OREGON AFSCME

e-lert #17 ¥ May 8, 2009

Edited by Don Loving, Council 75 Public Affairs Director

We'll know next week just how much money the Legislature has to work with, so the session's speed will rev up soon ... high drama at the capitol on Thursday as an at-this-point-unknown Democratic senator went south on his/her commitment and foiled a major labor bill ... it was "National Correctional Employees Week" this week, a designation inaugurated by a president not exactly known as a friend of labor ... and as always, much more!

It's the e-lert, and it starts right now!

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REVENUE FORECAST COMETH — One week from today may be the most significant day of the entire 2009 legislative session. May 15 is the day the May state revenue forecast comes out, and that announcement will spur a flurry of activity at the capitol.

How bad will it be? That's sort of the question du jour. The state General Fund shortfall is expected to be anywhere between $3 billion and $5 billion. When lawmakers ordered state agencies to prepare budgets that included a 30 percent cut, that reflected an assumed shortfall of $4.4 billion. Next Friday we'll finally know the number, and then work on state budgets will begin in earnest. Things to keep in mind:

á You'll begin to feel a real sense of urgency about finishing the session once the revenue forecast comes out. The forecasts are released bi-monthly, so this is the last such forecast to guide lawmakers before their anticipated adjournment date of more-or-less July 1. The Legislature has been treading a lot of water waiting for the May 15 figures and will waste no time moving ahead once it has them in hand.

á The budgets they set this session are not set in stone. With the economy fluctuating as it is, legislators are already planning on coming back for a special session in February 2010. They did the same thing in 2007-08; essentially, they are mimicking the Washington state legislature, which always meets for a longer session in odd-numbered years but also has a planned short session (60 days max) to adjust its budget in even-numbered years. Many advocates of limited annual sessions think Oregon should simply adopt the same model and be done with it — they say it only makes sense, whether economic times are good or bad, to fine tune the state budget in the second year of a biennium rather than trying to guess what's going to happen two years out.

á The revenue forecast is a snapshot of anticipated income as things stand on May 15. Ergo, it does not include any new revenue the '09 Legislature may create. Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem), in an interview published today in the Salem Statesman Journal, said he anticipates the Legislature adding between $500 million and $1 billion in new revenue. He cited the corporate minimum tax as one area for increase, but was noncommittal about where other tax increases might come. He did not rule out a general income tax increase or temporary surcharge.

Oregon AFSCME Political Coordinator Ralph Groener is Council 75's point person for all things revenue. Groener is cautiously optimistic that next week's revenue forecast "won't be as bad as we thought six weeks ago." There are indications that the national economy is beginning to pick up; however, Groener explains there is always a time lag for Oregon to catch up.

"The first thing that happens when people begin to feel better about the economy is that they start spending money again," said Groener. "For the 46 states that have a sales tax, that's significant in that those states begin to see the sales tax money in their coffers right away.

"But our General Fund is based almost entirely on our state income tax," Groener continued. "We don't see an up-tick here until things have improved enough that employers start hiring more people and those people are earning an income — and that simply takes longer. It's why Oregon is a little slower to fall into a recession than other states, but also why it takes us longer to recover. Without a consumption tax of some type, we don't see the benefit of increased consumer spending as immediately as do most other states."

The revenue forecast and subsequent budget setting will also impact Central Table bargaining for AFSCME-represented state employees. The next Central Table negotiations are scheduled for May 26.

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IS THE 'CAPTIVE AUDIENCE' BILL DEAD? — Organized labor is staring at a huge defeat with the possible-to-probable death of SB 519, the so-called "captive audience" bill.

SB 519 was a top priority bill for the Oregon AFL-CIO and strongly supported by Council 75. Key language in the bill would have made "captive audience" meetings by employers voluntary for certain topics — including union organizing. In other words, employers could not require employees to come to meetings and listen to their propaganda against unions. It was thought that labor had just enough votes, 16, to pass the measure on the Senate floor when it came up on May 7.

However, state Sen. Larry George (R-Sherwood) presented a minority report that waxed on about the importance of "employer free speech rights." Understand that the verbiage of George's statement was irrelevant; presenting the minority report was a procedural strategy that forced a vote on its passage or defeat before a vote on SB 519 could take place. But in a highly unusual move, leadership of both parties had agreed to take a unanimous voice vote on passing the minority report and sending the bill back to the Senate Rules Committee.

"Usually there is an actual vote on minority reports, which would hold people accountable," said Oregon AFSCME Political Coordinator Mary Botkin. "This whole thing stinks. They're trying to cover up who went south on us, but we'll find out."

Botkin believes it's possible that labor could firm up its vote count and get the bill back to the Senate floor. Other union lobbyists are less optimistic, and believe the bill will die in the committee. Regardless, it is certain that one Democratic senator who had committed to the bill flipped at the last minute and voted against labor in supporting the minority report. AFL-CIO Political Director Duke Shepard is diligently attempting to find out who it was, and promises to make that name public. Stay tuned!

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HB 2989 DEBATE RAGES ON — We shared details with you last week about HB 2989, which appears to be a thinly veiled plan to privatize county mental health services in the name of "efficiencies." Pushing the idea is Dr. Bruce Goldberg, Director of the Department of Human Services; HB 2989 is sponsored by state Rep. Tina Kotek (D-Portland).

Battling HB 2989 has required the majority of this week's time for Groener. In addition to fighting head-on at the capitol, Groener has been on the road evenings meeting with AFSCME-represented county employee groups in Polk, Lane, Multnomah and Benton counties.

Groener says lawmakers need to look back only one year to see how privatizing mental health services away from county government per se doesn't work. In the spring of 2008, Multnomah County and the DHS had to bail out Cascadia Behaviorial Health in Portland with a $2.5 million emergency loan. AFSCME had up close and personal knowledge of that entire situation, as Council 75 was in the midst of an organizing drive with Cascadia employees at the time.

"Without that loan, Cascadia's 20,000 clients would have suffered severe disruption of their critical treatment services," said Groener. "The fact is, as a private, non-profit entity, Cascadia had operated for years with little or no oversight from public authorities. Rather than address these kinds of problems, HB 2989 would empower DHS to privatize even more publicly run mental health programs like Cascadia."

+ Action Alert! If you haven't already done so, please contact your legislators and urge them to oppose HB 2989. You can access any Oregon legislator through our Oregon Legislature website tab. Also included there is a link to a program that will find your legislators for you based on your home address if you're not sure who they are.

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BOTTLE BILL STALLS — It's turning out to be increasingly difficult to tweak the "Oregon Bottle Bill." HB 2184, supported by Council 75 and specifically a priority bill for the union's "Green Caucus," did not have the votes to pass the House floor for the second time this month, and on May 5 it once again was shipped back to committee, where its ultimate fate is now uncertain.

State Rep. Ben Cannon (D-Portland), the bill's chief sponsor, unsuccessfully argued that the measure could be a revenue producer for the state in addition to its positive environmental impact.

HB 2184 would double the required deposit from 5 to 10 cents if return and recycle rates don't meet an 80 percent threshold by 2015. In addition, the bill would add sports drinks, coffee, tea, juice and other non-carbonated beverages to the list of drinks requiring a deposit, beginning in 2013. Currently there is a nickel deposit required only on soda, beer and water containers — and water, added in 2007, was the first addition to the Bottle Bill since its inception in 1972.

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GASHOUSE EMISSIONS BILL PASSES — In other "green news," late this (Friday) morning, Groener reports that HB 2186 passed the floor of the House 32-27 after spirited debate. It was not a strictly partisan vote.

You may recall that in last week's e-lert, Local 3336 (DEQ) activist Leslie Kochan termed HB 2186 "a key to Oregon's strategy for making targeted, common sense reductions in greenhouse gas emissions." The bill provides authority to reduce green house gas emissions from transportation and to reduce the use of high potency greenhouse gases in consumer and commercial products. HB 2186 will also allow the DEQ to develop reduction strategies including a low carbon fuel standard and restrictions on the unnecessary idling of trucks and commercial vehicles.

Business lobbyists argued that the Legislature is providing too much authority to DEQ to implement the bill, and that argument spilled over to the House floor debate. Kochan contends the bill provides only very narrow, clearly defined authority to implement a small number of very specific programs — and adds the bill is consistent with how the Legislature has determined policy and agencies have worked out details in the past.

HB 2186 now moves on to the Senate, where the business lobbyists are sure to take another huge swing at stopping it.

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CELEBRATING CORRECTIONS EMPLOYEES — The first week of May each year is "National Correctional Employees Week." We have about 3,100 Oregon Department of Corrections employees represented by Council 75 — some 1,800 in the Security series statewide and another 1,300 in the Security Plus unit. Oregon AFSCME also represents some Corrections employees at the local government level throughout the state.

President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation creating "National Correctional Officers Week" in 1984. A U.S. Senate resolution in 1996 modified it to what has become known now as "National Correctional Employees Week" and since then, the first full week in May is annually reserved to recognize and acknowledge the work done by the men and women serving the field of Corrections and to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

"I want to emphasize that here in Oregon, we recognize 52 weeks a year the important and difficult work our Corrections members do," said Oregon AFSCME Executive Director Ken Allen. "That said, we certainly join in appreciating and thanking all of our Corrections members during this special designated first week of May."

On a national level, AFSCME represents over 85,000 Corrections employees.

"This week we recognize the extraordinary service provided by Corrections employees across the United States," said AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee. "These men and women are doing a difficult and important job in our criminal justice system — safeguarding the public from those who would do us harm. Too often, their voice and experience are undervalued by those in government who seek to privatize their jobs or cut their pay and benefits.

"But more than 85,000 Corrections employees have joined forces with AFSCME to fight for safe workplaces, better pay and benefits and to uphold the standard of professionalism," McEntee continued. "We are proud of the work they do, day in and day out. We salute their service and will continue to fight for them and the valuable work they do for all of us."

National Correctional Employees Week was also denoted May 6 on Greenline, the national union's blog site.

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LETTER CAMPAIGN — Speaking of Corrections, Botkin wants to unleash a new strategy in the fight against SB 257, the measure that would replace Department of Public Safety Standards and Training independent, certified training for corrections officers and replace it with unspecified in-house Department of Corrections training. Botkin wants letters — good, old-fashioned, hand-written letters.

"It is becoming more and more clear that we cannot count our statewide elected officials or legislative members to protect our training standards and safety on the job," said Botkin. "So we need to turn the heat up and make sure they understand the implications if they do not support us on our DPSST certified training then we need to hold them accountable later."

Ideally, Botkin wants a letter from every member of the AFSCME-represented security units to their elected legislative official.

"This is critical," she says. "Short, sweet, personal and hand-written. That is what I need — now!"

You can write to any senator or representative at one common address: State Capitol, 900 Court St. NE, Salem, OR 97301. Not knowing your legislator is not an excuse — click here for a site that identifies your legislators based on your home address.

Idaho residents who work at Snake River Correctional Institution are urged to write to the home legislators of SRCI itself, state Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) and state Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario). Ferrioli also happens to be Vice Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, which is hearing SB 257.

Corrections members, look for more information regarding the letter-writing campaign at your institutions from Council 75 Corrections Coordinator Tim Woolery and your local union officers soon.

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'TIS THE SEASON — Do you now what season it is? Some would likely answer "spring," which is technically correct. Others might respond "baseball," which is also technically correct. Alas, we have just entered another not-so-warm-and-fuzzy season — it's the beginning of initiative signature gathering season.

Oregon AFSCME Political Coordinator Joe Baessler is the union's point person for elections and related issues, and he's sounding out a call for help as signature-gathering season begins in earnest. If you see a petitioner out there, sidle on over and check them out.

"You should never attempt to interfere with a petition circulator's work," said Baessler, "nor should you argue with a petition circulator, even if they're misrepresenting an initiative."

What Baessler would like you to do is pay attention, and report back to him via e-mail any of the following information you can glean:

Ÿ Which petition(s) is the circulator carrying?

Ÿ Did they have copies of the text of the initiatives available for inspection?

Ÿ Did they misrepresent the subject matter of the initiative?

Ÿ Where and when did you see them?

Ÿ Were they working alone or in a group?

Ÿ Did you catch the person's name?

"We just want to monitor what's out there on the streets and make sure that circulators are doing things by the book," said Baessler. "Our members are valuable eyes and ears out there. So if you see someone, please let me know."

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CHILD CARE $$$ — Council 75 Political Coordinator Janice O'Malley is growing increasingly concerned about the child care budget, which of course impacts AFSCME Local 132 (Child Care Providers Together). It remains number one on the chopping block. Why?

"The Joint Ways and Means Committee co-chairs are attempting to maximize Department of Human Services funds by keeping programs that bring in matching federal funds," said O'Malley. "Unfortunately for us, the child care budget doesn't bring us nearly enough to maintain our status quo."

One lawmaker championing the child care cause is Kotek, who used to work for the organization Children First.

"Her heart is with child care and she's doing the best she can to save Employment Related Day Care (ERDC)," said O'Malley. "She is asking that we help her get the message out of delaying implementation of one of DHS's proposed reductions. It limits ERDC to families leaving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Currently, all families earning less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for ERDC. This change would only allow working families that have left TANF because of employment to access the ERDC program. Existing ERDC clients would continue to be eligible until there is a break in benefits."

If implemented, says O'Malley, approximately 3,168 fewer families per month would be in the pool of potential clients to access benefits. It also changes the program from one that supports employment of all low-income Oregonians to one that helps only TANF families transition to employment.

"Rep. Kotek hopes that we can delay implementation for a year and reassess after the year is up," says O'Malley. "The rumor is that the Obama administration is coming out with a new stimulus package this summer and we could potentially see this potential pot of money next spring."

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AN 'HONEST' PINT — If you want to see Botkin hopping mad, just mention HB 3122, the "honest pint of beer" bill that's caught the fancy of the media this week.

Sponsored by freshman state Rep. Jules Kopel Bailey (D-Portland), HB 3122 would mandate the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to certify that bars, taverns and pubs are truly serving full, 16-ounce pints of beer when they claim the glasses are indeed "pints." Allegedly there are establishments using "pint glasses" that aren't a full 16 ounces.

For the beer drinkers reading this, Botkin isn't out to help cheat you from your proper measurement of suds. She's just concerned that OLCC inspectors — represented by AFSCME Local 2505 — will be peeled away from other oversight and enforcement duties to certify pint glasses.

"Our members have important enforcement work to do, and there's not enough of them to do that work already," says Botkin. "If the bars and/or the beer and liquor industry will be ponying up the funds for this, then we don't care. But the moment the discussion moves to our enforcement members doing this instead of their jobs, I'm yelling."

Botkin is also concerned about the proposed OLCC budget. It's an agency that brings in big dollars for the state, and Botkin says the idea of cutting OLCC back by 30 percent makes no fiscal sense.

"A cut that big restricts the ability of the OLCC to get product on the shelves of the state liquor store outlets," said Botkin. "If the booze isn't there, people can't buy it, and we lose money that goes into the General Fund. This is a classic example of shooting yourself in the foot, and an object lesson as to why "across the board" anything — cuts, in this instance — rarely make sense in state government. Why would you cut any fee-supported state agency that makes money for the General Fund? It's ridiculous."

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SWITCHING VEHICLES — The health care provider tax bill that used to be part of the omnibus reform bill HB 2009 but is now contained within HB 2116 was supposed to have a hearing May 7 ... but that got cancelled. Such is life at the capitol as we near the waning days of the session.

"The policy of how the tax would be laid about insurance companies and hospitals and how the money would be used to add 180,000 lives to the Oregon Health Plan was established in the House Healthcare Committee," said Baessler, who's been lobbying HB 2009 since January. "Now it is in the House Revenue Committee to determine the final numbers. We hope to see it next week."

Baessler continues to urge members to call their legislators and ask them to pass HB 2116 because it will bring in a much-needed $1 billion in federal funds.

The rest of HB 2009 is still alive and in Ways and Means, Baessler notes, and he will report on what is happening with it in a future e-lert.

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FINAL ODDS & ENDS:

á HB 2963, the binding arbitration bill for deputy district attorneys that we've reported on several times, passed out of the Senate Commerce and Workforce Development Committee this week and is headed for the Senate floor. It has already passed the House by a 57-2 count.

á HB 2005, the signature fraud bill from the office of Secretary of State Kate Brown, moved out of committee Monday and should soon hit the House floor.

á If you're a Multnomah County resident, don't forget to vote for AFSCME retiree Chuck Moffit for the MESD Board of Directors at-large position. Your ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on May 19.

á For you Facebook people, our new and popular "We Are Oregon AFSCME" video is now available for viewing on the Oregon AFSCME Council 75 Facebook page. Once we do some minor editing to get the video under 10 minutes we will also post it on YouTube. As mentioned last week, it's also available on the Council 75 website. By the way, at this writing we have 88 "members" of our Council 75 Facebook page, so if you're not one of them go visit and sign up!

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