Still Plenty of Bills and Plenty to Do
The self-imposed legislative deadline for policy committees to schedule a work session on a bill in its committee from the other chamber passed on May 19th. This gives an opportunity here to review what deadlines are ahead.
The first point to make is that the deadlines do not apply to the pivotal committees on budget, revenue and policy matters: Joint Ways & Means and its subcommittees, any other joint committee (e.g., Tax Reform and Transportation Preservation and Modernization), the revenue committees and the rules committees. Bills to be worked beyond a deadline are referred to one of these committees until legislative leadership gets to them.
The gut-and-stuff tactic can be used to move a germane subject into a “saved” bill with the appropriate “relating-to” clause.
The next deadline is to hold a work session on a second chamber bill by June 2nd, still two weeks away.
The legislative leadership had set as a goal June 23rd for sine die. Given the immature development to date of the two critical packages – transportation funding and business tax reform – even five more weeks seems insufficient. Legislators who are not directly engaged in development of a package will need to be deeply informed and sounded out before there can be action taken. The transportation package is complex and some legislators may conclude that their district did not get enough or is a loser. The proposed business – or Commercial Activities Tax (CAT) – is a completely different animal to Oregon. It is akin to the Washington State Business & Occupation Tax, which generally taxes the receipts (not profits) of all types of business entities, thus creating a very broad tax base and permitting a very low tax rate (below 1.0 percent). The “CAT” may be difficult for legislators to understand or trust.
The constitutional sine die is July 10th, around seven weeks away. If they are close to being done and willing to stay a little longer to finish, the Legislature has the option to extend the session by five calendar days with a two-thirds vote, and may extend it more than once. If tempers are too brittle there is the option of a cooling off period followed by an emergency session upon written request of the majority of members of each chamber. Or they can wait for the 35-day 2018 legislative session.
Contributed by: Gil Riddell | AOC Policy Director