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Emergency preparedness is one thing many people are thinking about this week — in Salem and around the state. Scientists warn that Oregon is at risk for seismic activity as severe or worse than the 9.0 quake that shook Japan because of the Cascadia Subduction zone that runs along the west coast. Senate president Peter Courtney says Oregon is not prepared for an earthquake, or an ensuing tsunami, like the one that hit Japan last Friday. According to Courtney, his fellow lawmakers need to make funding earthquake preparedness a top priority instead of hoping a big quake won't happen.
Another hot topic in the legislature right now is an issue that comes up again and again: the kicker. The Constitution of Oregon mandates that when there's a budget surplus, the state "kicks" money back to taxpayers — individuals as well as corporations. Oregon is the only state with this kind of law. Some say it's time for us to give it up. Others advocate for tweaking it. There are quite a few "kicker reform" bills in the works right now. Because revisions to the kicker would involve altering the state constitution, voters would need to approve any changes that manage to pass in the legislature.
Our Capital People feature brings you interesting people who work in the Capitol building but are not elected officials. This time, it's Dexter Johnson, who heads up the Legislative Counsel office, where lawyers work with legislators, lobbyists and constituents to translate their ideas into "statutory language." When I characterized this writing style as "legalese," Johnson politely informed me that "that's kind of a pejorative term for using language very precisely."
What questions do you have for the legislature's lawyer? What would you like to know about the state's emergency preparedness? How would you vote on changes to the kicker law?
For more about what's happening in Salem, you can always check in with OPB reporter Chris Lehman on his Capitol Currents blog.
The Public Health Web site Dave Stuckey mentioned is here.
GUEST:
- Dave Stuckey: Deputy director for the Oregon Office of Emergency Management
- Peter Courtney: Oregon Senate President (D-Salem)
- Frank Morse: Oregon State Senator (R-Albany) and vice chair of the Senate Finance and Revenue committee
- Chris Harker: Oregon State Representative (D-Washington County)
- Dexter Johnson: Legislative Counsel
Tagged as: 2011 session · legislature · taxes
Photo credit: Julie Sabatier
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My ideas for making Oregon's budgeting system more stable:
1. Abolish the kicker (both personal and corporate)
2. Implement a balanced budget/PAYGO requirement for all citizen's initiatives so that new spending has to be met with new/more taxes (or less spending in another area) and less taxes (tax cuts) has to be met with spending cuts. People always complain about unfunded mandates but seem to have no problem sending unfunded mandates up to the state (see property tax caps, mandatory minimum sentences, numerous ballot measures to abolish the state estate tax, and general dysfunctional supermajority requirements to raise taxes).
3. Revenue neutral sales tax (i.e., cut income tax rates and institute a 5% or so sales tax).
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Another idea I had was to reduce the salaries of most state elected officials. Does the Governor, whether it is someone we like or loathe, really need a salary of over $100,000? Can't they do their job perfectly well on a salary that is more in line with what the average Oregonian earns and lives on?
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The kicker is a nice idea, but it needs to be modified. If there is enough surplus revenue to trigger a kicker, half of the amount should go to a "rainy day fund" which can only be tapped during years when revenues fall short of forecasts. The fund should not be considered during the budget process, and should only be drawn upon to cover the deficit between forecasted revenue and actual revenue.
As for corporate vs. personal kicker? All taxpaying entities should receive the same benefit. Any kicker sent out should be based on actual taxes paid- after deductions, charitable contributions, etc. have modified the amount. If people or corporations use charitable contributions, tax shelters, or other means to reduce the amount of taxes they owe, their tax kicker should go to the charities they support or into the rainy day fund.
On the topic of emergency preparedness, there are several agencies working on plans and holding drills on a more frequent basis now. Are there plans for a larger-scale rollout of emergency communications and public information sessions to clarify matters for the average citizen in Portland, Salem, Eugene, or other major cities in Oregon? Is the plan to manage the chaos when it arrives, or to provide a clear plan to the general public before it becomes chaos? How does one manage 75,000-1,000,000 people in a clear manner in the aftermath of an earthquake, volcano eruption, or other large-scale disaster? If we needed to evacuate an entire city, where would we send the people, and could it be done in an organized fashion? Most people have their own ideas, but I don't think there's a cohesive plan in place that could be considered common knowledge for the general population.
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The kicker should go, though I doubt a lot of Oregonians will ever agree to that. Personally it seems ridiculous to me that this money that we've paid once in taxes, is then sent back to us (cost of checks cut + cost of mailing), and then we again pay taxes on this same money. Seems like a whole lot of screwing around with not a whole lot of gain. Also think it would be better to put the 'extra' money into a rainy day fund to be used in the many down times we have.
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Seismic rehabilitation work in Portland Public Schools has "not resulted in complete seismic rehabilitation of any facilities based on current criteria" according to a December 2009 engineering study. Close examination of the school by school work proposed under the proposed bond measure in Portland reveals little work to remedy the deficiencies at the schools. Cross-referencing the school-by-school work proposed against the deficiencies indicated in PPS's own engineering firm's study, seismic safety doesn't appear to be an immediate spending priority. Perhaps it shouldn't be when all needs are considered, but I fear that the public incorrectly assumes that something like a proposed $548 million bond will make substantial strides to remedy the $422.6 million of seismic project work identified in PPS's own study. (http://www.pps.k12.or.us/files/schoolmodernization/PPS_Seismic_Report091207.pdf )
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On the topic of emergency preparedness, there are several agencies working on plans and holding drills on a more frequent basis now. Are there plans for a larger-scale rollout of emergency communications and public information sessions to clarify matters for the average citizen in Portland, Salem, Eugene, or other major cities in Oregon? Is the plan to manage the chaos when it arrives, or to provide a clear plan to the general public before it becomes chaos? How does one manage 75,000-1,000,000 people in a clear manner in the aftermath of an earthquake, volcano eruption, or other large-scale disaster? If we needed to evacuate an entire city, where would we send the people, and could it be done in an organized fashion? Most people have their own ideas, but I don't think there's a cohesive plan in place that could be considered common knowledge for the general population.http://www.pascherlunettes.com/
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The kicker is seldom implemented so I want it to go away. Part of the process of making government function better is getting rid of poorly functioning and unecessary legislation and legalese.
Government is by the people and for the people. What good is legalese if the public is incapable of interpreting what is meant without having a law degree or hiring lawyers? Legalese is a pejorative term for "legal obfuscation". What are politicians and lawyers hiding that they don't want the public to understand?
There should be less legislation, and the laws and rules that remain should be well thought out, communicated and understood by citizens. Our current system feels held together by thousands of band aids that bog down systems from functioning effectively. The tax system is too complex and time consuming, for example.
How are we to prepare for a megaquake? We need to bring our level of preparation beyond the current level of Japanese mastery. One mistake we make is super-scaling everything. Instead of lots of smaller hospitals and businesses we tend to build mega hospitals and Walmarts that may be less expensive to operate but they'll become single points of failure in the event of a natural catastrophe. Perhaps we should plan and build self sustaining small communities inside larger communities to eliminate being hamstrung by single points of failure.
Our reliance on cars is a disadvantage given the highway infrastructure's relative lack of megaquake resistance. I'm surprised the I-5 Marquam Bridge is deemed to be in bad shape and unprepared for a megaquke even though it has been seismically retrofitted. The Marquam bridge is about 40 years old.
Portland is built on a basin of deposits which will jiggle like jello when the "Big One" occurs. After the Spring Break Quake in 1993 many reinforced their house's attachment to its foundation. Will houses seismically retrofitted this way survive a megaquake? Nope. And are our insurance policies going to pay the full replacement cost of our destroyed homes and businesses? Nope. Most earthquake insurance coverage has pages of legalese excluding non-covered damages.
Oregon is wise to say "no" to nuclear power and we should keep it that way forever. On this topic there need be no more discussion or an attempt to compromise. I will never agree that nuclear energy is "safe". Nuclear energy is especially dangerous given that we live in a place prone to catastrophic and recurring natural events. Reed College and Oregon State University still have nuclear research reactors and I hope they're prepared for the consequences of a megaquake. Doubt it because not all the negative outcomes can be foreseen as the Fukushima nuclear power station is teaching us - yet again. How many Three Mile Islands, Chernobyl's and Fukushimas do we need to get it through our thick heads that nuclear energy is a bad gamble?
When are we going to get serious about energy conservation?
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"... One mistake we make is super-scaling everything. Instead of lots of smaller hospitals and businesses we tend to build mega hospitals and Walmarts that may be less expensive to operate but they'll become single points of failure in the event of a natural catastrophe. Perhaps we should plan and build self sustaining small communities inside larger communities to eliminate being hamstrung by single points of failure."
I sure agree with you on that.
The business school ideal of achieving a monopoly in a particular business niche is a bad idea for everything else. And I think is bad for the general public and business relationships too.
It is not "resilient".
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Listeners might be interested to know that Portland and NW Oregon are light years ahead of Vancouver in preparedness. As many as half of Vancouver's fire stations have been flagged as being at great risk in any sizeable quake (not just an M9).
Unlike Portland, Vancouver (and its entire region) are without fireboat capabilities to replace broken water utilities for firefighting and other uses after an earthquake.
Vancouver's current fire/rescue staffing is half of the national standard- it is barely able to manage on a normal day, and, given the above, it would eseentially disappear as an entity in the hours after a large event.
For decades, Vancouver has understaffed and underfunded its emergency services, and unabashedly relied on Portland to supplement its many shortcomings. We all know that when the entire region has been affected by a large event, this practice will not be possible, and I dread the chaos that will result.
Finally, Washinton has nothing like the excellent planning and education provided by the OR Dept. of Geology (DOGAMI) for geologic hazards. Vancouver is lucky to be in the Portland metro area to "take advantage" of this service as well!
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Oregon is indeed a leader in emergency "readiness". Thanks for sharing Portland's leadership in emergency management and response readiness.
However, the public can be led to an artificial sense of security when they don't understand that emergency managers' "readiness" doesn't equal their safety or their children's safety in buildings that are not seismically retrofitted or upgraded (or built after 2001). It's a critical distinction that I fear is lost in the reporting this week.
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The kicker law should be revised so that the extra revenue would be placed in a fund to be used only when revenues fall below the expected revenue that was used to determine the budget. Just as a business has a line of credit to cover the times when actual revenue falls below expected revenue, the state needs a line of credit, hence the fund created by the revised kicker law, would cover the dips that do occur from time to time.
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The kicker law is a conservative "slight of hand". The payments are made based on the the economy's ability to generate tax revenues that match economic forecasts made 30 months prior. If the revenue forecasts are high and collections low, services must be cut (often at a time when there is the most demand). If forecasts are low and collections high, surplus revenues are returned (at high administrative cost) three weeks before Christmas when it has the highest political impact. This process tends to ratchet down state service levels without direct legislative action. It serves the agenda of the politcal forces that want to "make government small enough to drown in a bathtub" as Grover Norquist so elequently put it.
To follow the same logic, we should have an automatic "reverse-kicker" that raises revenues when the economy and tax collections under-perform. A better plan is to use the best data available to forecast tax collections for the bienium, and put ALL surplus tax collections into a reserve fund to cover the shortages in lean years. That is how budgeting is done in virtually every other environment. It should also be done for state government.
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I heard the average amount a person would receive from the kicker is $30. Is that true? If so, what a joke! But if we all put that money towards education, we could make a real differnce for Oregon's schools, which are shamefully some of the poorest funded of the country.
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In an Oregonian article last week I noted that they interviewed a woman on the coast who was upset that she had to leave her pets at home when she evacuated to an emergency shelter. I thought that after Katrina most states changed their laws to allow pets at emergency shelters. Does Oregon allow people to take their pets with them to emergency shelter when they are forced to evacuate their homes?
Pam in Corvallis
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Pets in shelters is an awful idea. Besides even considering the potential for some very serious allergic reactions, it just leads to all kinds of hygiene problems in an already challenging environment. And the proliferation of some potentially dangerous dog breeds certainly could lead to additional problems.
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True, but they're a nice break from MRE's. (tongue in cheek)
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I'm wondering how the region's dams would fare in a large subduction quake. the populations below downriver of reservoirs aren't huge, but they're substantial.
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I'm an Alaskan who was there when the Alaska Legislature crafted the Permanent Fund legislation. I think Oregon has gone about this all wrong. The idea with the Alaska Permanent Fund was that you don't give away the surplus directly (in this case it was oil revenue), instead you invest the surplus and give a portion of the dividends to the people and designate another portion for an emergency fund. Each year that there are surpluses, the principle increases and the amount of the dividends depends on how successful the investments are. The state hangs on to the principle no matter what. In Alaska, this has resulted in a fund that now yields dividends that rival the value of oil revenue.
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I'd agree to kicker reform as soon as there is spending reform. If it were not for the runaway spending increases (a 50% spending increase in just 4 years, from 2005/2007 - 2009/2011), we wouldn't be in this current crunch. Legislators who cry for revenue are demonstrating some extreme negligence if they don't recognize how unsustainable the current situation is.
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If we are going to keep "the kicker" I think it should be based upon a rolling average of deficits and surpluses over the business cycle (e.g., seven years.) If there is an average surplus above 3% over seven years, then 1/7 of that amount could be rebated.
Michael D.
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Abolish the kicker!
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Leave the "kicker" alone.
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Has anyone calculated the cost of managing "kicker" dollars? I wonder how much Oregon could save just in printing, postage and accounting costs every year if we simply put any "excess" dollars into a rainy day fund, as has been proposed. It seems completely irresponsible -- stupid, really -- to waste any tax dollars on this program.
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Kick out the kicker!
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Sure the kicker feels nice in the moment, but I'm wishing that our state had that money back to use right now. I'd be willing to bet that very few Oregonians still have the moeny from their last kicker, but our state could have if they'd had more to put into our rainy day fund. If it meant that we wouldn't be laying off our teachers, that we would be putting more money into earthquake/tsunami preparedness, that our state representatives and governor could spend their time on other important issues rather than fighting over the budget--they I would be more than happy to vote for a repeal of the kicker. Get two versions on the ballot, one that repeals and one that modifies. See which one passes.
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First of all, there is NO SUCH THING as extra money! The senator is exactly correct, I could use the extra 200 bucks, but I would rather have my son's school stay open. I feel like the whole kicker thing is a republican ploy to make people feel like they are being over taxed anyway. Get rid of the kicker. We need a cushion. The state is cutting money for schools, firefighters, police, food stamps, unemployment, and NPR.
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The kicker should go into a rainy day fund! The amount of money returned to me would be far better spent for the greater good.
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I believe that we used to have a rainy day fund but Conservative Republicans spent it back around 2000 or so to get rid of it.
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The kicker should go. If you look at how far the rebates to individuals would go to funding education, then it makes sense. The education system is our future. It looks like the Tigard-Tualatin libraries will be closed next year. How on earth are we going teach young children without libraries?
I was one of the unfortuate ones that fell victim to Quicken's software malfunction a few years ago and donated all my kicker when it checkeded my form 40. It was my fault for not seeing it when I mailed it. In retrospect, I am glad the money went to the schools.
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for Personal Preparidness:
Prepare> Plan> Practice & Join
in Portland
http://www.portlandonline.com/oem/index.cfm?c=31667
http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=50566
In OR outside Mult Co
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/CertIndex.do?reportsForState&cert=&state=OR
in WA
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/CertIndex.do?reportsForState&cert=&state=WA
http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/programs/snap/
Red Cross 72 hour kit
http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=d1fc43fb7aca2210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD
About the 72 hour kit~ use the list as a spring board, but think 4 weeks rather than 4 days.
Best action is TRAIN, ORGANIZE or JOIN your Neighborhood group for local survival and DO IT TODAY
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I have voted for every tax increase on the ballot in the 15 years I've lived in Oregon and for many years supported eliminating the kicker. But my tune has changed. Until the state government shows some commitment to PERS and public benefits reform I will never again vote for any funding increase to state government, kicker or otherwise. Consider my vote held hostage just as the state legistlature is held hostage by public employee unions. Enough is enough.
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Is anyone else having reception problems? Especially in the Eugene Area? I turned on OPB about 45 minutes ago, and found the signal over KOPB-AM 1600 to be non-existent, and the signal over KOAC-AM 550 to basically sound like, well, it starts with 's' and rhymes with 'wit.'
REALLY MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY MEANINGFUL MANNER.
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I find it fascinating that people are so eager to have the kicker, but would never consider raising taxes when the legislature does not have enough.
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50% increase in spending in 4 years. Hmmm, wonder why they don't have enough?
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Could it possibly be because so many people want services, but don't want to pay for them? Many people want their government to spend money on the projects important to them personally, but don't consider where the government is supposed to get that money. All of the benefits with none of the sacrifice.
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You are undoubtedly correct about that copperlion.
And it really isn't a partisan observation, especially on a federal level. There, both sides of the aisle are equally guilty in participating in this mass ostrich exercise when the completely detach from considering how they are going to fund our government. Probably more annoying from Republicans, where on one hand they preach fiscal responsibility, but on the other hand are busy supporting military incursions on foreign soil and fighting for unfunded tax cuts.
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And what happened to tomorrow's program on Immigrant Students? It is MISSING from the webpage. Did anyone else notice?
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Penny,
We've moved that show. It will be back online soon! Tune in tomorrow for a rebroadcast of our Trust and Travel show.
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As I understand the Kicker is the difference between what the government budgeted and what they received from tax payers. If there was an excess of tax receipts and the government had to borrow money to return the excess tax payments does this mean that the government overspent their budget? In the Federal government if a tax payer overpays they get a credit for next year or cash back. By spending tax overpayments, it encourages continued over-spending their budget.
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That's not exactly the case. The budget is based on revenue projections- a best guess at how much money the state will take in. When the money brought in from taxes exceeds that guess by a certain amount, the state sends out kicker checks (which costs money for the physical checks, postage, envelopes, etc.). The state isn't spending the excess taxes- that isn't allowed.
The problem is that in bad years, we have budget shortfall and have to cut services. When we have good years, we can't use the surplus to restore services. This creates a downward spiral, where we don't have the means to recover from the bad years, and we don't have the means to blunt the effects of those bad years either. There is nothing in this issue that encourages overspending the budget.
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Comments are now closed.
I would get rid of the Corporate Kicker for sure. This should never have gone into place. It smacks of corporate welfare, right up with cities and counties building multi-million dollar stadia for the sole purpose of retaining the professional sports teams located there. (Example: Safeco Field -- most people in the Seattle area seemed to agree that it was wanted, but the method of financing that was proposed was met with strong opposition. Local elected officials did an end-run around the voters and went to the State Legislature to get their funding proposal put into place.)