Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Wingard calls special session anything but

Wingard talks with Chamber group last week

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 2/8/2010 3:06:00 PM

Photo By: Patrick JohnsonWingard update
Rep. Matt Wingard (R-Wilsonville) talks with the Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce's Governmental Affairs Commitee last week. Wingard says the special session that is expected to run through February is a trial run for asking voters to approve annual sessions.

With the February special Legislative session only one day old, Rep. Matt Wingard said last week he wasn’t impressed with the agenda.

 “Most of what will happen – if not everything that happens in this session, is obviously not an emergency,” the Republican House District 26 Representative from Wilsonville said. “We planned this session and announced this session as we walked out of the building in June that would defy the definition of an emergency session when you plan eight months ahead of time. This is essentially the second go-around of a trial annual session that a number of folks want, mostly spearheaded by Senate President Peter Courtney.”

Wingard, who spoke to the Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce’s Governmental Affairs Committee last week, said the plan was to keep the budgets on a two-year basis, but to have sessions annually – something that would need approval by voters to change the Oregon constitution. He expects the Legislature to pass the resolution to put the annual session on the ballot during the special session that started February 1.

“I haven’t made up my mind on how I am going to vote on that resolution when it comes, and that’s because it will depend on how it is crafted,” he said.

Wingard also said he was confident that the Legislature would be extending state unemployment benefits for four to six weeks during the special session.

“I want to you to be aware that according to the unemployment department, during the course of 2010, 100,000 Oregonians are going to run out of unemployment benefits,” he said. “That is even if we pass an extension.”

Wingard outlined several other bills that are being discussed during the special session that could impact local businesses. The first bill he discussed was Senate Bill 1045, which would no longer allow employers to consider an applicant’s credit score when making hiring decisions.

He also pointed to Senate Bill 519 that would make it illegal for employers to call mandatory meetings to discuss ballot measures.

“Think about that one,” Wingard said.

Wingard said he had concerns about how the state budget continues to grow at a faster rate than revenues were coming in.

“The private sector can’t seem to get the public sector to recognize the reality of what is going on in Oregon,” Wingard said. “Unfortunately that reality cannot be avoided because as we meet next year and we have revenue forecasts and requests, they aren’t going to match up. They just won’t, and whoever, whatever party controls the Legislature they are in for a very uncomfortable session in ’11 where some very difficult decisions are going to need to be made.” 

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