PLSO July/August 2019

12 Vol. 42, No. 4 The Oregon Surveyor | Featured Article Getting Down to Business Every Session is different, but this Ses- sion was more so. Ask anyone who has spent any length of time at the Capitol and they will tell you this Session just felt strange. Practically the only thing everyone agrees on is that something had changed. The sharp partisanship which has infect- ed Washington, DC for years had finally reached us. The days of Republicans and Democrats developing friendships that transcended labels was now the excep- tion rather than rule. On important issues, Democrats had signif- icant victories. They also had a few losses. Wins • Democrats passed the first state- wide rent control bill in the United States (Senate Bill 608); • Democrats passed a Corporate Activity Tax, which is essentially a gross receipts tax (House Bill 3427); • Democrats passed a Paid Family and Medical Leave law (House Bill 2005); • Democrats passed a “dirty diesel” law to phase out the use of older, diesel powered vehicles in the Portland area (House Bill 2007); and • Democrats passed a pregnancy accommodations bill (House Bills 2341 and HB 2593). Losses • The biggest loss was the Democrat’s failure to pass a Cap and Trade bill (HB2020) … more on that below; • Democrats failed to pass a bill to remove limits on jury awards (HB2014); • Democrats failed to pass a bill protecting recreational marijuana users from employment sanctions (SB379); and • Democrats failed to pass a bill significantly curtailing the ability of people to work as independent contractors (HB2498). PLSO Escapes Unscathed As the PLSO lobbyist, I watch for legis- lation impacting your work. Last year, PLSO was involved in a battle to protect Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) in local government contracting. We knew the issue would return, so, we participat- ed in a work group to determine if local governments and design professionals (architects, engineers and land survey- ors) could find common ground. After hours of negotiating and with a lot of good will, the Legislature passed House Bill 2769. Local governments will still be required to use QBS in the initial bid ranking process. However, once bids are ranked, local governments will have an option to deviate from the require- ment to negotiate only with the highest qualified bidder. Starting January 1, 2020, local governments will be able to request limited pricing information from the top three bidders, and then re-rank them. The pricing information can only account for 15% of the ranking. I monitored more than 30 bills which could have impacted PLS’s. Many of them, like the Corporate Activity Tax, were not industry-specific, but nevertheless im- pacts surveyors. Others, like the QBS bill, were more narrowly written to regulate your profession. In a future edition of The Oregon Surveyor, I will provide a de- tailed analysis of new laws and how they will impact PLSOmembers. Laws passed during Session generally don’t take effect until January 1 of the following year, so you will have plenty of time to under- stand any changes coming. Cap and Trade and Threats of Violence I started this story by mentioning the large contingent of Troopers at the Capi- tol in the final days. If you heard any local news in June, youmay remember that Re- publican Senators left the Capitol—and the state—specifically to prevent a vote on House Bill 2020, the Cap and Trade bill. (In order to do business, at least 20 Senators need to be in the Capitol. So, when all GOP Senators left the building, no votes could be taken.) Republicans were successful in killing the bill. But it came at a high price: President Courtney had asked Governor Brown to order Troopers to search for and bring GOP Senators back to the Capitol so they could vote. The Governor complied and Troopers began looking for Republican Senators, which is why they left the state. The authority of Troopers to detain and compel Senators to return to Salem was the subject of great controversy. The dis- pute boiled over when Republican Senator Brian Boquist (R-Dallas) stated, on the Senate floor, that if President Courtney sent Troopers to get him, “Hell is coming to visit you personally.” Boquist also said if Troopers were sent to get him, they should “send bachelors and come heavily armed.” Senator Sar- ah Gelser (D-Corvallis) felt threatened by Boquist’s remarks, so she refused to be on the Senate floor if he was there. This created an interesting dance where she left whenever he arrived and when he left, she returned. As I wrote at the beginning of my article, tensions were palpably high. Troopers were deployed on every floor of the Capitol in the wan- ing days “just in case…” The level of rancor between Senators was unprecedented by the end of the Session. The Capitol is quiet now except for special hearings to determine what, if anything, will happen to Boquist as a result of his statements. He has been ordered to pro- vide Capitol staff with 12 hour’s notice before entering the building so additional Troopers can be stationed there. Boquist has refused to participate in the hearings, and he has filed a Federal lawsuit against Courtney and other Legislative officials. I fear there is no going back. The work of creating public policy is now a full con- tact sport in Oregon. x Darrell Fuller can be reached at 971-388-1786 or [email protected] I monitored more than 30 bills which could have impacted PLS’s. Many of them, like the Corporate Activity Tax, were not industry-specific, but nevertheless impacts surveyors.