The Charbonneau Villager
Page 13
November 2013
Special Session Recap by Representative Bill Kennemer
By Bill Kennemer
the oregon Legislature’s
three-day special session has
come and gone, allowing some
time for reflection on what happened and what it means for the
state, its residents and our longterm future.
I was highly skeptical coming
into the session. We had, after all,
just spent five months in a regular
session. there was ample opportunity to address all of these issues at that time.
In the end, we had a total of
five bills to vote on. I ended up
supporting four of the five.
senate Bill 861 passed the
House on a 31-24 vote. I was
among the 16 republicans voting
for the bill, and we were joined
by 15 House Democrats. the bill
restructured the cost of living adjustments, or CoLAs, for retired
members of the public employees retirement system (pers).
those CoLAs are now limited to
1.25 percent for the first $60,000
of annual benefits and .15 percent
for any additional benefits above
$60,000.
It is estimated that sB 861 will
save the state $355 million for the
2013-15 biennium. that is money
Bill Kennemer
that can go toward limiting class
sizes in our schools and providing other necessary services. sB
861 is also expected to reduce the
very serious Unfunded Actuarial
Liability in pers by $1.9 billion.
Having the amendments to lessen
impacts on lower incomes, realizing it was this or no reform at
all, and realizing the criticality of
securing the fund’s long-term stability, were the key issues in my
support.
A second pers bill, sB 862,
passed the House on a unanimous,
bipartisan 55-0 vote. Among other things, sB 862 removes future
legislators from pers, eliminating a longstanding perceived conflict of interest. It also eliminates
some “spiking” of final salaries to
artificially inflate retirement ben-
efits. Too bad it didn’t include
some other abusive practices, too.
senate Bill 863 was one of the
more controversial bills of the
special session, and has been the
subject of much misinformation.
It passed the House on a 32-22
vote, with both republicans and
Democrats voting in favor. this
bill requires any policy regarding
the regulation of seeds and crops
to be done on a statewide basis,
and exempts counties that already
have ballot measures qualified for
elections.
While I fundamentally support
local control and served as Clackamas County Commissioner for
many years, farming and agricultural practices often stretch across
county boundaries, and it is important that we have uniform policies and not a patchwork of rules
and regulations. Many of our
counties are struggling financially
right now, cannot provide basic
services and are in no position to
regulate agriculture. the passage
of sB 863 will enable a long, hard
statewide look at this issue without arriving at multiple, conflicting decisions. And, contrary to
misinformation, this bill does not
decide the seed issue; it merely
creates a process for the statewide
debate and decision.
HB 5101 was passed with broad
bipartisan support. It provides
$100 million in funding for K-12
education, $10 million for oregon
project Independence to keep senior citizens in their homes, a dedicated funding stream for mental
health programs and will help
freeze or slow tuition increases at
our universities and community
colleges.
Finally, HB 3601 raised $244
million in new taxes. Frankly, last
session, spending was increased
a whopping $2 billion without
a tax increase. that included a
much-needed $1 billion increase
for schools. However, this special
session