Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon lawmakers return to Salem on Monday for a planned month-long special session. Joining me now for a look ahead to what legislators might discuss is our Salem reporter, Chris Lehman. Hi, Chris.

Hi, Beth.

Q: Chris, this special session might be most notable for what lawmakers WON’T be doing, right?

A:  That’s right, since Oregon voters approved Measures 66 and 67 earlier this week, lawmakers won’t have to spend February figuring out how to bring the budget back into balance. Those two tax hikes are projected to raise about $727 million, and that money has already been budgeted for state services such as education and public safety. If the measures had failed, the over-riding order of business next month would clearly have been to figure out how to fill that newly created hole.

Q:  So why are lawmakers even coming in, anyway? Since the measures passed, what else is there to do?

A:  That’s a good question, and it’s worth pointing out that historically, the Oregon Legislature has convened only every OTHER year. This would typically be an off-year. But in 2008, lawmakers met for three weeks in February for a similar special session, and the consensus among legislative leaders was that it was worth coming in to take care of some issues that couldn’t wait until the normal odd-numbered year session.  Of course, what rises to the level of having to be dealt with right away is in the eye of the beholder.  But even though Measures 66 and 67 passed, lawmakers could still have a funding shortfall on their hands.  State revenues aren’t experiencing the freefall that it did last year.  But the economy is still sluggish income tax projections last fall dropped slightly—not enough to require cuts, but to the point where any additional drop could mean cuts are in store. Lawmakers will get more details about that with the next revenue forecast, about a week into the special session.

Q:  What else will lawmakers be talking about?

A:  It will be interesting to see what the passage of Measures 66 and 67 means in terms of future tax policy, not only this month but down the road. No one is talking about another tax increase right now, of course. But yesterday Governor Ted Kulongoski challenged lawmakers to develop a plan to tweak the state’s unique kicker law.  The kicker, you might remember, is what happens when state revenue collections exceed projections by more than two percent, and that extra money is refunded to taxpayers. The Governor would like to see some of the money diverted into a Rainy Day fund so that lawmakers have a sort of ace in the hole when the next recession roles around. Politically, doing anything to the kicker is risky business, even though any change the Legislature cooks up would have to be referred to voters since the kicker is in the Oregon Constitution. I asked House Speaker Dave Hunt earlier this week if the kicker would be discussed in the special session, and he said basically said they’d look at the proposals, but he certainly wasn’t guaranteeing anything beyond that.

Q:  Any other burning issues on the agenda?

Well, just to throw a few out there, there’s a proposed ban on selling certain childrens’ products that contain a chemical called BPA, there are some proposed modifications to the Business Energy Tax Credit, and there’s proposal to change the Oregon Constitution to make annual legislative sessions the rule from now on.