91ÊÓƵ

Jessica Adamson fell short in her November quest for a seat in Oregon’s House of Representatives, but the Sherwood resident – who previously served as public affairs director for the Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia Chapter – has long played a role in local and state politics. And she’ll be watching closely the 2009 legislative session, which opens in January.

From shoring up Oregon’s infrastructure and clarifying workplace policy to addressing the state’s recession-fueled budget hole, Adamson shared her thoughts on the issues likely to take center stage when state lawmakers converge on Salem. Her responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

91ÊÓƵ: What are the issues to watch for this legislative session, particularly those that affect the design and construction industries?

Jessica Adamson: Clearly, the entire industry will be watching infrastructure packages on the state and national level. Infrastructure and public works historically have primed the pump for a down economy and created jobs, not just in construction but related industries like manufacturing and forestry that provide materials. With the makeup of the Legislature – and House speaker-elect (Dave Hunt), who has worked for the Columbia River channel deepening coalition and for whom infrastructure is a priority and passion – infrastructure will be one of those major priorities that moves quickly through the Legislature.

There’s a coming awareness that (infrastructure) also means sewer and water and other public works, sustaining capital construction for schools and making sure universities are up to code.

The first priority will be roads and bridges, but we can’t ignore other components of infrastructure. We can’t grow the economy by making investments in only one component.

The conversation at the local level needs to be broader than just roads, bridges and transit.
It will also be important to watch what happens around consumer protection and changes in commercial construction licensing. With the series of reforms (including those supported by AGC and subsequently passed by the last Legislature raising the standard of practice in commercial construction) and other changes in terms of protections for homeowners that were pushed through last session, I believe there will be opportunities for state agencies to report (to lawmakers) on how those changes have been implemented and their effectiveness. And I believe there will be continued debate over those issues.

I’d also watch for employment law issues like medical marijuana reform. Associated Oregon Industries and AGC have worked together the last two sessions to clarify the law. In Oregon, there have been contradictory court opinions about whether employers are required to accommodate employees who test positive for marijuana, leaving employers between a rock and a hard place. The law is unclear. For dangerous occupations like the construction industry, you’re talking about trying to accommodate folks who would otherwise be dismissed (from their jobs). It is AGC’s position we should not have to accommodate folks who are causing a danger in the workplace. With any luck, we’ll be able to get that (issue) through this session.

At the heart of it is the state budget is down by more than a billion dollars, and by the time lawmakers are done it could be more than that. The first few months of the session will be focused on rebalancing the budget of the current biennium. (Doing) much else will be difficult.

91ÊÓƵ: What are your predictions for the session?

Adamson: It’s going to be a tremendously challenging session. Not only do you have a revenue shortfall, but also two new co-chairs of Ways and Means. That’s a challenging role even when you have additional revenue to play with. You’ve got a Legislature with a supermajority, so there are enough votes with the Democrats to raise revenue. But I don’t believe it is going to be a slam dunk to implement revenue-raising measures. Some folks will support them, some will say it’s not time to do it because of a down economy. It is a difficult environment.

The Legislature’s only requirement is to balance the budget and go home. There’s no requirement to pass policy bills, but it is a necessity every session. It’s going to be difficult, if not impossible, to pass legislation that has a significant fiscal impact. A convincing case is going to have to be made why that type of legislation needs to happen now.

It is going to be equally difficult to pass legislation that’s broad in scope because folks will be very focused on the budget situation. To effectively cut through a really tough budget situation, to communicate effectively, is going to be critical for anybody looking to pass legislation. Even though there is supermajority in place, you have leadership who wants to reach across the aisle to pass legislation that’s good for Oregon.

Senate President Peter Courtney said recently we can’t (solely) cut or tax our way out of this. That sends a clear signal how the Legislature will address (the budget situation). They’ll perhaps raise revenue in a targeted way but won’t be looking to fix the shortfall solely by raising taxes. In this environment, we can’t raise taxes on working families and businesses to the point where they leave the state.