Oregon’s Legislature and Governor Working Together—United We Stand

Rep. Richardson's Newsletter
January 21, 2011

Oregon’s evenly divided House (30 D’s & 30 R’s) has begun its 2011 Legislative Session with a co-governance model—Co- Speakers, Co-Committee Chairs and equal numbers on every committee.
The most crucial issue facing this Legislature will be balancing the State Budget. We are in a financial vise--a time when revenues have dropped more than $1 Billion since the end of the 2009 session and expenses are skyrocketing. To help solve Oregon’s budget crisis, I have been chosen as one of the House Co-Chairs of the Ways & Means Committee and Rep. Peter Buckley (D-Ashland) is my counter-part. Peter and I have worked together over the years and we are both committed to taking the necessary steps to deal with declining revenues in the most even-handed and responsible way we can.
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity with Rep. Buckley to give a budget update to a group of human service providers in Medford. To see the budgetary and economic status update I gave, (Click here.) To see Rep. Buckley’s remarks, (Click here.). And, to see the Q. and A. session following our remarks, (Click here.)
Oregon waits anxiously for Governor Kitzhaber’s first “Governor’s Recommended Budget”, to be unveiled on February 1st. In recent weeks there have been multiple, unprecedented meetings between our Legislative leaders and Governor Kitzhaber. Such collaboration is both appreciated and beneficial in doing the people’s work. For the first time since I joined the legislature in 2003, there is a feeling of unity between the Executive and Legislative branches of government. Such cooperation will be vital if we are to address Oregon’s economic challenges in a timely, effectively and professional manner.
The Governor has released the following general budget guidelines for his 2011-13 State Budget:

- Achieving Our Vision for Oregon. The focus of how we invest our limited resources in the next two years must be on building the foundation for a better future rather than on simply perpetuating the past.- Managing within Available Resources. I have reviewed each agency and program and established a funding floor set at the level of General Fund and Lottery Fund resources the state currently has to spend assuming no additional federal funds will be made available. I then allocated the resources from the expected revenue growth over the next biennium to help transform service delivery rather than simply accepting the spending practices of the past.
- Changing the Way Public Services are Delivered. It is clear that in order to maintain important public services over the next two years - especially education and health care - we must change the way those services are delivered.
- Prioritizing Early Childhood Services. To secure Oregon's future we must recognize that the foundation of academic, social and economic success lies in the early childhood years. Therefore, the single most important action we can take to shift our pattern of investment from addressing problems after they have developed to preventing them in the first place is a sustained investment in early childhood. (For complete article, Click here.)

Governor appears to be focusing on a reality-based-budgeting process for the future, which will be a logical strategy in consideration of our previous Governor’s Reset Cabinet findings. (Click here.)

The challenge for Governor Kitzhaber will be to stay strong in the face of stormy opposition. History has shown, “reform” is frequently discussed, yet rarely implemented as a result of the powerful coalitions that unite against it.
Disappointment results when hope for reform fails to contemplate the reality of power.
Nevertheless, this truly is time to, as the Governor has stated, “break decisively from the past.”


NATURAL RESOURCES
As a legislator from a rural Oregon district, I can say from experience that rural Oregonians care deeply about the environment, and they would like to have it managed, not placed off-limits. Once again, I come from a viewpoint that it is private enterprise that creates prosperity; government does not.
My suggestions to create private jobs in rural Oregon is to recognize that for more than 100 years, rural Oregon had a vibrant, natural resource based economy, and with the change in attitudes toward logging, mining, fishing, etc., has been in an economic recession for nearly 30 years.
To stimulate jobs in rural Oregon, while recognizing the need to protect the environment, it is time for a move to middle ground. Suggestions to do so might include:
--Create/restore Oregon’s 100-year forest management plan. Consider the rationale for viewing timber as Oregon’s renewable resource/crop. It has been said that historically, timber is to Oregon what corn is to Iowa. (I know this is dicey, but I still am placing in on the table—especially since rural counties, such as Curry and Josephine may well go bankrupt after the four-year federal timber-money payment extension terminates in 2012. What can we learn from the decade of high Oregon unemployment and decrease in Oregon’s per capita incomes when compared with the rest of the nation? Something must change if we are to break the rural-recessionary cycle.)
--Remove barriers to generating bio-electricity with forest products—slash and downed timber that has turned Oregon forests into tender-boxes waiting for the next conflagration. (Bio-mass generated electricity would also help Oregon to be less dependent foreign sources of power and fuel.) With Oregon’s emphasis on electric vehicles, we will need large amounts of low-cost electricity to recharge them, and bio-mass could provide it.
--Remove barriers to and promote research for converting forest products into ethanol. (Legislating the 10% ethanol requirement for Oregon gasoline has been a great boon for corn-producing states, but may have been premature for Oregon.) Forest product/bio-mass ethanol would be a great boon for Oregon. It would create thousands of rural Oregon jobs, help generate inexpensive electrical power and could save many jobs at Boardman.
The 2011 legislative session is one of both crisis and opportunity. It will require a joint effort by the Governor and the Legislature to rise to the occasion. I believe both are ready, willing and able to do so. United we stand…
Sincerely,