Suchergebnisse

Oregon in 2020 and 2021 resembled other Western states: crisis on crisis. COVID, the COVID recession, forest fires and ice storms, and polarized politics dominated the news. Despite these challenges, the state's fiscal situation turned out very positively. President Biden's American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in November 2021 provided many billions to the state for 2021 and will cover diverse infrastructure needs over the next five years. This paper analyzes the surprisingly strong general fund and federal fund situations created by the COVID era and considers the political implications of the state's fiscal situation.

The 2018 midterm elections strengthened the Democrats' control of Oregon's state government. Governor Kate Brown won re-election with 50percent of the vote defeating moderate Republican Knute Buehler with 46.6percent of the vote. Democrats also increased their seats in both the House and Senate, leading to super majorities in both houses. Governor Brown and the Democrats in Salem have taken fairly strong progressive policy stances in 2017 and 2018, particularly opposing President Trump's immigration and marijuana policies, reinforcing the West Coast carbon-reduction pattern, and strongly supporting health care coverage expansion. With a booming economy and unemployment at record lows, the state seems to be able to deliver on its progressive agenda for the 2017-19 biennium, but funding progressive policies in the future will be a challenge for the governor for a variety of reasons. The fate of this progressive vision depends on five elements: (1) the continuation of the favorable economy and the corresponding revenue growth in the approaching budget cycle; (2) the ability to manage the ongoing taxing and spending structures that include major obligations for the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS); (3) the constraints of ongoing dependency on income taxes; (4) the vicissitudes of Trump era politics and policy with declining federal funds; and (5) continued public support for expansive public policies.

The foremost challenge facing the Oregon Legislature confronts nearly all state and localgovernments today: meeting growing and uncertain spending commitments while funding thepublic employee retirement system adequately. There is more than magnitude to this problem.The solutions are constricted by a rigid revenue system, funding patterns locked in by party politics,an initiative system that fosters spending commitments more easily than revenue raising,and strong judicial protections of public employee contractual guarantees. To capture the contextof the budget debates of the Winter/Spring of 2017, this paper examines the nature and legaciesof the November 2017 election, Oregon's broad economic context, and the core budget debateswithin Salem.

The 2014 Oregon Legislative short session was a highly partisan affair where majority Democrats in the House and Senate pursued contentious issues to Republicans including marijuana legalization, gun control, the Columbia River Bridge Crossing, and the huge implementation problems of Oregon's dysfunctional health plan exchange ("Cover Oregon"). The economic picture in the state featured a modest recovery and urban job growth providing an increase in state income taxes, while other revenue sources such as cigarette taxes, estate taxes, and Oregon Lottery revenues were less than expected. Nonetheless, the legislature managed to adjust the 2013-15 biennial budget, although two issues indicate there are deeper unresolved problems remaining: ongoing public employee dissatisfaction and the impact of general fund redistribution on specific programs.

Oregon's economy has continued to recover from the great recession. Job growth in 2015 returned to mid-1990 levels with 3% annual growth leading to more than 57,000 new jobs. The office of Economic Analysis sees revenues growing strongly with corporate taxes and personal income taxes growing at double digit rates over the first four months of the 2015-2017 biennium.

Intro -- Contents -- The U. G. Dubach Chair in Political Science at Oregon State University -- List of Abbreviations -- Part I: Inputs and Context -- 1. Change and Continuity in Oregon Politics (Richard A. Clucas and Mark Henkels) -- 2. The Oregon Context (Alexandra Buylova, Rebecca L. Warner, and Brent S. Steel) -- 3. Political Parties and Elections (Priscilla L. Southwell) -- 4. Media in Oregon: Doing a Lot More with a Lot Less (Sanne A. M. Rijkhoff) -- Part II: Government Institutions -- 5. Changing Partisanship, People, and Pressures in the Legislature (Richard A. Clucas) -- 6. The Governor and Oregon's Executive(s) Branch (Phil Keisling) -- 7. The Role of Bureaucracy in Oregon State and Local Government (Douglas Morgan, Jeanine Beatrice, and Sajjad Haider) -- 8. The Oregon Judicial Branch (Paul J. De Muniz) -- 9. Local Governments in Oregon (Abdullah Husain, Ethan Seltzer, and Brent S. Steel) -- 10. Tribal Government: Maintaining and Advancing Sovereignty through Advocacy (Justin Martin and Mark Henkels) -- 11. Collaborative Governance (Edward P. Weber and Casey Taylor) -- Part III: Public Policies -- 12. Environmental Policy: The Challenge of Managing Biodiversity in Oregon (Joe Bowersox) -- 13. Oregon Energy Policy (David Bernell, Warda Ajaz, and Daniel Gray) -- 14. Oregon Health Policy: The Struggles of an Innovating State (Melissa Buis Michaux) -- 15. Oregon Social Policy: The Safety Net (Leanne Giordono and Mark Edwards) -- 16. Exporting Products and Ideas: Oregon Agriculture and Food Systems Politics (Chris Koski) -- 17. Education in Oregon (Allison Hurst, Jordan Hensley, and Edward P. Weber) -- 18. Fiscal Policy (Mark Henkels) -- Part IV: Conclusion -- 19. Change or Continuity? (Richard A. Clucas, Mark Henkels, Priscilla L. Southwell, and Edward P. Weber) -- List of Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Index.

The Oregon Citizens' Initiative Review (CIR) distinguishes itself by linking a small deliberative body to the larger electoral process. Since 2010, CIR citizen panels have been a legislatively authorized part of Oregon general elections to promote a more informed electorate. The CIR gathers a representative cross-section of two dozen voters for 5 days of deliberation on a single ballot measure. The process culminates in the citizen panelists writing a Citizens' Statement that the secretary of state inserts into the official Voters' Pamphlet sent to each registered voter. This study analyzes the effect of one such Citizens' Statement from the 2010 general election. In Study 1, an online survey experiment found that reading this Statement influenced Oregon voters' values trade-offs, issue knowledge, and vote intentions. In Study 2, regression analysis of a cross-sectional phone survey found a parallel association between the Statement's use and voting choices but yielded some mixed findings.