Legislative Update by Darrell W. Fuller, PLSO Lobbyist

In 2010 Oregon voters passed Measure 71, changing the Oregon Legislature from meeting every other year to every year.  The even-numbered-year sessions (like this year) are limited to 35-days starting in February.  Voters were told these “short sessions” would be used to make incremental adjustments to the state budget and noncontroversial changes to the law – sort of a “clean up” session.

Reality reflected differently.  First, Senators and Representatives debated such “noncontroversial” issues as gun control, legalizing marijuana, driver’s cards for people unable to prove they are here legally, and building a new Oregon-Washington bridge (called the CRC or Columbia River Crossing) with Oregon and the Federal government footing the bill (Washington State’s Legislature said “no” to paying their share).

Second, the leadership of the Legislature didn’t roll out their budget rebalance plan until 32 days into the 35 day session.  As a result, there wasn’t time for much discussion or public scrutiny of the budget rebalance.  The rebalance bill was adopted with little to no input other than from those who crafted it.

The state is broke, pretty much.  Most requests for additional revenue fell on deaf ears.  But the state is going to make a $200 million donation to the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU.  That money, which will be bonded, doesn’t count as real money in Salem.

As for the land surveying business, not much happened in Salem this February.  The PLSO Legislative Committee did not meet and, therefore, made no recommendations to support or oppose legislation. 

House Bill 4119, which would have permitted the direct appointment of certain design professionals costing less than $100,000, died without a vote.  There was also a short-lived effort to amend the elected county land surveyor statute (which allows the elected surveyors in some less populated counties to live outside the county they are elected to serve) to include the elected county assessor in the non-resident exception.  The amendment was never formally introduced to a committee.

Scott Freshwater and I joined with some other like-minded professional associations for “Design Professionals Day” at the Capitol.  Individuals met with Senators and Representatives throughout the day.  One particular topic of discussion was to increase spending on STEM and CTE programs in public schools and community colleges across the state.

I expect the Legislative Committee will meet sometime in late spring or early summer to begin mapping our strategy for the 2015 session.  If you have any thoughts, contact me or a member of the Legislative Committee.

If you have specific questions about the Legislative process or what happened in Salem, please feel free to call me at 971-388-1786 or email me.