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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 9, 1957)
Sunday. Jun 9, 1937 MEDFOHD (OREGON) M1?L YSIBTJJJE TJTE Of 1957 S usncan Gives ivaluatio essoon o (Editor's note: Trie following suAsoaxy nsd valuation oi the 1937 seisioa of lhe Oregon Itaie legislature was written by Boom B. Duncan, fresh mail emocrlic representa tive fiom Jackson county, as the f-aai one in a series ha has wnltia since the start of the Mtnoa. Stale Sen. Philip B. Lofiy, Republican, has indi Cowd he is preparing a similar summary which will be pub lishud vr'aeo prepared.) ! the session in the Smith budget; collect the tax as income is j the above mentioned necessary earned, avoiding a big tax bill at ! or desirable expenses were budg-1 the end of the year when the eted: the institutions were pro- j money is spent. A sales tax and j'vidcd for; salary increases were the ad valorem tax on property j given to all state employees, : become due and must be paid 'civil service, statutory and elec-1 regardless of earnings, and there ; tive officers, and. in addition, j in lies their chief drawback. Or eg on Legislature By BOBEBT B. DUNCAN State Representative Now that the Legislature has diOi.rnd. perhaps a brief sum mary might be in order, and so inrpiM once more upon the space offered be this paper. Tii- si-sMon lasted for 128 days. The delay 3 ') in getting the; 4'f Senate organ- r -A 1 ' n : ,T I academic salaries for college per ! sonnel were increased by some lb per cent. The budget came out i close to S272.000.000 a far cry from the S330.000.000 which the press of tne state anticipated up through the first 90 days of the session. Further Savings From my personal standpoint ti ere are further savings which I vanted to see made and which I think could and should be made. The majority didn't agre.? with me, however, and the dem ocratic process prevailed. The budget, when compared with an ticipated income, should leave In regard to a sales tax, I result of a letter written by a member of a non-high school board from Trail. UCC Trend Halted The dangerously downward trend in the reserves of the Un employment Compensation fund has, we hope, been halted. Mod est increases in benefits was worked to keep the sales tax, also granted. The maximum ben- proposai auve in commiuee . eit went up t0 s40 from s35 when it was brought out to the ; witl. tne average increase esti floor early in the session. I ; maled at about s2.75 per week, wanted to see the alternatives j lncreaspri wn-km s rnmnensa- izcd cost time; surplus of some S8,000,000 to addi- but tional reason for the long session was the ria v.;n.- iiOiji&siiti memorials in- na an iroaucca. all ot who.h required time for consid eration. And I think each bill was considered in at least one cooimittee. Those that were passed had in most instances been amended evidence of a Sim ere desire on the part of this Legislature to do a good job There is little hope for shorter essi'jj.t as our state continues to grow, iiut xthe rate of increase might be held down if some lim itation on number of bills intro duced could be found. A rules committee to screen all bills TO gilt well be to powerful and itife the democratic process. One suggestion I have heard is to insist that no bills be spon sored at the request of someone, the theory being that if the bill could not be sold without quali fications to one legislator, it shoud not be introduced. On Expenses - On state expenses former Governor Smith's budget called for expenditure of 5259,848.743. Nothing was included in this for Basic School Support, for pur chases of land in Capital Mall area, for increased welfare pay ments to nursing homes and oth er expenses, all of which every one knew would have to be budgeted. Nor did Smith budget for meat inspection, ragweed control, the Centennial Celebra tion, educational television and many other items. Had he done jo. his budget would have been close to S279.000.000. Economies were effected by ts a i 510,000,000, which is about the right amount. Larger surpluses encourage raids on the treasury tor all kinds of new or expanded projects and in my opinion are unwise. I think we should plan to raise what we need and only enough more for emergencies. The money will do more good in the taxpayer's pocket than in the state treasury. Neither do I favor deficit financing for the state, and I resisted all such proposals except for a bond issue to get the federal highway program off on a maximum basis. Many peo ple point to short sessions in Washington and ask why we couldn't do the same. The Wash ington legislature left for home with a large deficit. Need I say more? It is always difficult to be come enthusiastic over any tax program. No one wants to pay taxes, and if as many people ex pressed themselves against spending proposals as, write sup porting them, we'd have less to pay. But each group thinks its idea is absolutely essential and cannot be cut or put aside. The result is a constantly larger budget which must be met. Tax Structure This legislature elected to rely again on the income tax. replac ing the surtax with graduated rates, together with modest in creases in business taxes. The rich were not soaked and tax ex emptions for dependents were raised again to Sb'00, a definite help to taxpayers. This means that Oregon taxpayers contrib ute to their government accord ing to their ability. If the mill shuts down, the workers do not have a tax to pay. If they are working, they will have the money to P'iv their taxes. A real istic withholding program will Savings Deposited by June 10 will receive dividends from w m mm mm m mm a .: t J . ' 4- .-V I LV It riJ - nil WM,v v ne i i i mm, 5Mn uiir i ft tuck A d before discarding any tax pro posal. While we may in time come to a sales tax, I prefer to work on the income ax basis so long as possible for reasons noted above. To many, the sales tax represents an inexhaustible res ervoir of money to which no one J has to contribute. All taxes must ; be paid by you and me. And I j venture to say that had we gone to a sales tax. the budget would have been substantially larger. Again the philosophy of "let's get ours" from this sales tax would have made budgeting doubly difficult. Small Increase No average family under the new program will pay more than an Sll increase, and for many in the lower brackets there will be modest tax cuts. While our in come tax is higher than adjoin ing states, the analysis made by the Interim Tax Committee of the 1955 legislature indicates that our over-all tax picture considering total tax burden in cluding sales, income and ad va lorem, taxes in the respective states does not put us in an un favorable position compared with Washington and California. For education we passed a bill appropriating S15.000.000 more for Basic School Support and re-wrote the distribution formula. No other legislature has ever given a nickel to the Basic School Fund. Everyone wished it could be Vnore, but the major ity could not justify it consider ing other demands for state money. The formula for distri bution is a compromise that few are fond of and only the next two years will tell if it is sound or not. It will give a little tax relief for the real property tax payer, but this will probably go more to holding down increases rather than showing as a reduc tion. Colleges Fare Well Our colleges fared well with some 57.000,000 going to new construction. S.O.C.E. will get their needed heating plant and dormitories. The latter were in considerable jeopardy as the chancellor had assigned them a low priority, and if cuts had been made it would have been a fight between a swimming pool at the University of Oregon and steam line tunnels at Oregon State on the one hand and S.O.C.E.'s dorms and other proj ects at the smaller schools on the other hand. Believing in the value of the small college and S.O.C.E.'s needs, I was glad to do what I could to secure the ap- propriation. Salary increases to academic staffs should halt or slow down the mass exodus of teachers; and the educational television and community college proposals should take education to the peo ple and take a little pressure off established colleges. County school reorganization passed and should result in in creased efficiency and economy of operation. The life of non hign districts is prolonged for two more years until the county reorganization can take over. This latter bill was sponsored by Senator Lowry and me as the You don't have to be a juggler to handle your money successfully. It's all very easy v.hen you get the big idea . . . which is as umple as this: budget your expenses to allow a reasonable margin for saving. First thing every payday, deposit this amount in our savings account here, where it can earn more money for you. If you have the will, this is the way to get ahead finan cially. It's no trick at all! tion benefits were granted; they still are not compensatory, but it is some improvement. One measure in which I was quite interested and happy to see passed was the resolution to re fer to the people a constitutional ar-endment to substantially re pel capital punishment. It would still be permissible but not mandatory in cases of first degree murder committed while the accused was serving a life sentence and would be manda tory for treason. The latter is academic as there has never been a conviction, so far as I know, for treason against a state. The former provision was included as a measure of protection for pris on authorities during riots. This is a most important bill, and if passed by the people will be, in my opinion, the most pro gressive thing done by this legis lature. My prime reason for ad vocating this is my knowledge that the punishment is unevenly applied and that juries and courts, being human agencies, can and do make mistakes. Bad as I deem it to" be to take any life, I can think of nothing more revolting than the execution of an innocent man. We can and must protect society but we can do this without the brutal, de grading institution of executions. The bill which passed the legis lature and which will become ef fective if the people accept the constitutional amendment, tight ens the parole laws so as to give us reasonable protection against premature release. It was inter esting in the hearings on this matter that three people ap peared who had close relatives who had been murdered all of these people supported the meas ure to abolish the death penalty. Even Warden Gladden, a stern, practical prison administrator for many years, urged that capital punishment be abolished. I hope you will all give the matter ser ious thought. Many Other Matters There were many other im portant matters considered. Elec tion laws were given a thorough and long overdue rearranging. There is doubtless still room for improvement, but registration and voting, those most priceless privileges of a democracy,' have been made easier and the cor rupt practices act has been strengthened. Workmen's com pensation was extended on a re ciprocal basis to cover Oregon workmen and employers when the employee is temporarily out of the state. This gives the work man and employer certainty of coverage and eliminates the ne cessity of the employer having to have private employers liability insurance for occasional out of state business. This will be ef fective soon insofar as Califor nia and Nevada only are con cerned. Do not rely on it without checking with the Compensa tion Commission as to the ef fective date of the Act and the state involved. This bill was sponsored by Senator Lowry, Representative Littrell and my self and took lots of work to get it through the rules and Labor and Industries committees. I ap peared before the latter commit- i and the matter was referred to a tee one evening at 6:25 p.m. be- sub-committee of Wavs and fore the afternoon's work ended and the evening's work began. Question Eliminated Another bill which I spon sored and which will be of bene fit in the workmen's compensa tion field was one to eliminate the question of whether the workman is an employee or an independent contractor and thus eligible for benefits or not. This uncertainty has produced many lawsuits and much heartache and is important in an area such as ours where there are many owner-operators of logging equip ment. When the bill becomes law, the employer and workman will determine at the time of em ployment whether workmen's compensation coverage is to exist or not. It is not mandatory. Locally the procedure for pay ing bounties has been simplified, the consolidation of Oak Grove and Medford School Distriots validated, and an amendment passed which will help the City of Medford to work out prob lems of assuming obligations of water districts when they are partially annexed to the City. The bill to permit industrial use of the Rogue River waters was tabled, but the State Water Re sources Board and State Engi neer were directed to study the problem and make recommenda tions to the next session. The Klamath River compact insuring against diversion of the Klamath River waters to southern Cali fornia was likewise passed and will be submitted to Congress for approval. A new circuit judge was added for Jackson county. Gov. Holmes' Program A word about Governor Holmes and his administrative branch of government His an nounced goal was a progressive one. It set a goal, and many steps were taken toward that goal. All of his ideas did not become law. The legislature exercised its pre rogative of accepting, rejecting and modifying his suggestions, as they properly should, and some were postponed for future consideration. Governor Holmes is and will be a fine governor. He was always available for con ference on any problem, and I know he is interested in main taining close communication with the people and problems of this state. I was, for instance, able to arrange an appointment on very short notice for people from this area to discuss with him their concern over a gaso line price war in the state. Should anyone else wish to confer with him, I will be happy to do what I can to facilitate the matter, and I know that you will find him sympathetic and anxious to help. Interim committee appoint ments havo not been made up to this writing, but I have been de signated to serve on the Emer gency Board and the Legisla tive Counsel Committee. The former is composed of four members of the House and three members from the Senate and is vested with certain powers of the legislature which it can exercise while the legislature is in ad journment. The latter handles the compilation and publication of the laws and provides bill drafting and legal assistance to the legislature. .Both will meet from time to time during the in terim. One Disappointment It was a disappointment not to be able to do something for those deserving teachers who re tired prior to the time they would be eligible for retirement payments. I worked closely with Senator Lewis on this problem, Means on which I served. Serious constitutional objections were raised to the bill, which I think probably had merit. The only way they could be avoided would be to amend the Constitution, and that could not be done by tne legislature, but only by the people. The bill was tabled with out any vote as I wanted very much to help these people. All in all, it was a hard work ing session. It was the hardest work I have ever done. It is an expensive experience to serve in the legislature. It is frustrating and disappointing at times. I know many must have disagreed with me from time to time, and I know already that I have made mistakes. But there are compen sations to the legislator in know- 30 Youngsters Go On Overnight Trip Approximately 30 youngsters from 4-H forestry clubs in Jack son county went on an overnight camping trip to the Four-Bit Ford forest service camp on Fish lake rd. Friday. County 4-H Agents Glenn Klein and Miss Marjorie Hatten accompanied the group. Members hunted fire hazards and forest specimens and stud ied pacing, fire building and ex tinguishing. They visited Rock Point lookout and the Medford watershed reforestation area Fri day afternoon. ing that he is playing a part in keiping representative govern ment, with all its imperfections, a vibrant, vital agency for free dom. I tried to give every bill thoughtful consideration, every letter and request an answer and such action as time and its merits would permit. I hope you will fejl that I served you well. For my part, I am grateful for the opportunity which you gave me to serve. Atlas Missile Said Due for Tesf Firing San Diego H The San Diego Union said in a copyright ed story Friday that the first fir ing of the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile probably would take place today at Patrick Air Force base, Fla. The Atlast is built in San Diego by the Convair division of General Dynamics corpora tion. It is reported to have a range of 5.500 mile and travel at 15.000 miles per hour. A new magnetron tube is Said to double the range of radix. It delivers 1 million watts at peak and its temperature retch es 3100 degrees Farenheit With each pulsation. See "SHADY" for SHADES VENETIAN and ROLL Wakefield Drapery 1 1 00 Crater Lake Ave. SP 2-6010 i . J 3rHV 1 Nv5 p- LUAN ASSOC I E P 126 East Main IfVWdford Sin. I10 ZVz Current Dividend Rate Standa?id INSURANCE COMPANY V HONORS THESE LEADING U i REPRESENTATIVES TT ICS: Br!! Donald W. Carlo MEDFORD MEN SELECTED AS HONOR DELEGATES Donald I. 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