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
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Baker City
2830 10th St.
541-524-0122
Every other Monday
in John Day at
Blue Mountain
Hospital
170 Ford Rd.
541-575-1311
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By Claire Withycombe