NEWS/PUZZLES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11
Gov. Brown pushes business tax to support public schools
By PETER WONG
OREGON CAPITAL BUREAU
Gov. Kate Brown says
she will not recommend a
suspension of Oregon’s new
corporate activity tax, con-
trary to what groups, such as
the Portland Business Alli-
ance have asked her to do.
Brown made the state-
ment April 22 in an hourlong
video conference arranged
by the alliance, which says
more than 1,000 people lis-
tened in.
The governor and her
chief of staff, Nik Blosser,
also outlined their emerg-
ing plans for restarting pub-
lic life and business activ-
ity that have been frozen by
the coronavirus pandemic.
As Brown spoke last week,
the Oregon Health Author-
ity announced 57 new cases
for a total of 2,059; the
death toll remained at 78.
On Tuesday, that toll had
risen to 2,385 cases and 99
deaths.
Brown responded to a
comment from Craig Smith,
lobbyist for Food North-
west, formerly known as
Northwest Food Proces-
sors Association. Businesses
have organized in an attempt
AP Photo/Sarah Zimmerman, File
Gov. Kate Brown speaks with the media at the Oregon Capitol
in Salem in 2019.
to persuade the governor
and Legislature to suspend
the tax for six months. Smith
said a suspension would
allow some businesses to
retain money for cash fl ows
while their activity is cur-
tailed or shut down.
The new tax was
approved by the 2019 Leg-
islature to raise a projected
$1.175 billion to pay for
school program improve-
ments under the Student
Success Act. Quarterly
reports are due April 30,
July 31, Oct. 31 and Jan. 31.
Brown said she will ask
the Department of Revenue
not to penalize businesses
for fi ling such reports late.
She also said that businesses
with less than $1 million in
Oregon commercial activity
already are exempt from the
tax, proceeds from which go
into an earmarked fund.
“We are not talking about
your local pizza shop, cor-
ner store or your barber,”
she said.
Public schools, which get
the lion’s share of their oper-
ating money from the state
budget, have been closed
since mid-March and will
remain closed through June.
“We know that closure
of schools due to COVID-
19 is going to affect chil-
dren across the state. They
are missing out on weeks of
learning, even as our schools
and our teachers are moving
mountains to implement dis-
tance learning,” Brown said.
“The investment we
make now in our schools
via the Student Success Act
will help our state’s chil-
dren recover and get us back
on track for the future of
Oregon.”
Only the Legislature can
suspend a tax, and lawmak-
ers are unlikely to meet in
a special session before the
state’s next quarterly eco-
nomic and revenue forecast
on May 20.
Pending forecast
Brown said the numbers
are still being developed.
But she said the state bud-
get will be affected by the
economic downturn — the
number of unemployment
claims fi led in the past four
weeks are more than dou-
ble the 147,000 net jobs lost
during the most recent reces-
sion in 2007-10 — and the
resulting decline in personal
and corporate income taxes,
which account for more than
90% of Oregon’s gener-
al-fund state budget.
Brown also said that
in addition to the usual
increased demands on some
services, such as state-sup-
ported health care for
low-income people, the
downturn has resulted in
new staff expenses for the
Employment Department
and Oregon Health Author-
ity and technology for state
employees to enable them to
work from home.
“We are going to face
some diffi cult budget deci-
sions in the coming months
as those bills come due and
our state revenues adjust to
the new economic reality
unfolding before us,” she
said.
“But our normal tools (for
cost-cutting) are not partic-
ularly helpful right now,”
such as a hiring freeze.
The governor can order
an across-the-board cut in
most state agency budgets,
but the limit is 2%.
Brown has joined gov-
ernors across the country,
Democrats and Republicans,
urging Congress to approve
aid to states and local gov-
ernments. Congress did not
do so in its latest $484 bil-
lion coronavirus aid pack-
age — most will go to small
businesses and hospitals, but
$25 billion will go toward
virus testing — but the issue
is likely to resurface in dis-
cussions about the next aid
package.
Not business as usual
Brown and Blosser dis-
cussed elements of their
emerging plan for reopen-
ing public life and business
activity.
Blosser said he hoped ele-
ments of the draft, which is
being worked on by groups
focused on specifi c industry
sectors, would be made pub-
lic by May 4.
Among the groups:
Restaurants, which have
been limited to takeout
and delivery services since
Brown issued an execu-
tive order March 16; retail-
ers, personal-care services
and outdoor activities, all
affected by Brown’s March
23 order for Oregonians to
stay at home. Some busi-
nesses deemed essential,
such as grocery stores and
gas stations, were allowed to
remain open.
Large-scale gatherings
in churches, concerts and
sports arenas are likely to be
last to resume.
COVID-19 Medical Advisory Panel helps governor make decisions
By DICK HUGHES
FOR THE OREGON CAPITAL BUREAU
When Dr. Bruce Gold-
berg encountered a diffi cult
case as a family physician,
he would gather a bunch of
smart consultants in the room
for their advice on how to
help the patient.
That, he said, is what Gov.
Kate Brown has done in cre-
ating her COVID-19 Medical
Advisory Panel. She credited
the panel with helping her
decision last week to let hos-
pitals, clinics and other health
providers resume nonurgent
medical procedures on May
1 under certain guidelines.
Brown fi rst convened the
panel on April 7. It has been
meeting by Zoom videocon-
ference two or three times a
week. Goldberg and the other
seven members come from
urban and rural Oregon and
represent front-line health
providers, hospitals, aca-
demia and government.
“She charged us with
helping the state and her
identify blind spots that we
would all need to be aware
of as we face this pandemic
together, and also devel-
oping strategies for how to
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
A sign on the door of the laboratory at Interpath Laboratory
advises that personal protective equipment is required. The
governor’s medical advisory council is providing expertise
on testing and other components of the state’s COVID-19
response.
battle this pandemic,“ said
Goldberg, a former head of
the Oregon Health Authority
and now a professor of health
policy.
Goldberg said there is
consensus in Oregon and
nationally on the critical
steps in fi ghting COVID-19
while awaiting development
of an effective vaccine: per-
sonal protective equipment
for front-line workers, test-
ing people for the corona-
virus, adequate health care
resources and social distanc-
ing and other measures.
CRYPTOQUIP
But each state is different.
Oregon is more rural than
many states. As far as big
cities, Goldberg said, “Port-
land as a metropolitan area
is really different from New
York City in that we don’t
have the type of crowded
mass transit systems. We
don’t have the plethora of tall
high-rises and people living
in really tight quarters.
“I think every commu-
nity is different and has to be
looked at through that lens,”
he said.
Because COVID-19 is
a new disease, scientists,
health care providers and
policymakers learn more
about its symptoms, spread
and treatment every day.
During the medical advi-
sory panel’s meetings, mem-
bers discuss the latest data
and other information, pro-
vide perspectives from front-
line health workers and offer
input on policies.
Dr. Dana Hargunani, chief
medical offi cer for the Ore-
gon Health Authority, said:
“It’s in part topics that are
brought forward for input.
And it’s in part, what are the
hot topics that the group is
hearing from the front lines
and in the rest of the com-
munity that we may not be
thinking about on a state
level, and how do we make
sure we think about and
respond to those?”
That came into play in
discussing whether nonur-
gent medical and dental pro-
cedures should resume.
“If we relax the policy,
then how can that be insti-
tuted in the hospitals and
what does that mean for
some of the other impacts
like PPE (personal protec-
tive equipment) and staffi ng
SUPER CROSSWORD: JOB SCREENING
and allowing people to travel
outside their homes, which
relates back to policy,” said
Dr. Renee Edwards, chief
medical offi cer at Oregon
Health & Science University.
“We are an advisory panel.
Her team listens, collates our
thoughts, clarifi es things but
ultimate authority absolutely
is with the governor.”
As of Monday, nearly
52,000 Oregonians had been
tested for the novel coronavi-
rus. One focus for the advi-
sory panel is how to expand
testing and then trace those
who have come in contact
with the infected individuals.
“How do we understand
the community prevalence?
How do we understand how
when one person gets sick,
how many more people they
might spread it to, so that we
can get a better handle on our
contact tracing, which then
helps us contain the disease
spread?” Edwards said.
Oregon’s social distanc-
ing and other restrictions
have held down the rate of
transmission compared with
many states, but Edwards
said COVID-19 will be with
us for a long time, so a bal-
ance must be found between
protecting public health and
resuming public life.
“We have to get to a place
where we relieve some of
the restrictions such that our
economy can function and
we can all function all as a
society,” she said. “But we
have to realize that when we
relieve some of those restric-
tions, that’s going to result
in some increasing spread of
the infection, which is going
to mean some people getting
sick and some people dying.”
Dr. Bob Dannenhof-
fer, the public health offi -
cer in Douglas County, said
Brown has given Oregonians
the appropriate directions:
Stay home if you possibly
can, and defi nitely if you
are sick. Maintain social dis-
tances to avoid transmission
of the virus. Wash your hands
frequently.
And pay attention to your
mental health.
“This is a tough, tough
time. This is a health cri-
sis, an economic cri-
sis and a social crisis,” he
said. “Sleep well, do fun
things, get some exercise
and don’t worry about stuff
that really doesn’t make a
difference.”
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