the measure was the only viable option to remedy the state’s projected budget $1.35 billion shortfall. Measure 97 is projected to pull in an ad- ditional $6 billion in revenue per budget biennium. In a rebuttal, Pierce dis- agreed, citing igures from the Legislative Revenue Ofice EO Media Group Saturday Gov. Kate Brown, in her first debate with challenger Bud Pierce, defended her support for Measure 97, a corporate gross receipts tax that will raise $3 billion a year. estimating that the average family would pay $600 more annually in costs. Brown said she sought to improve education and infra- structure in rural areas, and touted the state’s recent in- vestment in “innovative tech- nologies,” citing cross-lami- nated timber and unmanned aerial vehicles. In response to a question about shrinking rural econo- mies and populations, Pierce said he wanted to renew natu- ral resource industries in rural areas and support entrepre- neurs through incentives such as tax credits or enterprise zones. Land use In the second part of the debate, which centered on land use, Brown was asked to clarify her stance on the proposed designation of the Owyhee Canyonlands in Eastern Oregon as a national monument. The incumbent said she supported collaboration in coming to a decision. Asked to expand on her answer, Brown maintained a “process” needed to be in place for taking public input. She would not say explicitly whether she was for or against the designation. “I think there needs to be a collaborative approach and parties need to come to the ta- ble,” Brown said. Pierce rebutted that the community around the pro- posed monument opposes the designation. “The people who lived on the lands overwhelmingly said no,” Pierce said, and said he opposed what he character- ized as an additional layer of bureaucracy. Pierce and Brown also dis- agreed more broadly about the federal government’s management of public lands Wednesday, September 28, 2016 in Oregon. Pierce said that he supported a gradual transfer of federal public lands to state and local agencies, a move Brown called unrealistic. “I think there’s a third way,” Brown said. She said the state was already coop- erating with the federal gov- ernment, and cited the state’s “good neighbor agreement” with the U.S. Forest Service regarding forest management. She also attributed what she said was a 15 percent in- crease in timber harvest off federal public lands in East- ern Oregon in 2015 to such collaborations. Brown, in a response to a question about easing ten- sions between various levels of government and the com- munities they serve, said that she fought on state and feder- al levels to reimburse Harney County and state law enforce- ment for costs incurred by the response to the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year. Urban-rural divide While Pierce said that em- ployment and basic health- care can improve individual health, Brown said Pierce would “kick people off the Oregon Health Plan” and that she sought to remove barriers to healthcare. “Every time we have a budget cut in this state, we cut people or we cut services,” Brown said. Pierce objected, noting he was in favor of the recent Medicaid expansion in the state, but that rural communi- ties suffered from a lack of af- fordable health insurance. “All the great words in the world from the governor will not provide affordable insur- ance,” Pierce said. He said that both health and educational outcomes could be bolstered by improved rural economies. “If we have prosperity in rural areas, prosperous fami- lies can take care of their chil- dren,” Pierce said, arguing that rural areas have been neglect- ed by Brown’s administration. He also emphasized his background as a private citizen in contrast to Brown’s 25 years in state government and said her record was poor in those years. But Brown said the state needed to continue invest- ing in education to improve outcomes, citing the state’s comparatively short school years and large class sizes. She pointed to her appointment of an education innovation ofi- cer, whom she said would pro- vide school districts suficient resources to allow graduates to have a “plan.” In response to a question about how far to go when making exceptions for rural communities on state policies. Brown said there were a “num- ber of circumstances” where exceptions were created for different communities based on need — including the tier- ing of the minimum wage in- crease and local discretion on recreational marijuana. She criticized Republicans’ response to the state’s low-car- bon fuel standard. “We put on the table an ex- emption for rural Oregon, but Republican legislators chose to align with the petroleum A9 industry” and did not heed the wishes of constituents, Brown said. Asked about how she would balance healthy natural environments in rural com- munities while allowing rural communities to capitalize on their natural resources, Brown said that climate change was the most signiicant issue, and that it was “imperative” that the Oregon Department of Forestry and other state agen- cies have adequate resources to collect data. Pierce called Brown’s re- sponse a “non-answer” and agreed that while climate change was an issue, he sup- ported a “triple aim” of low- er carbon emissions, reliable supply of energy and lower costs. He said he wanted to help industries that rely on wa- ter thrive, but also encourage more “judicious use of water.” Brown, in a counter-re- sponse, also called Pierce’s re- sponse a non-answer and said that she wanted to preserve the state for future generations. “I don’t think we want to look like Idaho,” Brown said. “I want us to keep Oregon green.” Saturday’s debate was moderated by the Oregon chapter of the Society of Pro- fessional Journalists, with questions offered by represen- tatives of the East Oregonian, KTVZ-TV, Jefferson Public Radio and the Bend Bulletin Brown and Pierce are ex- pected to debate again four more times before the Nov. 8 election: On Sept. 30, they will square off before the City Club of Portland. Legislators weigh PERS options, but reach no consensus Capital Bureau A bipartisan work group aimed at reforming the state’s Public Employee Retirement System started taking input on the issue Wednesday after- noon, but reached no consen- sus. The system faces $21.8 billion in unfunded liability — money it owes to PERS beneiciaries but cannot pay. Though several comment- ers, including the mayor of Hillsboro and a Bend-La Pine School District Board mem- ber, seemed to agree change is needed to both address grow- ing costs to local governments and meet legal requirements, it was not clear Wednesday what direction the intended reforms may take. While Sen. Betsy John- son, D-Scappoose, described PERS as a “supercharged and emotional” topic, it’s also complex — Steve Rode- man, the executive director of PERS, spent the irst 45 min- utes of the meeting providing a high-level explanation of the system. In 2013, the Legislature passed a set of reforms aimed at mitigating growing costs, but those reforms were large- ly struck down by the Oregon Supreme Court last year. As a result of the decision and low investment returns, public employers will have to con- tribute $2.9 billion to the sys- tem in the next budget cycle, a hike of $885 million. The Legislature is allowed to make changes to current public employees’ beneits, but beneits that have already accrued cannot be altered, ac- cording to the ruling in that case, Moro v. Oregon. With this parameter in mind, Johnson, and Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, are leading the charge in an attempt to address the unfunded liability through a work group. Legislative counsel has vetted 10 possibilities, and late last month released an analysis inding seven of them likely constitutional. Johnson said the Aug. 31 indings by legislative coun- sel were not the only options available to legislators. Senior Deputy Legislative Counsel Marisa James said that her ofice’s Aug. 31 anal- ysis of those possibilities was largely in agreement with a legal analysis presented this week by a Portland law irm, Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan, LLP, on behalf of ive public employee unions. In a letter submitted to Johnson and Knopp, repre- sentatives of those unions said they were “deeply skep- tical” that the reform effort “is about inding ‘solutions’ or taking a broader look at all the budgetary challenges the state faces.” Some examples of those possibilities include institut- ing $100,000 cap on inal an- nual salary used to calculate beneits, using a market rate for annuities, and using cal- culate the beneit based on the average of the last ive years salary instead of the last three. Another option would stop the practice of allow- ing unused vacation and sick time payments to be includ- ed when calculating the inal salary. In the Aug. 31 letter, legis- lative counsel acknowledged that some of these possibili- ties, though likely constitu- tional, could prove politically controversial and risk being challenged in court. The three options that didn’t make the cut set by legislative counsel included changing the retirement age, reducing a factor by which years of service and inal av- erage salary are multiplied in the formula used to calculate pension beneit, or discontin- uing the pension program al- together. Cheri Helt, a member of the board of Bend-La Pine Schools, in comments to Knopp and Johnson at the work group meeting Wednes- day, said that her school dis- trict faces signiicant per- sonnel cuts as a result of increased PERS costs. Tim Nesbitt, a former adviser to former gover- nors John Kitzhaber and Ted Kulongoski, in comments Wednesday at the request of the Oregon Business Coun- cil, said that the state must be mindful of moderating cost increases as a percentage of local government and district payroll. He said that continued in- creases could divert money from the local services that those districts and govern- ments provide. Debbie Ausmus 245 South Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845 OPEN WED. & THUR. 9 am - 5 pm 541-575-1113 24 hrs/7 days wk debbie.ausmus@ countryfinancial.com 04591 Baker City 2830 10th St. 541-524-0122 Every other Monday in John Day at Blue Mountain Hospital 170 Ford Rd. 541-575-1311 .4599 By Claire Withycombe
