The 2020 legislative short session began yesterday.
The voters were told the short session was only for budget tweaks and fixes to bills that have been previously passed and after further review have shown to have unintended consequences. That being said, the short session in recent years has shown anything but that, and this year, all eyes are on Cap and Trade with 3 different bills going forward from the Democrats
:
SB 1530
,
SB 1574
and
HB 4159
.
The thing about the Oregon legislature is that bills are never completely dead. They may seem to die one year, but it’s amazing that they spring back to life the next. To be clear, these "Cap and Trade" bills do not stop or even slow down carbon output, but will cost Oregonians a lot more for their electricity, fuel and cost of living. After
i
ncreasing taxes by 3 billion dollars
last year , Oregon continues spending and then relying on the private sector taxpayers to foot the bill. That’s over $900.00 per year increase for every man, woman and child in this state. Out of the last session!
And now the Governor wants to
tax homeowners
even more to pay for "affordable housing" but is not addressing the root cause of this issue, the ever increasing cost of living because of increased state spending, regulations and taxes passed by the Democrats in Oregon! Unbelievable.
Yesterday the Senate and the House Democrats introduced Cap and Trade bills from both chambers. There will be a lot of outspoken critics on this proposed legislation with many showing up on the Capitol steps
Thursday the 6
th
with a Timber Unity rally
that is expected to draw hundreds of log trucks, farm vehicles, and truckers as well as thousands of folks that opposed Cap and Trade. These people understand that the constant increase in regulations, overburdening taxes and fees being passed by the Democrats in Oregon are killing jobs, destroying businesses and hurting Oregonians from every walk of life, especially those on fixed incomes, the elderly and low income. These people, the most vulnerable are truly being taxed out of their homes.
If left to the Democrat majority, this bill will pass. The same scenario is on the horizon this year as last year when the Senate opted to leave the building and deny quorum to prevent HB 2020 from passing. Republican leadership has proposed the idea of leaving it up to the voters and referring it to the ballot. This was not received well at all by the Democrat majority.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, recently said in a meeting with reporters that the "new cap-and-trade bill was
too complicated for voters
to understand, and therefore the people shouldn’t be allowed to decide this issue at the ballot."
I agree with Senator Alan Olsen, when he said in response " I can’t think of a more condescending argument to keep this destructive policy from voters."
The long-term solution to stopping this
over-burdensome
legislation is at the ballot box. The voters are plenty sharp enough to make this decision.
