Legislator says Oregon has the money it needs without cutting vital state programs

By Kathy Gray
of The Dalles Chronicle
Monday, December 29th, 2008

John Huffman shakes his head.

“I expect to be doing this a lot,” said Huffman of his expectations for the 2009 Oregon legislative session. Huffman, a Republican from The Dalles, represents House District 59, which includes Wasco County. Huffman worries that the Democrats have the three-fifths majority they need to “pass any tax bill they want,” which he says are numerous.

“Every one of their 90 proposals — health care, renewable energy, all of them, have got their own little set of invisible fees and tax increases,” Huffman said. They range from a 60-cent tax hike on cigarettes to a doubling of the vehicle registration fee, to variations on the theme. “There are two other tax proposals targeting cigarettes,” Huffman said, not to mention a 2-cent fuel tax and a $100 first-time vehicle registration fee.

The Republican minority take a different view of budget prospects.

“We feel we have enough revenue to do what we’ve been doing without cutting necessary programs,” Huffman said.
Huffman is concerned about some of the things Gov. Ted Kulongoski is proposing to cut from his budget, in light of the reduced revenues predicted because of the economic downturn.

Oregon Project Independence and Small Business Development Center funding are two examples. “A lot of those programs leverage federal money and you don’t want to cut them,” Huffman said. “Those are cheaper dollars. You invest one and get two back.” Oregon Project Independence helps keep senior citizens in their homes through assistance, rather than force them into nursing homes, often at a higher public cost.

The Small Business Development Center helps create small-business jobs and generate tax revenue with help of funding from the Small Business Administration. “To me, it doesn’t make sense to create a bunch of new programs you can’t sustain, and not be able to fund these programs,” Huffman said. At the same time, he says he doesn’t want to see cuts in programs that are investments — that save money or create revenue.

Kindergarten through 12th grade education is another area of concern in Kulongoski’s budget, Huffman noted.
Funding at the 2007-09 biennium level will see the schools come up short once cost of living increases and other cost hikes are factored in.

“Some programs should not be cut, and should be fully funded. Other programs probably can have a stay put on hiring,” Huffman said, adding that he is not a proponent of across-the-board cuts. “It would be nice to be able to just look into the different programs with an efficiency eye from outside and be able to help the agencies. I don’t think real cuts can be made from inside. They have to be done from the outside.”

Huffman supports some form of legislative audit review office “to step in and have a little more say in managing growth. Because once you start a program, how many programs really go away?” While Huffman says he opposes new programs at this point, he says he does support some small increases in taxes and fees when they support necessary, existing programs.

“Transportation, for example, is not a new program,” he said. “The projects have to be done.” The governor is proposing transportation projects for economic stimulus. Huffman says he wants to make sure the stimulus jobs go to private industry, rather than creating additional government bureaucracy. Huffman also says his constituents are supportive of education and community colleges link education to the economy.

“Do you realize that every roughly 50 wind turbines represents six or seven full-time, family-wage, ongoing jobs,” Huffman said, noting that Columbia Gorge Community College provides training the help full those jobs. Huffman says he will continue to promote development of a workforce training center at the college, which he says is supportive the governor’s green agenda.

He was critical of Kulongoski’s budget plans, which include a $15 million shortfall for community college funding, saying those cuts are inconsistent with the sustainable energy message he is delivering on the national and global stage.

Huffman has several bills he is forwarding in the legislative agenda. One is to stiffen the penalties for the crime invasion of personal privacy. The bill was prompted by a local criminal case in which a man spied on people in dressing rooms using surveillance equipment.

Included in the bill is a provision to include spying on prepubescent children as part of the crime. At present, the law excludes such actions from prosecution. “There should be no exclusions,” Huffman said. He is also working with the state locksmith association to to mandate licensure training. A third bill would allow remote and rural schools to operate as charter schools.

None of the bills would increase taxes, Huffman noted.

By State Rep. Dave Hunt
Oregon Speaker of the House
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Wallowa County Chieftan

As we prepare for the 2009 Legislative session, Oregon has a host of problems to solve. Like the rest of the country, we’ve been hammered by the national recession and face an uncertain economic future. To get out of this mess, it’s going to take all of us working together – urban and rural, Democrat and Republican; young and old, and even business and labor leaders.

That’s why it was so disappointing to see the Wallowa County Chieftain’s editorial last week, accusing me and House Democrats of being in the pocket of special interest groups and engaging in the same tired, old rhetoric that seeks to divide instead of unite our state.

As the incoming speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, I’ve worked hard to make myself accessible to editorial writers and reporters across our state. But the Chieftain never even tried to get my side of the story before labeling me as a "too" liberal Democrat in the pocket of unions.

It’s a label that doesn’t stick if you look at my record as a legislator, and at the accomplishments of the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions that benefit Eastern Oregon.

When voters put Democrats in control of the Oregon House in 2007, we reversed years of serious declines in areas we believe are important to all Oregonians.

• We invested in Head Start and K-12 schools at the highest level ever, and gave new opportunities for young Oregonians to attend all of our community colleges and universities.

• We helped family farmers and ranchers by cutting the estate tax on their property when it is time to pass their land and operations on to their children.

• We passed a water storage plan that will ensure farmers and ranchers have more adequate water supplies for decades to come.

• We approved a plan to finally allow some use of hounds to hunt cougars.

• We added 139 state troopers back to our highways all over Oregon, reversing years of cuts to the Oregon State Police.

• We created Oregon’s first-ever Rainy Day Fund and we set aside almost one million dollars in reserves to protect critical services during future recessions, reversing the prior pattern of spending every dime every session.

It’s easy to play the blame game; to accuse the governor, myself or someone else of causing all of our woes. But there is simply too much at stake for our state to engage in the same kind of divisive politics that got us into this mess in the first place.

All of us in Oregon are going to have to share in the sacrifices necessary to get through this recession. And all of us should strive to avoid the name calling and political rhetoric that characterized the campaign season in Oregon and across the nation.

I have appointed Eastern Oregon’s Republican Representatives – Cliff Bentz, John Huffman, Bob Jenson, and Greg Smith – to key positions on House committees. In fact, I appointed Rep. Jenson to chair the Ways and Means Natural Resources Subcommittee, a key post for rural Oregon. Our two new Democratic representatives from east of the Cascades – Judy Stiegler and Suzanne VanOrman – are already capably representing the interests of rural Oregon within the House Democratic Caucus.

And I, as speaker, will pledge to you fairness, openness and the willingness to listen to your concerns. All I ask in return is the same fairness, and the same opportunity to make my case to the Chieftain and the citizens of Wallowa County.

We may disagree on issues, but you will never know how I stand just from listening only to political opponents with a vested interest in making us look bad … or from reading an isolated quote in a newspaper … or from holding on to old and tired notions that don’t move us toward solving our budget crisis and the policy challenges that face Oregon.

Disagree with me all you like, but if you want to know where I stand on the issues, all you have to do is ask.