During the 2022 campaign season, Republican candidates beat the drum of “bring balance back to Salem”. There was even a Political Action Committee with that name that helped campaign and fund Republican candidates. The goal was to get the House Republicans out of the Super-Minority and closer to a place where balance could be achieved. With balance, the belief was that it would bring forward good policy, developed on a collaborative platform.

The 2023 election yielded the Republicans 2 additional House seats and one additional Senate seat over what they had. Republicans in the House went from 23 to 25 which was a major step. They had not seen those numbers since 2014. The last time the House was controlled by Republicans was 2004. The Senate went from 12 to 13 (which includes 2 Independents who typically vote with the Republicans). The last time they were at 13 was 2016 and the last time they controlled the Senate was 2000.

Although neither chamber was controlled by Republicans, the balance was 5 votes away in the House and 2 votes away in the Senate, they did have one advantage. In both chambers it put them in a position to stop any new taxes from being imposed on Oregonians. New taxes, per the State Constitution, take a 3/5 vote, or 36 in the House and 18 in the Senate.

During the last week of session, HB 2757 came to the floor for a vote. This bill would implement a cell phone tax to support the 9-8-8 crisis line. 44 other states operate this service without a tax. The state with the lowest tax is California at $0.08 and the highest is Washington with $0.40. The original bill proposed $0.50, but the amended bill was for $0.40. The state with the closest population to Oregon is Nevada and their tax is $0.35. So why did Oregon need to be so high? Some are asking why was it not lower to start with and raised over time? Some are asking why was it not funded out of general fund money since there was plenty to go around?

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

What was not discussed during the floor debate was that the 9-8-8 system already had funding tucked away in the Oregon Health Authority Budget HB 5525 under Package 404. Package 404:

988 Behavioral Health Crisis System: Provides $39.6 million General Fund, $100,000 Other Funds expenditure limitation, and $29.3 million Federal Funds expenditure limitation, including $22.7 million General Fund, $100,000 Other Funds and $4.7 million Federal Funds to support the anticipated increase in call, text, and chat volume in Oregon’s 9-8-8 crisis call line and to support information technology changes and operational costs at OHA, as well as $16.9 million General Fund and $24.6 million Federal Funds to support anticipated Medicaid costs for rolling out mobile crisis response teams statewide.

When HB 2757 came to the House for a vote, Republicans had the power to kill the bill and the new tax. Democrats, with 35 members needed 1 Republican vote. No Republican votes would have killed the bill and the funding for 9-8-8 would have needed to go in a different direction, the OHA budget, package 404.

However, when the buttons were pushed, two Republicans broke their campaign promises and voted with the Democrats. They were Rep. Greg Smith (R-Heppner) and Rep. Kevin Mannix (R-North Salem/Keizer).

The bill then went to the Senate where the same options were available; offer Democrats no Republican votes and kill the new tax, or drum up one Republican vote and pass the bill. The Republicans did one better. When the roll call was called, two Senators aided the Democrats in assisting in the passage of the new tax. They were Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend) and Senator Suzanne Weber (R-Tillamook).

The new tax will start appearing on every cell phone bill in Oregon beginning January 1, 2024, four months before the May 2024 primary. The question now is, will this tax vote hurt the Republican promise of “no new taxes” when it comes time to vote in May and again in November of 2024?


--Terese Humboldt

Post Date: 2023-07-09 12:21:46

Last Update: 2023-07-09 13:03:46