The 2019 Legislative Bill Summary
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2019 Bill Summary SEPTEMBER 2019 League of Oregon Cities • 1201 Court St. NE, Suite 200• Salem, OR 97301 • (800) 452-0338 • www.orcities.org TABLE OF CONTENTS 2019 LEGISLATIVE SESSION ........................................................................................ 1 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................... 5 Building Codes ................................................................................................................ 5 Economic Development ................................................................................................ 7 Housing .......................................................................................................................... 10 ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ....................................................................................... 19 FINANCE & TAXATION .............................................................................................. 29 Property Taxes .............................................................................................................. 29 State Shared Revenues ................................................................................................ 35 Finance ........................................................................................................................... 37 Lodging Taxes ............................................................................................................... 38 Miscellaneous State Taxes .......................................................................................... 40 GENERAL GOVERNMENT .......................................................................................... 43 Elections ......................................................................................................................... 43 Libraries ......................................................................................................................... 44 Mental Health ............................................................................................................... 44 Public Contracting ........................................................................................................ 44 Public Records .............................................................................................................. 48 Public Safety .................................................................................................................. 49 HUMAN RESOURCES ................................................................................................. 50 TELECOMMUNICATIONS .......................................................................................... 53 TRANSPORTATION ................................................................................................... 53 WATER & WASTEWATER ........................................................................................... 54 STATE BUDGET .......................................................................................................... 62 VOTING MATRIX ....................................................................................................... 67 INDEX BY BILL NUMBER .......................................................................................... 71 22001199 LLEEGGIISSLLAATTIIVVEE SSEESSSSIIOONN OVERVIEW The 2019 legislative session proved to be a challenge for local governments and the League of Oregon Cities. The session required diligent work to combat legislation that would have had significant negative impacts on city governance, operations and funding. At the same time, the LOC government relations teams worked hard to advance six LOC Board- established priorities, including: additional mental health resources; PERS and property tax reform; housing and homelessness investments, third-party building inspection preservation; broadband investment; and additional investments for infrastructure, including resilience. The 2019 session was Oregon’s first with a three-fifths super-majority in both the Senate and House. Despite the supermajority held by the Democrats, the Oregon Constitution stipulates that two-thirds of either the House or Senate must be present in order to convene and take votes on bills. This led to two Senate Republican walkouts, which denied Senate leadership a quorum for conducting business. The lack of a quorum slowed the progress of many bills, some more controversial than others, and made even the simplest of legislation more difficult to move toward in the final weeks of the session. Adding to the overall frustration, there were numerous efforts to erode local control and to further preempt local government regulatory and taxing authority. To highlight this, the Student Success Act, HB 3427, was developed to raise an additional $2 billion in biennial revenue for K-12 education with the implementation of a new, corporate activities tax (CAT). In literally the last few days of deliberation, a local government preemption was added to the legislation, preventing local governments from implementing a local CAT in the future. Language in the initial preemption was so broad, there was significant risk to other revenue generating authority. Fortunately, the LOC intervened with key House and Senate members to find tighter language that only impacts future local implementation of a CAT, while protecting existing taxing authority for communities. Mental Health Resources The LOC had success advocating for significant additional revenue for mental health resources, a top priority for LOC’s members. PERS Reform/Property Tax Reform The LOC was successful in advocating for PERS reforms with the passage of SB 1049. While improvements and cost savings where not as significant as hoped, the LOC was also able to shift the PERS reform conversation from covering schools, as initially contemplated, to 2019 Legislative Bill Summary |1 instead include a comprehensive reform that was applied to all PERS employers, including cities. On the property tax front, there was not a lot of action by the Legislature, but because of HB 3427 (corporate activities tax) and general discussion related to the need for additional public education funding, there were a lot of conversations about Oregon’s property tax system. However, these conversations were focused on impacts to school revenues. There were, however, some novel ideas offered, including the option of putting a referral to voters to move Measure 50 from a constitutional provision to a state statute. Such a referral would allow the legislative process to begin meaningful work to address property tax reform. This concept will likely be revisited in the 2020 short session. Broadband Investment, Telecommunications and Right-of-Way There was no adverse right-of-way (ROW) legislation proposed this session, and the LOC was able to help pass a 9-1-1 bill, HB 2449, which will add significant revenues to local call centers and PSAPs starting 2020. The LOC was also successful in passing HB 2173, which will establish a state-wide broadband office that will be important for the future deployment of broadband. Another bill, HB 2184, which would have set up a local funding source to leverage federal and private dollars for broadband deployment, failed to pass. However, the LOC believes there will be a legitimate opportunity to pass this legislation during the 2020 session. Infrastructure Finance and Resilience Investment The LOC advocated for an increase in the state’s investment in key infrastructure funding sources, including, but not limited to the Special Public Works Fund (SPWF), the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund and the Regionally Significant Industrial Site Loan program. The LOC requested an $80 million investment in the SPWF, and while the Legislature only provided $30 million in lottery bonds for that specific fund, they made significant additional investment in other infrastructure funds, including: $ 15 million for the SPWF levee grant program (sub-account); $25 million for the Water Supply Development Account, and $5 million for the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund. Also notable was an additional $66.3 million for specific water-related projects, including city-owned water and wastewater treatment infrastructure and several high-hazard dams. Housing and Homelessness Investment The outcome of housing issues was a mixed bag for the LOC and its members. The League was disappointed with the final outcomes on major housing policy, as additional mandates for local planning and mandates for up-zoning residential neighborhoods moved through the session despite the LOC presenting significant technical information regarding local government’s ability to implement the changes. There was a bright spot, with significant funding added to help build affordable housing projects and funding for smaller community’s planning requirements. 2019 Legislative Bill Summary |2 Third Party Building Inspection Preservation One of the more frustrating issues to not get closure on was related to a legislative solution for third party building inspection. The LOC was unable to broker an agreement between leadership in the House and Senate as the session came to an end. Unfortunately, this leaves those communities which depend on a third-party inspection program to rely on the state’s Building Code Division (BCD) to determine the outcome via rules. The BCD will rely on direction provided by the Oregon Department of Justice, which states there is no statutory authority