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By Public Policy Chair

Marilyn Treiman

halamari1@juno.com

Text Box: Alice Bartelt, AAUW of Oregon Public Policy co-chair and Marcia Kelley, Legislative Coordinator, have been at the legislature almost daily to represent AAUW of Oregon, and have sent a report from which the following excerpts are taken: Well, the 2009 session is now ready to focus on the budget for 2009/2011 as they have agreed on how to finalize the 2007/2009 budget with a combination of cuts and resources from the Federal stimulus money and other accounts. As they deliberate, there are many options for wild rhetoric about what should be done. There are things that we as educated women can do to make sure what we say and believe are founded on facts. First, government is not the enemy of the people. In many of our rural areas of the state, government keeps the fabric of the community together. Yes, we may have to tighten our belts a bit but we should not eliminate government. From the file clerk to the manager, government wages spend just like private sector wages. In the economic downturn, we need to remember that. We should not let our lawmakers rush to judgment without first ascertaining what the effects of the Federal stimulus money will mean to our communities and more importantly for the personal income taxes that fund so much of the state budget. During the last cycle, there were efforts to make gains on funding education at the level that is needed. Some of that funding came in higher percentages than the funding of services for those who are reeling from loss of income and jobs. Students need to have good

Text Box: nutrition to learn so cuts to services that support nutrition and housing need attention just as much as teaching time. There is also a lot of talk regarding health reform. We need to go forward because the cost of doing nothing on health reform is just higher health care costs. Next week we should be able to share more on how this can be done and how it can be financed. Health care is necessary for a community to be viable. Lastly, there has been a bill introduced that would change the “kicker”. This bill is Senate Joint Resolution 29. The state sometimes collects more money in taxes than an economist predicts. It does not mean the state is being greedy, it means that the economist cannot predict with accuracy how much income people in Oregon might have two years from the date of his prediction. A prudent person would put unanticipated money in a savings account. In Oregon we send it back to the citizens and we don’t have a viable cushion when the economy has a downturn. So as we are needing money for the next two years budget and needs are rising, the money has been spent on something else. Consider having a community conversation about how the money should be spent: in the community of Oregon or on someone’s lifestyle. Remember the taxes are set, it is just that people made more money than anticipated. This bill was set to be heard in the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee on March 12th. AAUW of Oregon has offered testimony on several bill as of March 10 . On March 9, a bill was heard to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit (HB 2066). This would raise the

Text Box: percentage that Oregon’s poorest taxpayers may take as a credit on their income taxes. Because our credit amount is only 6 percent, people that are below the poverty level pay taxes. This will would raise the credit to 18 percent and would keep folks from having to pay taxes on very little income. We also testified on House Joint Resolutions 14 and 20. These involve tax expenditures, which are the deductions and tax credits that the state allows against income. These bills would require that each of these expenditures be reviewed periodically to determine if they are still serving the purpose for which they were adopted. AAUW supports such a review. We offered testimony regarding HB 2741, which would dedicate all estate tax revenue, which amounts to about $40 million per year, to a New Generation Fund. The interest from this fund would be split between pre-kindergarten programs and Oregon Opportunity Grants, which go to needy college students. AAUW, of course, supports this bill. Finally, we testified about HB 2509, which updates the sexuality education statute to include “medically accurate” and “age appropriate” to the definition of appropriate education. In the meantime, we are working with the Revenue Coalition; the Human Services Coalition; Safe, which is concerned with heath care reform; the Women’s Health and Wellness Alliance; the Paid Family Leave Coalition; and a good government group which works with the elections division. There is much happening at the legislature, but revenue is the most important issue at the moment.