Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon legislative leaders gave Governor Ted Kulongoski some bad news Thursday: They won't be taking up his proposal to ask voters to modify the state's kicker. Chris Lehman reports.

The Democratic Governor wanted majority Democrats in the Legislature to send voters a plan to divert part of the state's kicker tax refunds into a rainy day fund.

Capitol Currents Dispatches from Chris Lehman, OPB's reporter at the Oregon Legislature.

Legislative leaders never really warmed up to the idea, so Thursday's announcement wasn't a huge surprise. 

Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Dave Hunt said they had informed the governor that lawmakers would take no action on the kicker during the February special session.

The two said they wanted to keep the focus on job creation. But Courtney told reporters last week that he was skeptical that voters would approve any changes to the kicker this year.

It's widely thought in Salem that the bruising battle over Measures 66 and 67 has soured lawmakers on taking up another tax-related issue in 2010, an election year.