The 2009 version of the Oregon legislature finished business last night with a flurry of activity.  It was a characteristic end to a hard-working and productive session.  However, a quick glance at the newspapers reaffirmed my expectation that the big story would be increased taxes.  Despite the fact that the legislature made $2 billion in cuts from projected service levels, the lead stories in the Oregonian only mentioned the last-minute reduction of $11.5 million from higher education. 

The fact is, we will see significant cuts in services that Oregonians with disabilities and their families depend upon.  But it will be hard to tell that story amid the tumult of the tax debate and the inevitable ballot measures designed to wipe out the new revenue and bolster the political fortunes of their proponents.

Back in 2003, the legislature took a different approach.  It decided to decimate human services budgets in order to avoid tax reform or tax increases.  About 100,000 Oregonians lost their health insurance, the infrastructure for delivering mental health and addictions services was severely damaged, thousands of seniors lost their support services, schools went begging.  But there were no ballot measures to challenge the legislature back then. 

Although touted as the "people's voice," ballot measures cost money.  Instead, some organizations like Legal Aid and DRO filed law suits on behalf of vulnerable Oregonians to attempt to stop or slow some of the worst cuts.  While we had some small, technical victories, we were not able to stop the cuts.  Judges were hesitant to substitute their judgment for that of the legislature.  Close calls went to the elected officials.

This time around, we have three major tax increases.  They target corporations, high earners and hospitals/health insurers.  The first two are most likely to be challenged by ballot measure.  The other is really a fancy way to leverage more federal Medicaid funds and should not have a significant fiscal impact on those taxed.  You may hear differently when health insurers cite the tax as a reason to increase premiums and decrease reimbursement rates for providers.  My advice is to keep your eye on their profit margins rather than their justifications.

Overall, the legislature deserves high marks for its labors. Despite the difficult financial times, some excellent bills were sent on to the Governor and budgets were constructed in a fair and open manner.  DRO is particularly pleased that a bill to bring Oregon law up to date with the federal ADA Amendments Act has been signed into law.  We worked with the Bureau of Labor and Industries to craft and promote this legislation and received invaluable assistance from Senator Floyd Prozanski to get it through the process.

Now that the session is complete, we here at DRO are writing a summary of legislation passed this year that particularly affects Oregonians with disabilities.  We'll let you know when it is complete and is posted here on the Disability Rights Oregon website.