Short Session

Episode Highlights:

Like the Aurora Borealis appearing over Oregon skies, the upcoming legislative short session will be brief, unpredictable, and easy to miss if you’re not watching closely. Ahead of the session’s start, we sat down with Representative David Gomberg and Senator Dick Anderson to preview what they’re bringing forward, what they expect to rise to the surface, and what may never see the light of day when time is tight. A look at priorities, pressures, and possibilities before the gavel drops.

• Senator Dick Anderson, (R) District 5
• Representative David Gomberg (D) District 10

Transcript

Jana 0:06

Welcome to the Double R Show, the podcast that features everything about North Lincoln County. The Double R Show, directed and produced by Paul Robertson and hosted by the voice of Lincoln City, Roger Robertson.

RR 0:29

Welcome to the Double R Show. Son Paul is with me, and we're going to be in session. Pretty quick, yeah.

Son Paul 0:35

So the legislative uh sessions are again starting here. Uh, well, just right after the podcast launches, and so we're fortunate enough again to have two representatives of our area, one senator and one representative. And one party and the other party as well.

RR 0:49

One a Democrat, one a Republican.

Son Paul 0:51

Yeah, and I think listeners will know who we're talking about, obviously, but Senator Anderson and uh Representative David Gomberg will be on the show. And so we look forward to chatting with them uh right after these messages.

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RR 2:05

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RR 2:48

A good friend of Lincoln City, Senator Dick Anderson, is with us. Welcome aboard. Well, thank you, Roger. Appreciate it.

Senator Dick Anderson 2:55

It's always uh great to be invited. You are getting ready for another session. I am. It's called the uh short session, 35 days, mandatory, uh, no more than uh 35 days. Uh starts February 2nd, runs to the first week in March.

RR 3:13

Is there a lot accomplished, Dick, or is it positioning for two years down the road?

Senator Dick Anderson 3:19

Actually, no. We're it we're in the fiscal biennium. So we had the long session in 25 where we did budgets and did a whole bunch of business, 160 days worth of business. The short session was voted in not too long ago by the citizens of Oregon. One to take care of exceptions, uh, you know, around budget items or bills that were technical issues. So it was meant to be just uh in and out take care of two weeks for the next two years. Yes. But it's it's it's really not looking forward or anything into 27 uh 28. Would that be it? Who's who's good with math? You know, it works. Uh but it but because we're in the same biennium, so you know, budgets aren't uh they can be changed but not added to, all these kind of things. There's no new money.

RR 4:12

Now you are really regulated as to the number of uh issues that can be brought forth, correct? Well, bills.

Senator Dick Anderson 4:19

Bills, yes, specifically in the short session, because it is only 35 days. Members are limited to two bills, uh committees, three bills, leadership can throw some in, but it it's meant to be, you know, not a big policy kind of time to make changes. And because of the short window, uh you don't you don't have a lot of time to get your bills heard, worked through each uh chamber. It's got to go through both chambers. So it it really is a limiting process. It's a good, I personally I think it's a healthy process. Would like to see us do it in the long session, kind of limit the number of bills.

RR 4:57

Before we w went on, we were talking about the number of bills that you personally will be able to introduce, and you have four, not two. Uh I do.

Senator Dick Anderson 5:06

Uh and why is that? Well, I like to think it's because I'm a good guy. Uh, special. However, as I stated, each member gets two bills, so that's theirs. Then, depending on your rank in your policy committees, uh, I'm vice chair of two policy committees, uh, early childhood and behavior help, and housing. So there's a small quirk in the process that says if your chair is an agreement, vice chair should have one of the three committee bills. And I have superb relationships with my two chairs. And so, in essence, I use that committee bill, so to speak, as one of my own. So, as far as I'm concerned, I have four bills that I'm able to introduce with the approval of the chair.

RR 5:58

Okay, no, those bills are gonna be what, Dick? Well, what are you gonna bring to the table? Lovely bills.

Senator Dick Anderson 6:04

Lovely bills. Great government at its best. All right. Uh certainly those two, one of them is housing. Uh housing is very important, and we don't have enough of it. So the committee bill that I'm bringing on is it impacts uh what are called urban reserves. So this land, one of the things we're always talking about, trying to bring more land into the urban uh growth boundary.

Son Paul 6:27

Okay.

Senator Dick Anderson 6:29

It's uh a huge land use process, takes a lot of time, all that stuff. A number of sessions ago, we developed uh urban reserves. It was intended to kind of in advance communities to do some of the process of land outside the urban growth boundary where they wanted to go in the future. So you could do some of the work, get it done, and then when ready, bring it in. Municipalities didn't take advantage of it, it didn't work as we explored why. It was because there was no advantage. The time wasn't saved, there was a lot of process, a lot of expense, and you know, they just I think Bend is the only one that that used to be. Okay. So we went back and looked at and have what my bill does is uh limit the process, speeds up the process, and so we're hoping we've got enough advantages in this. One to balance out that municipalities like it, and that environmentalists say it's okay, so that a community when they need land, you know, can bring it in quicker than going through the long process. So it'll be an interesting one because anytime you try to bring land in or expand or remote boundaries, it's kind of a fight. That's why it's a uh committee bill. Uh you'll have more oomph behind it. Uh and that's it. So that's that's one of the housing ones. Another one of the housing ones is kind of an interesting employer housing. One of the things we've looked at, trying to get employers involved in the housing process, either with assistance or some building their own. You go back to uh the lumber, lumber mills, lumber factories, loggers, they used to have housing out in the woods or mills or whatever, owned by the employer, right, utilized by the tenant. And we're kind of looking at that, and so we want to make sure that if it's owned and provided by the employer in those cases, that that doesn't go foul of the landlord tenant laws. Because in fact, if I hire you on, get you into housing, we work for two years together, then you leave or if you quit or whatever, I don't want you in my housing any longer.

RR 8:54

And I So you're there at the time of your employment, period.

Senator Dick Anderson 8:58

Yeah, that that's what we want to make sure that and it's some kind of balance since landlord, in essence, the o employer has to give them so much notice, but they can't be there if they're not employed. So it's a little quirk, but uh, we found that as we're kind of trying to get larger employers uh, and and there are employers now that looking like they've got to play a role uh school districts, hospitals, yeah, or in the middle of it all the time. Exactly. So we just trying to clear the road. All right. Now you got bill number three. Bill number three is one of my favorites, and it'll be somewhat controversial. So it's quasi-housing, but I've met a lot of uh uh other people of interest, and it's a prevailing wage bill. Prevailing wage is when government money comes into play into public works, for example, at cities, you know, uh all the things we've done through the state in housing, giving down payments, giving infrastructure. When you do that work, it's got to be a union scale scale. And we have something like six or seven regions in the state, uh, different scales, different amounts, and all that kind of stuff. What I'm finding is that it's costing uh citizens, taxpayers, more money than than it should. The prevailing wages. The prevailing wages. So so I'm looking at trying to exempt a little higher up, uh, meaning let's take housing. Housing, affordable housing is exempt from prevailing wage if it's four stories or less. Makes sense. Portland builds and metropolitan areas build taller than four stories. So even though it's affordable and goes to ten floors, it runs into prevailing wage. To build. So that means that structure costs a lot more than you know, certainly if it wasn't prevailing wage, meaning you know, the workforce. And so earlier I was running into a problem with that saying that it's costing us all more and we're not getting more units, all this kind of stuff. Now we have some actual projects to show that there's a difference. Example, I just toured Salem a couple of weeks ago, an old church in Salem, Salem Housing Authority, bought the church. It had been empty for years. They remodeled it into they wanted something like 20 units for veterans. So veteran housing walked through the process to prevailing wage it, because it would be income restricted, all that kind of stuff. They said no, you have to go prevailing wage, one, because it was a church before. It was commercial, now you're changing to residential because it was commercial, it doesn't apply. Even though it was empty, it had been in a residential zone church. They went from 20 units to 17 units and fifty thousand dollars additional per door, per apartment, per board. It got built. It wasn't going to. It got built simply because the city of Salem had some extra money that they put to it. But now what I've got is a project that says here's what it costs prevailing, here's what it actually costs not prevailing.

RR 12:31

Dick, I see we're quickly running out of time. The fourth bill is what?

Senator Dick Anderson 12:35

Liability insurance.

RR 12:37

Okay.

Senator Dick Anderson 12:38

Again, I discovered it through child care. Much as we talked earlier, the cost of insurance is going up. Liability insurance is huge, putting providers out of work.

RR 12:49

All right. Dick Anderson state Senator for uh Lincoln City and uh the Oregon Coast. Yes.

Senator Dick Anderson 12:55

Senate District 5.

RR 12:56

Senator District 5, Senator District 5. Uh, how could I possibly forget that? I don't know. We'll look forward to having you back when the session is underway. Thank you, sir. Senator Dick Anderson. More in a moment.

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RR 13:20

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RR 14:02

State Representative David Gomber, good friend of mine, good friend of the county, the district, and everybody else, and we are off to another session.

Rep. David Gomberg 14:12

Well, that's right, Roger. We're starting the very beginning of February for the short session. You know, here in Oregon, uh in odd-numbered years, we meet for about six months. We pass bills, we write about a two-year budget. We come back in uh even numbered years, and we have a one-month-long session. Uh, originally intended to do some fine tuning, but oh my gosh, we've got a lot of fine tuning to do this year.

RR 14:35

Is it enough time?

Rep. David Gomberg 14:36

Well, I hope so. We have been meeting for months getting ready to actually get started. Okay. And when I say there's a lot of fine tuning to do, we passed a budget in July when we adjourned.

RR 14:46

Right.

Rep. David Gomberg 14:47

Well, then the state economist came back and said, Well, I'm sorry, the economy's changing. You don't have enough money to pay for the stuff you approved. We've got to go in and we've got to reduce the state budget by $750 million.

RR 14:58

That's a lot of bugs.

Rep. David Gomberg 14:59

Well, you know, it's gonna be five to ten percent across the board, and a lot of people would say ten percent doesn't sound or feel like a whole bunch until you start taking ten percent out of your schools, ten percent out of your uh your public safety, uh, firefighting, health care or food supports. So those kind of things are going to make a difference. But if that weren't bad enough, or at least challenging enough, I should say, the legislature met for a special session in July to try and decide how we were going to pay for our roads and bridges, how are we gonna pay for for the state highway trust fund and local roads as well, because the costs are all going up, but you and I were driving more fuel efficient vehicles. So we're not using as much gasoline. And so revenues are going down, costs are going up. We met and we said, well, you know, we've we've looked at this for a couple of months now, we've gone through a couple of different proposals, we're gonna pare this down to the bare minimum, a modest six cent increase in the gasoline tax. I say modest because my calculations are the average driver would pay about two dollars more a month, which would go for road maintenance, it would go for fog striping and potholes and and uh snow removal in response to landslides.

RR 16:12

Which we're experiencing right now in Lincoln County.

Rep. David Gomberg 16:15

Yep. So so we passed that, and almost immediately Oregonians pushed back and said, no, wait a minute. We uh we don't like gas tax increases, especially at a time when we're having trouble paying our rent and buying groceries. So they collected signatures in a remarkable amount of time and said, No, well, if we can't increase revenue, we've got to decrease how much we spend. And that means I've got to go back in there and and lead, lead because I chaired the committee that handles ODOT's budget. I've got to find a way to cut another 300 million dollars out of the budget. Out of the budget. And um, you know, we already cut 50 million out during the last session. We eliminated 100 jobs. We're now looking at maybe reducing 700 jobs at ODOT. The big bridges they're working on in Portland. Let's just hold up for a while and uh and put that aside. And you know, the costs are gonna go up if we wait, but we can't afford to pay it right now. There are other kinds of local programs uh that that may be on the chopping block, everything from mass transit to safe routes to school to taking care of our rail lines and uh and local bridges. All of that stuff is uh is potentially on the chopping block as we look to balance the ODOP budget as well. So there's a lot going on there.

RR 17:26

So David Gomberg is gonna go to Salem on the 2nd of February and propose what you get a what, a couple of bills that we have. I get two bills. What are they gonna be, David?

Rep. David Gomberg 17:37

Well, the uh the first one has to do with ocean science. And it uh we've got a group out here called the Ocean Science Trust, which gives grants to scientists to study the ocean. And instead of giving them state money, we want to give them the opportunity to create a 501c3 and solicit private money as a nonprofit. So we're gonna give them a chance to raise a little money without it coming out of your tax pocket and uh and do the good work of figuring out what's going on in our oceans. My second bill is a little more technical. It's uh it's a good government bill, but it's a little bit complex because we've got 12 state agencies out there that are considered semi-independent. And because they're semi-independent, they don't have to go through the regular budget process. They don't get a public hearing, and I don't get to vote on what they're doing. And as a matter of fact, because they're semi-independent, they don't have to put their money in state accounts. They can just go down to the local bank and open a bank account. Most of these are little tiny licensing agencies, the Board of Geologists, the Board of Landscape Architects. A couple of them are pretty big. One of them is uh the State Wine Board, one is the film and video office, and one of them is Travel Oregon.

RR 18:47

Which is huge.

Rep. David Gomberg 18:48

It is. I mean, you know, they get uh one and a half percent of uh lodging taxes across the state. And so they've got more than a hundred million dollars that they deal with each year, and uh I want them to go through the budget process like everybody else does.

RR 19:01

And currently they do not have to sit in front of the legislative session?

Rep. David Gomberg 19:06

They come in and they make a report. Okay, and now what really happens is all 12 of them are lumped into one report that's about 10, 12 pages long, and that is presented to uh one of the committees I serve on. And I I listen to this report and I say, wait a minute. You know, everybody else goes through the budget process. Why don't these folks go through the budget process? So I'm not saying anybody's doing anything wrong. I I don't believe that there's any anything inappropriate going on in these. No, this is just about government responsibility. Um if there's a state agency out there, even if they call themselves semi independent, I as a legislator have the responsibility to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to do and spending in the way they're supposed to spend and not charging people more than they need to.

RR 19:51

During the long session, you spent a lot of time sitting up in front uh holding the gavel on the House.

Rep. David Gomberg 19:57

I did.

RR 19:58

Will that happen again?

Rep. David Gomberg 19:59

Well, I'm still. The uh speaker pro tem of the Oregon House, so whenever the uh the speaker doesn't feel like presiding, she asked me to do it. And uh and that happened about uh four out of five days um every week uh during the long session. So I expect I'll be spending some time up there again uh maintaining control of it. And it's interesting because when you're up at the front running the meeting, you gotta pay attention to everything the nuances, who wants to speak, how long have they spoken, who's spoken more than once? Are they following the rules?

RR 20:32

You gotta drag it all.

Rep. David Gomberg 20:34

You gotta keep track while everybody else is sitting out there doing a three-hour-long, boring debate, doing their email and writing their speeches or checking Facebook or or whatever. I'm up there hanging on to every single word. And oh, by the way, standing up all the way through it as well. So uh I mean I enjoy doing it, I think it's meaningful. I I'm proud that our our district gets that that opportunity, that visibility.

RR 21:00

But what do we as a representative district get out of that?

Rep. David Gomberg 21:05

Bragging rights. Okay, yeah. But you know, there's something else going on, and that is that I become part of the House leadership. I get to go into a small room with a small group of people and talk in a little more depth about some of the things that are going on.

RR 21:20

True. And that's important. Okay, carrying cloud.

Rep. David Gomberg 21:24

Yeah. So I mean, and you know, God forbid something happens to the speaker under the rules, you know who becomes the speaker?

RR 21:31

Oh, yes, welcome aboard.

Rep. David Gomberg 21:33

That's it. So, so you know, I'm having a good thought for her every day as she's driving home in uh in winter weather.

RR 21:39

Are you anticipating uh a lot of uh intense discussions this time around, or is everybody seeming to be on the same page?

Rep. David Gomberg 21:51

You know, there are there are funny little side issues that are blowing up into big things and and and probably shouldn't. But we had this transportation package, six cent gasoline tax increase. The people say we want to vote on it.

RR 22:03

It's gonna be on the ballot.

Rep. David Gomberg 22:04

And so they collected signatures to put it on the ballot in November. The governor comes out and says, I don't want to wait a whole year before we can find the outcome of this and start to decide how we take care of our roads. So she proposed that we just repeal the whole thing. Well, you know, the legislature looked at that and got some legal opinions on whether we could, in fact, repeal the whole thing and decided, no, we're gonna put it on the May ballot instead of the November ballot. Well, right away we start getting warning flags and press releases and people pushing back because they're saying, well, we wanted it to be on the November ballot. Why did you want it to be on the November ballot? Oh, because that's when we elect a new governor, and we want this gas tax to be on the ballot the same time that the governor's on the ballot, because maybe maybe that'll help one of us and hurt one of them. And so that's part of what's going on. They're also saying, well, you know, the May election um has lower turnout, and we want to go to a ballot where there's more people voting in the general election than than when we have the primary election in May. I went back and looked at uh the last five times that we referred tax measures to the ballot, and they were all voted on in May, not in uh in November. So I I think this is a good compromise. We can find out what's going on and we can make the decision right away to what we're gonna do next. And by the way, you know, the transportation package included a gas tax increase, fee increases. We deregulated trucking and reduced a lot of the uh the wait and mile tax on trucks, and uh we made some changes in the payroll tax to pay for transit, and we implemented a number of accountability measures for ODOT. Oh, and we also decided that we'd start asking electric vehicles to help pay for roads. The referral only includes the payroll tax, the gas tax, and the fees. So if we had repealed everything, we'd lose the rest of it, the accountability portion, the the good work for trucks and the charges to electric vehicles. By holding the election instead of what the governor proposed, we keep those good elements.

RR 24:09

David Gomberg State Representative, uh, we look forward to having you back during the session, if at all possible. We know it's gonna be uh work, work, work.

Rep. David Gomberg 24:19

Well, there'll be a lot to talk about.

Chinook Winds 24:22

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RR 24:37

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RR 25:03

Hey, welcome back to the Double Air Show as we close things out today. Uh, again, our thanks to Senator Dick Anderson and Representative David Gomberg for joining us and bringing us up to date on what will be transpiring now within the next couple of months, over the next couple of months, I guess I should say, with the legislature back in session.

Son Paul 25:23

Yeah, and uh, you know, some of their wish lists that they've got uh planned and uh we'll be bringing forward for uh for this legislative session, the short session. Uh the short session. Yeah, the short session.

RR 25:34

Uh and speaking of sessions, the uh Lincoln City uh city council meets a couple of times a month, as does the planning commission. And the planning commission is going to be meeting on February 3rd, Tuesday, the third, six o'clock. On February 4th, we get the Driftwood Public Library Board meeting. Then on Monday, February 9th at 6 o'clock, Lincoln City City Council meeting as well in council chambers.

Son Paul 26:00

Yeah, and if you're looking for any of that, also just go to lincolncity.org, right?

RR 26:04

And it was really quite interesting to watch last week's program. Uh there probably was uh 25 to 30 people uh testifying in front of the city council in reference to ICE.

Son Paul 26:17

Oh, right, yeah, and uh many more in the audience as well. Oh gosh, yes. And you can again watch those uh as they stream live on uh lincolincity.org or you know catch up uh after the fact, too.

RR 26:29

We also have a community days uh committee meeting coming up on uh February 3rd, 5 30 p.m. Uh this takes place at the Oregon Coast Community College, and Community Days is wonderful.

Son Paul 26:42

Yeah, and it's always uh kind of a great uh time just to meet friends and family, and uh as maybe the case. Yes. And uh and join in and uh help produce some of these events, and then you know, participate where you can.

RR 26:56

And one of the most unusual events that comes to Lincoln City frequently, Tibetan monks are gonna be uh doing their artwork, if you will, at the Cultural Center uh February 11th through 15. It is fascinating to watch these gentlemen, these monks meticulously create their art.

Son Paul 27:16

Yeah, I've seen it a couple times, uh more of the finished product. Yes, and then it's ephemeral, right? Uh just blows away or just gone. Just gone after all that work goes into it. So uh kind of a meaningful experience to witness and uh participate, uh, at least from uh the viewing perspective, and uh again at the cultural center. What dates?

RR 27:36

That is going to be taking place on February 11 through 15. It is phenomenal to watch these uh gentlemen uh so silently, so meticulously uh craft their art. It's just fascinating to watch. Anything else your side of the table?

Son Paul 27:54

No, thanks. But uh we're looking forward to uh more sessions as we move forward through this uh calendar year on the Double R Show.

RR 28:01

And that'll do it to the dunes on a double R show. Please remember to like, subscribe, and share so you, your family and friends around the world from Germany to Thailand can enjoy the Double R Show. For Son Paul and Jana, I'm Double R.

Jana 28:16

Have a happy day, you've been listening to the Double R Show. Join Roger and Paul Robertson as they explore everything about North Lincoln County. The Double R Show produced by Always Productions and hosted by Roger Robertson. Have a story? Email contact at alwaysproductions.com or call four five eight two zero one three zero three nine. For the Double R Show, I'm Janet Ron.