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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2021)
A8 STATE Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 23, 2021 Rare cooperation on tax and housing speed Legislature closer to end of the 2021 session Deadline to close session is Sunday, June 27 By Gary A. Warner Oregon Capital Bureau Back in January, the Legislature thought it would be adjourning for good on Friday. Too optimistic. Mid-week, lawmakers seemed doomed to working right through to the constitutional deadline of 11:59 p.m. June 27, with maybe a break for Father’s Day. Too pessimistic. House and Senate members headed for the exits Thursday after- noon with a few hours of sunlight left to spare and word not to be back in Salem for floor sessions until Monday. “They didn’t really want to work on Saturday, either,” Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond, said of his colleagues in the other party and other chamber. Lips that are rarely zipped stayed shut as sheaves of bills and resolu- tions moved swiftly through the Leg- islature. The work was a late-session nod to the reality that bills cannot be amended on the floor of the House or Senate. It was either yes, no or send it back to committee, which at this point is the equivalent of no. It also helped that on some of the contentious issues during what has been one of the most hotly par- tisan legislative sessions in recent memory, a middle path was cleared when a member of each party worked together to cobble a compromise that was palatable to a majority. The 30-member Senate, the smaller and usually more sedate of the two legislative bodies, moved through its agenda in the time of a good baseball game in the days before television: Two hours and four minutes. On Thursday, legislators ping- ponged between taxes, affordable housing, racial equity and mental health. For most of the past decade, law- makers have debated a 2013 tax cut meant to spur small businesses to hire employees but instead ended up as a popular tax-slicing tool of what critics called “suits and scrubs,” or incorporated small operations that often include doctor and lawyer offices. Oregon Capital Bureau file photo The House chamber in the state Capitol in Salem. The political rewind worked on Thursday because it was drawn up by two longtime senators who on most issues are at polar opposites. Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, the former Senate majority leader who has announced she is retiring, joined with firebrand conservative Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas. A long- time Republican, Boquist had chafed under attempts by the GOP cau- cus to control his words and actions and officially declared himself an independent. “The requirements we had in 2013 were pretty loose,” Burdick said. “Most of the benefit went to the highest income earners.” Senate Bill 139 eliminates the tax break for businesses taking in over $5 million in profits and puts a floor under the minimum number of employees that had to work for the company in order for employers to qualify. There’s an offsetting slightly lower tax rate for businesses bringing in as much as $1 million. The 16-13 vote broke mostly along party — or what used to be party — lines. Boquist, the former Republican, voted yes. Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, and Sen. Deb Patterson, D-Salem, voted no. While there weren’t many sur- prises in the tally, the brevity of com- ment was unusual. Besides Burdick and Boquist, only Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, spoke at all. Knopp, who like the bill’s spon- sors had been in the Legislature when the original bill passed, said he opposed it because Thursday’s rem- edy didn’t cure the original sin in 2013 of financing the tax break by changes to a senior citizen tax credit. “I’m not happy about it now, I wasn’t happy about it then,” Knopp said. Zika helped build a similar solu- tion with House Bill 278, where he joined with Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eu- gene, that extended eviction pro- tections for tenants for two months past the current July 1 deadline in exchange for revising an earlier plan in which the state paid landlords back rent owed, but only if they agreed to take just 80% and forgave the rest. It was the rare compromise that seemed to satisfy everyone, passing the House 56-0. The bill will have to go back to the Senate early next week for a vote on whether to agree to the landlord repayment plan added after long debate in the House Rules Committee. Not all the action in the capitol was in the two chambers. Up on the second floor, Gov. Kate Brown was taking heat for a line-item veto of the $200 million the Legislature had taken out of the Education Stability Fund as part of a sprawling $9.3 bil- lion schools budget. The move drew a harsh rebuke from Rep. Suzanne Weber, R-Tilla- mook, who used a time for personal comments on the House floor to lash Brown for agreeing to questionable deals on public campaign financing and assistance targeted at other sec- tors, but saying she was holding the line with the education funds. She challenged the 60 House makers to decide if they were with students, teachers and parents, or with the governor. “We cannot stand with both,” Weber said. In the east wing, the Secretary of State’s Office announced the latest volley in the ongoing gun wars. The Legislature had already passed Sen- ate Bill 554, which would have the effect of barring firearms from the Capitol and Portland International Airport, along with requiring locks on guns kept at home. A group of conservative current and former Republican lawmakers had filed a referendum with the sec- retary of state that if it gains enough signatures over the next three months to put it on the ballot, would freeze the implementation of the law now scheduled for September. Only after the November 2022 vote would any action be taken. The Secretary of State’s Office also said Thursday that notices of the intent to file two gun control initia- tives had been received: “The Reduc- tion of Gun Violence Act” and the “Reduction of Harm from Weapons Act.” Also received by the secretary of state was a notice from a Grant County resident of an attempt to recall Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, who was among Republican law- makers who were criticized for stay- ing in the Senate to oppose and vote against the gun bill, instead of walk- ing out to deny the 18 Democrats the two additional lawmakers needed for a quorum. While the relatively bare agenda for the Senate and House on Mon- day and Tuesday gave an appear- ance of a light schedule, not every- one is going home for the weekend. The main budget writing committee — Joint Ways & Means — is read- ing and revising several large items, including the funding for university construction and other public works projects. The House Rules Committee and House Revenue Committee will also get together in the Capitol on Fri- day to shuffle through the dozens of bills that are still on its calendar. Both panels are among a select few that are exempted from the multiple deadlines that cull bills from most of the more than 35 legislative commit- tees this year. The chambers’ two rules com- mittees could still pluck several dor- mant items to be brought up for a vote and sent to the chambers at the last minute. A development project at Stevens Road in Bend is one that is scheduled for the first hard look since it was introduced near the start of the session in January. Most of the measures are expected to expire when the Legislature gavels out for the final time in the 2021 reg- ular session — the exact date is still open to speculation ranging from as early as Tuesday to as late as the con- stitutional deadline on Sunday, June 27. Whatever the expiration date, the slate of more than 2,500 bills — dead and living — will be wiped clean in time for the short session scheduled for early 2022. MT. VERNON PRESBYTERIAN Community Church SUNDAY SERVICE..............9 am SUNDAY SERVICE ...........9 am Redeemer Lutheran Church Come Worship with us at 541-932-4800 EVERYONE WELCOME 627 SE Hillcrest, John Day 1 st Sunday Worship/Communion ..................10am 3 rd Sunday Worship/Communion/Potluck ...4:30pm 2 nd , 4 th & 5 th Sunday Worship .........................10am Sunday Bible Study .....................................8:45am For information: 541-575-2348 FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH Grace Chapel (EMC ) 154 E. Williams St. Prairie City, Oregon 541 820-4437 2 Corinthians 5:17 Every Sunday in the L.C. Community Center Pastor Robert Perkins Contact Pastor Ed Studtmann at 541-421-3888 • Begins at 4:00pm S211472-1 Sunday School (all ages) 9:30-10:30 Sunday Worship 10:45-12:00 (Corner of Second & Allen) John Day Valley Mennonite Church Meeting every Sunday at Mt. Vernon Grange Hall Sunday School ...............................9:30 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship ............10:50 a.m. Pastor Leland Smucker Everyone Welcome • 541-932-2861 JOHN DAY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Sunday Worship • 9AM (541) 575-1326 johndayUMC@gmail.com 126 NW Canton, John Day Food Pantry Friday 3-4PM Like us on Facebook! 24/7 Inspirational Christian Broadcasting Tune into KSPL 98.1 FM For more information, call 541 620-0340 CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE Sunday School .......................... 9:30 am Sunday Worship Service......... 10:45 am Sunday Evening Service ...........6:00 pm Children & Teen Activities SMALL GROUPS CALL FOR MORE INFO Weekdays: Sonshine Christian School Pastor Randy Johnson 521 E. Main • John Day • 541-575-1895 www.johndaynazarene.com St. Thomas Episcopal Church Join us on Facebook live Sunday 10am Like us on Facebook! Sunday School ..................... 9:45 am Sunday Worship ...................... 11 am Fox Community Church ............. 3 pm Sunday Evening Bible Talk ......... 6 pm Saturday Men’s Study ............... 6 pm 59357 Hwy 26 Mt. Vernon Full Gospel- Come Grow With Us Celebration of Worship 541-575-1202 Church 311 NE Dayton St, John Day Pastor Al Altnow Midweek Service Cornerstone Christian Fellowship 139 N.E. D AYTON S TREET , J OHN D AY 541-575-2180 Sunday Worship Service 10 am Sunday Youth Group 3 pm Pastor Levi Manitsas & Pastor Aaron Finley cornerstonejohnday@gmail.com ccfjd.org Sundays 5:30pm Youth: 0-6th Grade Thursdays 6:30pm Youth: 0-6th Grade Jr./Sr. High Youth Connection Wednesdays at 6:30pm Overcomer’s Outreach Mondays at 6pm at LWCC A Christ-Centered, 12-Step Recovery Support Group Pastor Sharon Miller 541-932-4910 www.livingwordcc.com S246281-1