Today's Oregon News: January 30, 2012

It's Monday! AG Kroger has issued temporary rules to help struggling homeowners deal with misleading practices by mortgage middlemen, and the Register Guard has called on the legislature to prioritize foreclosure protection in the February session.

Another report (this time from the Tax Foundation) shows that Oregon has low business taxes, and public awareness is slowly growing about the details of the Governor's education plans.

Foreclosures

Oregon Attorney General Kroger issues emergency rules to protect distressed homeowners from wrongful foreclosures
Oregonian
"Oregon Attorney General John Kroger issued temporary rules today that will give homeowners more protection from alleged wrongful foreclosures and misleading practices by mortgage servicers. The rules, good for 180 days, come just ahead of a legislative session in which lawmakers are being asked to consider even stronger protections. It also comes as Kroger evaluates whether to sign on to a controversial, multi-state legal settlement with the nation's five largest loan servicers."

EDITORIAL: Head off foreclosures
Register Guard
"Oregon’s budget will be at center stage during the legislative session that convenes on Wednesday, but lawmakers should spare some energy for dealing with the problems underlying the state’s weak fiscal condition. An economic recovery can’t take hold in Oregon until the housing market stabilizes, and that can’t happen as long as foreclosures continue to drag prices down. The Legislature should put in place rules that would reduce many Oregonians’ chances of losing their homes."

Economy

As small businesses are tasked to fuel economic recovery, who will finance their growth?
Oregonian
"Jan Walker needed new equipment and software for her Tigard firm but worried about going into debt. But with the help of a small-business course she realized a $10,000 loan could pay dividends for her five-person company, Inform Restaurant Accounting, and turned to her bank last fall. She soon concluded that the terms were too long, the payments too steep and the rate too high. 'And it wasn't the full amount that I wanted anyway,' she said. 'It just didn't feel right.'"

Oregon ranked #13th best in business tax climate
Oregon Economics Blog
"The Tax Foundation has released its latest Business Tax Climate rankings and once again, Oregon comes out looking pretty good.  The Tax Foundation considers Oregon to be the 13th best in the country, an improvement of two spots from its 2011 ranking."

Legislative session

Economy will define session's success
Statesman Journal
"It took 153 years to get everyone comfortable with the idea, but Oregon is ready to make the move. Starting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, lawmakers will gather for the first regular even-year session of the Oregon Legislature. Lawmakers tried out the idea of even-year sessions in 2008 and 2010. And thanks to the leadership of state Senate President Peter Courtney, Oregon voters liked enough of what they observed to approve annual sessions starting Wednesday."

Legislators get ready for action
Register Guard
"Local lawmakers expect to be largely bogged down with budgetary issues during the first constitutionally mandated annual session of the Oregon Legislature next month. Faced with projected state revenues that have shrunk continually since July, legislators will be forced to make difficult prioritization decisions about where to make cuts to state services and public agencies, and to gauge how much total reduction in spending is necessary to ensure that Oregon stays afloat if its revenues continue to drop."

EDITORIAL: The elephant in the Capitol
Oregonian
"Oregon's bust, boom, bust revenue problem is right there in plain sight and so is a smart plan to solve it, but the Legislature turns a blind eye. Here comes the Oregon Legislature, and here come the excuses for yet again refusing to take up the central public issue facing this state: its volatile revenue system and inability to put money away for a rainy day."

Job creation will be topic as legislative session begins
Statesman Journal
"Balancing the state's budget may be foremost in the minds of Oregon legislators, but discussions about the state's role in spurring job growth also will loom large in the next session. 'It's about jobs again,' said Mark McMullen, acting state economist. He expects the legislature will talk about the benefits versus costs of offering incentives to create jobs. A quick look at statistics show the economy is moving in a positive direction, although at a slow pace."

Four 'real people' on how to make Salem work for you
Oregonian
"Politics is a messy process, full of arcane rules and bureaucracies. It's about as insider as insider can get. But it's also true that the people -- you -- own the system. The lawmakers in Salem work for you, and it's up to you to tell them what you want. You can do it -- fourth-graders have -- but it takes a lot of work and persistence."

Legislature to consider bills that will tie school funding to key goals
Statesman Journal
"Oregon will spend more than $15 billion on preschool-through-college education during the 2011-13 biennium. Next month, lawmakers will consider bills that would tie that spending to specific, measurable goals and intervene in educational institutions that fail to meet expectations. The 2011 Legislature created the Oregon Education Investment Board, which will centralize education policy and funding from preschool through college."

EDITORIAL: Keep school reform moving
Oregonian
"Yes, it's happening fast, but lawmakers ought to share a sense of urgency about changing a system that fails to graduate on time a third of its students. Why not wait another year, gather more input, answer every last question, help teachers, parents, everyone, get comfortable with the sweeping changes to education that Gov. John Kitzhaber has asked lawmakers to approve in February? Here are 18,000 reasons to act now: That's the number of children who every year arrive for kindergarten in Oregon unprepared to learn. A lot of them have never been shown how to hold a book right side up."

Oregon lawmakers hope for quick, civil session that tackles budget, health care and schools
Oregonian
"The clock starts ticking Wednesday on the whirlwind 2012 Oregon Legislature and the usual lofty buildup has been replaced by a grimmer, let's-just-get-through-this determination. The challenges: A tight, February-only deadline. A state budget in need of surgery. Nearly equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, giving neither party the advantage. An election year."

Other headlines

University faculty begins possible unionization
Register Guard
"An effort to unionize faculty at the University of Oregon is gaining speed as advocates begin fanning out to ask supporters to sign cards seeking state recognition for a new labor organization. The group United Academics of the University of Oregon began collecting cards from its strongest supporters earlier this month. Last week, the group expanded its efforts and began seeking endorsements from regular faculty members who haven’t been on the front lines of the organizing effort. Under the process chosen by union advocates, supporters need to collect signed cards from at least 50 percent of those in the proposed bargaining unit, plus one."

OPINION: Restore Oregon's property tax deferral for seniors
Oregonian
"DAVID RAPHAEL -- The story in last Monday's paper about a Detroit woman's eviction for failing to pay her property taxes is a nightmare for many seniors. The fact that the 101-year-old woman had a federally guaranteed reverse mortgage but still is losing her home was especially threatening to the 1,700 low-income Oregonians who thought they were secure, but were suddenly dropped from the state's senior property tax deferral program simply because they had reverse mortgages. If property taxes are not paid, the bank can call the loan of someone with a reverse mortgage."

Governor's overhaul seeks to consolidate groups serving youths
Statesman Journal
"Gov. John Kitzhaber's plans to overhaul how Oregon raises and educates its children will continue in February. Since it was formed last fall, the Early Learning Council has put forth proposals to consolidate entities that serve young children to better coordinate services and prioritize measurable outcomes. The ELC focuses on the 0-5 age group — a range that is crucial to brain development, experts and officials now agree. Of particular concern are children born into high-stress situations such as poverty, maltreatment and substance abuse."

House Co-speaker Bruce Hanna hauls in at least $24,000 in pre-session fundraiser
Oregonian
"I guess I might as well make it a continuing series on all the fundraising parties being held before the start of Wednesday's Oregon legislative session. In the latest installment, I see that the latest disclosure reports show that House Co-speaker Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg held a fundraiser last week that brought in at least $24,000 for his political fund.  And that doesn't include $263.84 in "fundraising event beverages" from the Oregon Beverage PAC for his soiree at Portland's University Club."