February 2010 "Short Session" - Sine Die

The legislature spent 25 calendar days in a February special session to deal with the state’s most critical issues.  They called it a “Jobs” session.

The only bills the legislature absolutely needed to address:

• HB 3680 – The legislature needed to address the runaway costs of the state’s Business Energy Tax Credit, and they did.  Saved the state $55 million.
• HB 3655 – Extended $19 million in additional emergency unemployment benefits to over 19,000 laid off workers.  They did this, too.
• SB 1007 – Needed to fix the legislature’s previous mistake in releasing felons from prison before they served their time.  Some had re-offended.  But instead of using SB 1007 to fix the problem, they used it to keep these felons behind bars until after the November elections, at which time they could be eligible for release again.

They said they were committed to creating jobs:

• But they killed the only real job creating bill of the session – Senate Bill 1020 – which would have corrected a serious technical flaw in the law permitting “linear” infrastructure projects and literally attracted billions of dollars of investment and perhaps thousands of jobs into Oregon.

The legislature passed a few “jobs” bills, but will they create any real jobs?

• HB 3674 provides renewable energy tax credits for plants that produce energy from woody debris and biomass.
• HB 3627 would give tax credits to laid-off workers to obtain state tax deductions for investing their severance pay in starting an Oregon-based business.
• HB 3698 establishes a new $5 million state fund (the BOOST Fund), paid for by increased tax enforcement on business taxpayers, to hand out grants and loans to small companies that create new jobs and hire Oregonians.
• SB 1017 increases the maximum loan amounts and program eligibility for the Oregon Business Development Fund.

Instead of real job creation, this is what happened to employers in February:

• Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits.  The legislature tried not once, but twice, to subject banks, credit unions, financial companies and lenders of all types of new lawsuits under Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.  They finally succeeded.  (HB 3615 and HB 3706)
• Employers may no longer use credit checks to make informed hiring decisions without showing they are “substantially job related.”  (SB 1045)
• Connection to federal tax code WITHOUT connecting to incentives for capital investment.  (SB 1016)
• Government growth.  Despite current recession and record unemployment, the legislature again added more than $30 million in new spending to the state budget.
• Stolen employer money.  Despite the passage of $733 million in new taxes, the legislature opted to fund new spending by raiding employer-paid funds within the PUC and DCBS.
• New ODOT, DLCD and local government strategies for curbing greenhouse gas emissions WITHOUT taking into account economic or employment consequences. (SB 1059)
• Actual job-creating bills killed.  Investment and job creation were killed when SB 1020 and HB 3620 were never given the opportunity for a vote.
• Retribution.  Bankers, builders, agriculture and others faced active retribution for their opposition to the legislature’s tax increases.  (HB 3700, HB 3661, HB 3682, HB 3650)

In addition, employers avoided these near-misses:

• More forms of employer communication to employees were nearly banned with yet another “employer gag bill.”  (HB 3653 passed House, Died in Senate)
•  Employer property and job sites adjacent to navigable waters would be made open to the public. (SB 1060 failed on Senate floor)
• Creates unlawful practice of manufacturing, distributing or selling products with Bisphenol A.  Requires recall of all such products currently available.  (SB 1032 failed on Senate floor).
• Prohibition of plastic bags as checkout bags at retail establishments.  (SB 1009)
• Requires Oregon Health Authority to study feasibility of mandating employer-provided health care benefits.  (HB 3632 passed House, Died in Senate).
• Prohibition of imported steel on public projects.  (SB 1050 died in Senate)
• Establishes health care as a constitutional right of Oregonians.  (HJR 100 died on House floor)