A10
STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Gov. Brown has been assessing executive action Why could thousands
of Oregon university
on greenhouse gasses for more than a year
By Aubrey Wieber
Oregon Capital Bureau
For more than a year, Gov.
Kate Brown’s environmen-
tal agency has been assessing
how the governor could man-
date lower greenhouse gas
emissions without voter or
legislative approval, accord-
ing to interviews and public
records.
Brown has said she’s will-
ing to act with her executive
authority if lawmakers and
industry don’t reach agree-
ment on ways to limit green-
house gas emissions over the
next several decades.
Her spokeswoman, Kate
Kondayen, reiterated that
point, saying that Brown
would rather see legislative
action.
“The governor has been
meeting with stakeholders
from the agricultural sec-
tor, transportation sector
and wood products indus-
tries throughout the summer
and will continue to do so
into the fall to ensure that the
policy benefits rural Oregon
while allowing rural Oregon
industries to remain compet-
itive,” Kondayen said in a
statement. “In the meantime,
she has instructed her team
and agencies to explore all
options to achieve Oregon’s
emissions reduction goals.”
Kondayen didn’t oth-
erwise respond to written
questions.
Richard Whitman, direc-
tor of the state Department
of Environmental Qual-
ity, said his agency started
talking with the governor’s
staff a little more than a year
ago, exploring what options
were available. Those efforts
were sidelined as momentum
picked up ahead of the 2019
Legislature for a compre-
hensive carbon-capping pro-
gram. The costly and contro-
versial legislation setting the
program in place famously
failed in the final week of the
session.
DEQ, responding to a pub-
lic records request, released
39 emails dating from Octo-
ber 2017 to last June doc-
umenting
communication
between Brown’s office
and DEQ regarding curbing
emissions outside of legisla-
tive action. Much of the cor-
respondence regarded suing
the federal Environmental
Oregon Capital Bureau/Claire Withycombe
Gov. Kate Brown speaks to supporters of House Bill 2020
at a rally outside the Capitol after Senate President Peter
Courtney announced the cap and trade climate legislation
lacked the votes to pass June 25. Brown said July 1 she is not
backing down on the concept.
Protection Agency to ensure
Oregon maintains the author-
ity to use executive powers to
regulate polluters.
An outline of the potential
executive actions available
to the governor was sent by
Whitman to Brown’s advisers
and the state Justice Depart-
ment five days before the leg-
islative session ended with-
out a carbon emissions policy
passing.
Brown had no desire to
let the work and momen-
tum behind a carbon-capping
program fizzle. Less than
24 hours after the session
closed, she called reporters
into her office and threatened
to use her executive powers
to lower carbon emissions.
Immediately,
DEQ
resumed its work vetting
those options.
Whitman said his office is
in weekly, if not daily, com-
munication with Brown’s
staff on the effort.
“We are on a pretty steady
pace working on these issues
at this point,” he said.
The June 25 internal doc-
ument outlines a gradu-
ally declining cap on indus-
trial emissions and fossil fuel
importers, strengthening Ore-
gon’s low-carbon fuel stan-
dard and increasing access to
public transit and promoting
biking and walking.
DEQ also outlined ways
to strengthen regulations on
landfills to lower methane
emissions, to more strictly
regulate dairies, to expand
vehicle inspection programs
so that medium-duty trucks
are inspected twice per year
and to require newly built
buildings include electric
vehicle charging stations.
Whitman said the main
focus of the agency’s pro-
posal is on capping industrial
emissions. And while execu-
tive action can be extremely
powerful, it lacks the nuance
afforded by the legislative
process, he said.
Going the legislative route
allows the state to be less
restrictive of industry, giving
it the best “bang for its buck,”
Whitman said.
In 2019, lawmakers
developed a policy where a
cap on carbon came along-
side “allowances” equal to
one ton of pollution. Those
allowances would have been
purchased from the state at
auction and then become a
commodity for the holders,
as they could be resold or
traded.
Lawmakers also designed
a system to give free allow-
ances to companies that
would struggle to compete
on a national or global scale
under the new regulations.
The policy would have also
allowed companies to invest
in “offsets” like preserv-
ing timber stands rather than
buying allowances.
Executive action does not
afford that level of creativity.
More or less, she is allowed
to limit emissions, but is
more handcuffed in helping
industry make the transition.
Brown has not said how
extreme the new emission
regulations could be, but any
change would likely impact
business, and in turn could
impact consumers and the
overall economy.
Whitman said executive
orders might not result in the
overall emissions reduction
being done in the most effi-
cient way.
Brown’s potential execu-
tive action is likely to draw
political fire.
“I am severely disap-
pointed with the governor
wanting to move forward
with executive action, when
the Legislature clearly did not
get the cap and trade program
right,” said Rep. David Brock
Smith, R-Port Orford. Brock
Smith served as co-vice chair
of the joint committee that
studied the issue and pro-
duced the cap-and-trade leg-
islation, House Bill 2020.
Brown has been quiet on
the issue since holding her
press conference in June.
“The really major issue
here is that if Oregon DEQ
were to proceed with a pro-
gram, particularly around
capping industrial emissions
or fuels … it likely would be
kind of a blunt instrument,
frankly,” Whitman said.
Brad Reed, spokesman
for environmental coalition
Renew Oregon, said action
is needed now. Renew was
one of the chief proponents
for the policy, but Reed said
executive action could be a
start.
“The governor should do
everything she can to combat
the climate crisis,” Reed said.
Reed said, after her
announcement, Brown met
with Renew’s policy analysts
to go over the most effective
ways to use agency authority
to cut down on emissions.
Reducing pollution was
only one part of the legisla-
tive plan, though. The cap-
and-trade program would
have generated millions for
climate projects around the
state.
That also becomes more
difficult with executive
action. DEQ could raise
money through increased
fees for things like industrial
or agricultural permits, but
that would require legislative
approval.
“I think it’s highly unlikely
that we would be able to
operate a program that gen-
erates revenue for things that
reduce greenhouse gas emis-
sions,” Whitman said.
And while DEQ ana-
lysts have narrowed what
options to consider, they con-
tinue to examine how best
to implement new rules and
regulations.
Senate Democrats back off threat to fine Republicans
By Aubrey Wieber and
Claire Withycombe
Oregon Capital Bureau
More than two months
after voting to fine protesting
Republican senators $500 per
day for walking off the job,
Senate Democratic leaders
announced Friday they will
not make good on the threat.
Instead, leaders said they
are pursuing a constitutional
amendment to change Ore-
gon’s quorum requirement
from two-thirds to a simple
majority. That would allow
the Senate to convene with
16 instead of 20 senators out
of the body of 30. Forty-six
states use the simple major-
ity requirement, according
to a Senate Democrat news
release.
Twice during the 2019
Legislature,
Republicans
brought the Senate to a halt
by walking out in protest.
They were able to claim
political victories both times.
During the first walk-
out, Gov. Kate Brown killed
bills regulating guns and vac-
cinations to bring the sen-
ators back, and during the
second walkout, Democrats
announced they would no
longer pursue a controversial
carbon pricing bill, though
they said that died because
they didn’t have the votes
within their own party.
To date, Senate Demo-
crats haven’t imposed any
punishment on their peers for
walking from the Capitol.
“Stopping the work of the
people by denying a quo-
rum is unconscionable and
undemocratic. Senate Dem-
ocrats will work to protect
Oregon’s democracy by giv-
ing Oregonians and their rep-
resentatives more tools to
stop any future quorum deni-
als,” Senate Majority Leader
Ginny Burdick, D-Portland,
said in a statement. “I hope
our Republican colleagues
now see that this is not a tac-
tic that should ever be used
again, and that they will work
with us to prevent either party
from walking off the job.”
Burdick’s
statement
comes after the Senate
Majority and Senate Presi-
dent’s offices were peppered
by reporters asking if they
were going to issue fines.
Throughout the past two
months, the Oregon Capital
Bureau asked several times
about the fines, and each time
was told that they were going
to be issued.
The issue was brought
back to the foreground this
week when a coalition of
unions and liberal groups
escalated the kerfuffle after
noticing a political action
committee set up to help
pay for the absent lawmak-
ers’ expenses while gone out
of state has donated to each
Republican senator.
The group has updated
its state elections complaint
against the 11 Republican
senators, contending it’s
unlawful to use campaign
donations to pay for their
political exodus.
Patty Wentz, a spokes-
woman for the coalition, said
the complaint still stands.
The only senator who’s
paid his $3,500 fine is Sen.
Brian Boquist, R-Dallas. He
did so to establish grounds
to sue Senate President Peter
Courtney in federal court,
claiming he has no authority
to issue such fines. Boquist’s
check has not been cashed.
Rick Osborn, spokesman
for the Senate Democrats,
said the retreat from the fines
was not because the cau-
cus believed it could be on
shaky legal ground in issu-
ing the fines. Rather, it was to
save taxpayers from funding
a legal fight.
Senate Democrats said
that “imposing the fines
would have been bogged
down by lengthy litigation
and hundreds of thousands
of dollars in taxpayer-funded
legal fees.”
workers go on strike?
By Claire Withycombe
Oregon Capital Bureau
Sitting in a conference room
at the Hamersly Library this
week, Jackson Stalley wore a
large pin emblazoned with a
cobra: “Ready to strike.”
Stalley, a library technician
at Western Oregon University,
is one of about 220 classified
workers there who could walk
off the job next month.
They may not be the public
face of academic institutions,
but classified workers such as
Stalley — of whom there are
about 5,000 across the state —
make universities function from
day to day.
They’re the people who
make sure the bathrooms are
clean, the students are fed and
that young scholars can find
the right article in an academic
journal.
“When something doesn’t
work, people call me,” Stalley
said.
But last Friday, Oregon’s
seven public universities
reached an impasse in negotiat-
ing pay increases, benefits and
time off with those workers.
SEIU Local 503, the union
representing classified univer-
sity workers, said the stale-
mate could lead to a strike
next month, just as the state’s
roughly 64,000 university stu-
dents will be starting classes.
The university workers say
they’re getting short shrift com-
pared to other workers on the
state’s payroll — especially just
after lawmakers voted to boost
the amount of money going to
public universities by $100 mil-
lion over the next two years.
The median classified uni-
versity worker makes $36,000
per year, according to SEIU
503.
The union is railing against
what it says are sky-high sal-
aries for top administrators,
bloated management and mod-
est pay raises compared to other
state workers.
“This causes a significant
amount of resentment, where
the lowest paid employees,
every two years, have to fight
to not go on to welfare,” Stal-
ley said. “At the same time
we’re seeing higher educa-
tion administration explode,
in terms of numbers and their
compensation.”
The looming strike also
highlights longstanding state
budget trends that have put the
squeeze on public universities.
When
Oregon
voters
approved a series of ballot mea-
sures in the 1990s, they largely
transferred the burden of paying
for public K-12 schools from
local property taxes onto the
state.
The switch left less money
for everything else the state
does.
Paired with rising costs of
health care and retirement ben-
efits for workers, higher educa-
tion felt the impact.
And in 2013, after the state
restructured the state’s public
universities to independently
govern themselves, classified
university workers split off into
their own union.
Stalley said what higher
education workers receive has
not kept pace with employees
working for agencies such as
the transportation and forestry
departments.
“Every contract, we fall fur-
ther and further behind,” Stal-
ley said. “And we don’t quite
understand how this keeps hap-
pening to us.”
A spokeswoman for the uni-
versities said much of the $100
million boost from lawmakers
is going toward reducing leaps
in tuition and covering higher
costs of employee benefits.
Workers also say they’ve
been disrespected at the bar-
gaining sessions.
“That is a key talking point
that they have, and that is a way
that they use to gain attention
for their story,” said Di Saun-
ders, a spokeswoman for the
universities. “We could also say
exactly the same thing. The bar-
gaining table is not always a
very happy place.”
The contract proposed by
university executives is “dis-
heartening,” Stalley said —
especially after union members
lobbied state legislators this
year for increases to the higher
education budget.
For instance, they say the
cost of living increases offered
are too low to keep pace with
inflation.
Rob Fullmer, an IT special-
ist at Portland State University,
said that the most recent con-
tract’s cost of living adjustment
fell below the rate of inflation.
“That just didn’t cover my
costs,” Fullmer said. “So I saw
my buying power go down last
year.”
The union wants a 3.75 per-
cent increase for cost of liv-
ing in 2019 and a 3.5 percent
increase in 2020.
Fullmer, an IT profes-
sional who has a bachelor’s
degree in aerospace engineer-
ing, acknowledges he’s not the
“poster child” for the effort to
secure better wages for univer-
sity workers.
He cites colleagues who
work in dining services or as
office specialists who have to
take second jobs, noting that
about a quarter make so lit-
tle money that they qualify for
food stamps for a family of four.
“We are the lowest paid
workers at the university,” Full-
mer said. “And for us to be
offered wages in this next con-
tract that don’t keep pace with
inflation is really tough.”
The universities, meanwhile,
say that the combined 12 per-
cent increase for the next two
years — 2.5 percent in a cost of
living adjustment and 9.5 per-
cent in “step” increases for sat-
isfactory job performance — is
a “fair offer.”
Universities also are offer-
ing competitive health care and
retirement benefits, Saunders
said.
She said universities already
provide “the best benefits you
can get on the west coast, if not
nationally.”
A strike isn’t a sure bet.
Union representatives say they
want to avoid that by negotiat-
ing what they view as a better
contract.
“We work in higher ed
because we want to be able to
serve students and faculty, we
want to be able to serve the
higher educational mission, so
striking is not something we’re
looking forward to doing,” said
Fullmer. “But if we don’t get
a reasonable and fair contract
offer from management, they’re
basically forcing our hand.
Striking is the only thing we can
really do in order to ensure our
workers get a contract that they
can live with.”
Friday is when the univer-
sities and unions officially sub-
mit their final and best offers
for a contract. Then there’s a
30-day cooling off period, at
which point the universities
may implement their final offer,
which could prompt the work-
ers to go on strike.
Negotiations could continue
until workers and management
reach an agreement.
The universities, meanwhile,
are planning for a strike as stu-
dents return for the fall term.
They could re-assign non-clas-
sified staff, outsource workers
or hire temporary employees.
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