Lawmakers voice concerns over new bills
By Larry Meyer | Argus Observer
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 11:02 AM PST
ONTARIO - The two state lawmakers representing Eastern Oregon expressed opposition to two new proposals during the legislative hotline session hosted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Friday at the Ontario School District office.
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, the Oregon Senate Minority Leader, and Rep. Tom Butler, R-Ontario, both expressed opposition to a proposal to boost fees on public recordings conducted at county clerk's offices and a plan to create a state-wide health insurance pool for public school and community college faculty.
Ferrioli said the plan to double recording fees faces opposition by county clerks across the state.
“Realtors and escrow companies have come on strong against it,” Butler said.
Supporters of the plan want to divert the money to help create affordable housing, particularly in Jackson County.
Butler questioned why the whole state should be charged higher fees to benefit just one area of the state.
“It's a shifting of wealth,” he said.
Ferrioli said the plan does not address the root cause of the problem - the availability of land.
Commenting on the health insurance pool plan - registered as Senate Bill 426 - Ferrioli said proponents of the legislation do not have the data to show that it will save schools any money.
“It will cost them more,” he said.
Butler echoed those remarks and said he has started getting e-mails from schools around his 60th district warning of the possible impact on schools.
Ontario School Superintendent Dennis Carter said the impact would mean about a $1 million cost hike for the Ontario district and Nyssa School Superintendent Don Grotting reported it could mean a cost boost of $400,000, Butler said.
“It will be more cost for rural schools,” Butler said. “It's a cost shift. It benefits the Oregon Education Association. The savings are not there.”
The two lawmakers also lauded the passage of the package of energy bills in the Oregon House of Representatives, which provides incentives and tax breaks to farmers who grow crops that can be turned into ethanol and bio-diesel, and to the companies which produce those fuels.
The package includes a measure that would increase tax credits to Oregon residents when they buy alternative energy devices.
Butler noted that a major company has set up shop in Oregon to make solid fuel cells.
However, Ferrioli expressed some reservations about the proposals to give incentives on alternative energy devices. Looking at the various alternatives such as wave, solar and wind, he said the most promising at the moment is wind energy.
“All you've got is wind,” he said.
Ferrioli also said, however, the bill has positive aspects.
“There is plenty of opportunity for rural Oregon,” he said.
“They want to grow feedstock for bio-fuels,” Ferrioli said, referring to state leaders. “Rural Oregon could be providing the shining path to energy independence.”
