In 2009, Oregon spent $2.8 Billion in unemployment benefits for 360,000 Oregonians. Last month alone, there were 217,000 Oregonians collecting unemployment benefits at a cost of $68 million per week. (Click here.) The Oregon Legislature’s emergency session will soon end, yet Oregon’s real emergency has yet to be addressed. Unemployed Oregon workers need jobs.
Jobs are the answer to Oregon’s revenue shortfalls.
Oregon is an income tax-based state, and with an unemployment rate averaging 11% for the past year, state revenues are sinking fast. In only seven months since the close of the 2009 legislative session, the forecast for state revenues has dropped by $365 Million. (Click here.)
Jobs are the answer to the skyrocketing costs of social programs.
One in four Josephine County families and one in five Jackson County families are collecting Food Stamps—now referred to as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (Click here.) The dramatic increase in Food Stamp (SNAP) users, along with substantial cost increases in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and other social programs have left the Department of Human Services with a $33 million shortfall in its current budget. By shifting funds and draining accounts, the legislature was able to cover DHS’s current shortfall, but it will not be easy to do so again if social program costs continue to rise and revenues continue to fall over the next year.
What can be done to create new jobs for Oregon workers?
One of the hardest hit sectors of the Oregon job market in recent years is the construction industry. By looking closely at what can be done to help revitalize the construction industry, lessons can be learned that may help develop strategies for other job sectors as well.
A survey was recently emailed to several thousand Oregon contractors and construction workers to learn from those “with boots on the ground” about the construction industry situation. The goal was to gain input on what the State can do to start the recovery of the construction industry--one of the hardest hit industries in Oregon.
More than 500 Oregon contractors and construction workers took the time to give their ideas, suggestions and criticisms. If heeded by the Governor and Legislative leadership, such input can help get Oregon’s building industry back on track. The stories of the financial devastation suffered by these hard-working Oregonians and their families are sobering. They know better than anyone what it would take to jump-start their industry and create new jobs.
The February 2010 Construction Industry Survey was brief. I will share below its four questions and a summary of the 500 responses given to each. If you would like to read for yourselves what these knowledgeable and sometimes desperate Oregon contractors and construction workers had to say, the links to their actual comments are also listed below.
1. If you had the power of the Governor and Legislature and could take action that would help Oregon’s construction industry and workers, what would you do?
Main Themes-
Become more business friendly.
Stop the bureaucracy from creating barriers that hold up jobs.
Remove bureaucratic red tape.
Put more money in Oregon’s economy by reducing taxes--repeal 66 & 67.
Crack down on illegal undocumented workers.
Cut Government spending—it is taking too much money out of the private economy.
Limit bid opportunities for Oregon public projects to Oregon companies.
Prioritize jobs--more “sustainable” jobs and less “experimental” and temporary ones.
Stricter supervision to limit unfair competition from undocumented workers.
Verify Social Security numbers when hiring new employees.
(To read the actual responses to Question 1, Click here.)
2. Are there government regulations that should be stream-lined or expenses that are charged which are major barriers to construction projects? If so, please explain.
Main themes-
Permitting and licensing processes should be made simple.
It is nuts for a contractor to stand in lines for hours waiting to get permits.
Bureaucracy is bloated and not responsive to needs of their customers, the contractors.
Help government become more efficient.
Lessen environmental laws to enable businesses to grow.
Find a better way to calculate bond and insurance rates rather than FICO scores.
Lessen urban control of rural areas of the state.
Lessen the sized and influence of government.
Limit bid opportunities for Oregon public projects to Oregon companies.
Lessen the extreme problems caused by over-regulation.
Local control over land use issues would enable counties to control their own land use.
(To read the actual responses to Question 2, Click here.)
3. Is Oregon’s requirement for “Little Davis-Bacon” wages to be paid on most government construction projects a positive condition or a negative constraint? Please explain.
Main Themes-
---Overall positive reaction to Little Davis Bacon wage requirements:
Levels the playing field for non-union workers;
You get what you pay for;
Prevents rock-bottom bid competition;
Higher wages for Oregon projects puts more money in Oregon economy;
Encourages more contractors to bid on public construction projects;
Improves the quality of work;
Allows for living wages for workers;
Negative opinions revolved around the following:
Unnecessarily high costs of projects;
More taxes are required to pay for such artificially high-cost of such projects;
It makes no sense for public projects to cost more than private projects;
(To read the actual responses to Question 3, Click here.)
4. To help us understand who you are, please give a brief statement of what you usually do for a living, how long you have been doing it, and what is your current employment situation?
Main Themes-
---Employment of those responding to the survey:
Surveyors, Plumbers, Electricians, Contractors, Workers, HVAC installers.
---Consequences of current recession on those responding to survey:
Substantial number of people out of work--both Union and non-union workers.
People that own construction companies are barely surviving.
Wide range of experience and years in construction industry—feeling helpless.
Large pay cuts and drastic reductions in income—devastating to family budgets.
(To read the actual responses, Click here.)
In conclusion, two things are clear, (1.) Oregon’s revenue structure is based primarily on income tax revenue; and (2.) Working individuals produce family stability and tax income, while unemployed individuals drain state revenues by increasing demands for government subsidies and programs. Since the Legislature is in “emergency session,” the true emergency that deserved to be addressed should have been developing a bipartisan strategy for creating a job-friendly environment for Oregon workers. Instead, the Legislature has spent three weeks fussing over a hundred bills that have nothing to do with solving Oregon’s true emergency. Nothing has been done to make Oregon a more job-friendly state.
The information contained in the 500 suggestions and comments from Oregon’s contractors and construction workers in my Survey, are letters to the Governor and legislative leaders. This newsletter is a mail bag, and I am the mailman. By “special delivery” I am presenting to the Governor and the 90 members of the Oregon State Legislature these 500 letters. It is time for these letters to be read. It is time for the Legislature to remember, in this “emergency session,” we are here to do the most urgent work of the people, and there is no more important work that we could do than focus on Oregon’s emergency and Oregon’s solution—JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.
Below is the contact information for the Governor’s office and every member of the legislature. If you have something to add that would help make Oregon a more jobs-friendly state, please take the time to make your voice heard.
Sincerely,
Dennis
Richardson
State Representative
Know Your Legislators: Representative Bill Kennemer
Last November the voters of House District 39 elected Representative Bill Kennemer to serve his first term in Oregon’s House of Representatives. District 39 covers southwestern Clackamas County, including Oregon City and Canby.
When he was an infant, Representative Bill Kennemer’s family moved from Sacramento, California to Oregon. He spent his early years on farms in Albany and Corvallis. Later his family moved back to California, but Representative Kennemer returned to Oregon for college. He attended Warner Pacific College in Portland. He went on to Fuller Seminary where he completed his Ph.D in clinical psychology. After earning his degree, Representative Kennemer returned permanently to Oregon, opening his psychology practice in the Milwaukie suburbs.
Representative Kennemer’s first experience in public service was as an Oregon State Senator. He served as State Senator from 1987 to 1996. In 1997, Representative Kennemer became a Clackamas County Commissioner. Representative Kennemer returned to the Oregon Legislature this year, taking the seat of retiring Republican House Leader Wayne Scott. This session Representative Kennemer is serving on three committees: Health Care, Business and Labor, and the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services.
Contacting Your Elected Officials
To contact your elected officials, click here.
District Office
55 South 5th Street
Central Point, OR 97502
Tel: (541) 601-0083
Fax: (541) 664-6625
E-Mail: rep.dennisrichardson@state.or.us
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