Sneaky land use shenanigans in 2012 Oregon legislature

I don't think I've ever used "shenanigan" in a blog post, but I'm bringing out that word to describe what happened to HB 4095 at the end of the 2012 Oregon legislative session.

a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose

tricky or questionable practices or conduct 

Yeah, that's what "passing" a bill through hidden backroom budgetary machinations rather than in an open deliberative legislative vote is -- a shenanigan. 

HB 4095 was an attempt to begin dismantling Oregon's successful land use system by allowing counties to band together and come up with regional definitions of farm and forest land which permitted "pave it over" development.

1000 Friends of Oregon called it "the session's biggest land use threat." I testified against it. At the hearing I attended, the Oregon Association of Realtors was for the bill. Almost everyone else who appeared before the House Judiciary committee was against it, including farmers.

There was absolutely zero reason for HB 4095.

Regional definitions of farm and forest land already are allowed. If resource lands, farm or forest, have been misidentified under a definition, this can be fixed via remapping under a bill passed in a previous legislative session (HB 2229). 

So given how little support HB 4095 had, and how there was no need for it, I was feeling good when I kept checking the Oregonian's bill tracker and finding it hadn't gotten any votes after passing out of the Judiciary committee on a near party-line vote.

(Modern day Republicans hate land use planning, even though G.O.P. Governor Tom McCall presided over the founding of Oregon's land use system in the early 1970s.)

In fact, HB 4095 didn't get a vote before the session ended. Yet much of the bill "passed" anyway. How? Through shenanigans, a.k.a. back room dealmaking.

I don't know how it happened -- I wasn't invited into the back room -- but a Ways and Means committee item in the budget rebalance bill, SB 5701, inserted at almost the last minute gave proponents of HB 4095 much of what they wanted, and couldn't get through public hearings, deliberative debate, and transparent voting by elected citizen representatives.

To support an anticipated Governor’s directive to pilot a regional land use planning project, $200,000 General Fund was added to the agency’s [Department of Land Conservation and Development, DLCD] budget to support rulemaking and related activities.  In addition, $350,000 General Fund was appropriated to the Department for distribution to Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas counties through intergovernmental agreements. The counties will use these funds to complete technical studies, mapping, and preparation of materials required for preparing a petition to the Land Conservation and Development Commission for rulemaking to consider regional definitions of agricultural and forest lands.  

When I asked Steve McCoy of 1000 Friends of Oregon what this meant, he explained to me that a Governor's executive order or agency rulemaking can't go beyond existing law. Since HB 4095 didn't pass, this means that whatever DLCD and Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas counties do with their $550,000, it will only be what's already allowed under current land use laws.

So if six county commissioners in those southern Oregon counties decide they want to pave over farm or forest land in a fashion that isn't permitted by Oregon statute, they won't be able to. Thus the Ways and Means committee handed them over half a million dollars to do what they can do currently.

Crazy. Shenanigan'ish. 

Why didn't the legislature use the $550,000 to fund schools, keep state troopers protecting our highways, or provide inhome health care for seniors? Why give the money to three counties to come up with regional definitions of farm and forest lands when this could have been done by them at any time in the past?

Again, I don't know.

Likely Democratic leadership and the Governor's Office threw Republicans this bone in the course of end-of-session legislative horsetrading. Which sucks. Because holding good bills hostage so that bad bills can be passed is bad legislating.

I'm disappointed this happened. In an overly optimistic previous blog post, written before I learned about the HB 4095 shenanigans, I said:

Much of the Republican "jobs plan" in the 2012 session centered around trashing irreplaceable farm and forest lands for illusory short-term economic gain. Thankfully, neither the Oregon legislature nor Governor Kitzhaber fell for this B.S.

Well, I was wrong. In part, they did.

The above-mentioned budget item doesn't change the criteria for defining farm and forest land, as HB 4095 would have, but it still gives opponents of our land use system $550,000 to play around with unnecessarily. 

Republican state Rep. Matt Wingard said on a post-session radio show that Gov. Kitzhaber likely soon will be announcing an executive order to reform Oregon's land use system. That's a stretch, since as noted above the Governor is bound to comply with existing laws.

Bill Post Show 3-6-12

But the budget note and forthcoming executive order put some wind in the sails of those who want to dismantle Oregon's environmental laws bit by bit.

They can claim that some counties now will have more local control over land use decisions, even though the control counties have after the 2012 legislative session is exactly the same as they had before.

Is this worth wasting $550,000 of precious taxpayer money? Is this worth engaging in backroom shenanigans which made a mockery of the normal legislative bill-making process? I say No. 

Here's how 1000 Friends of Oregon sums up the current state of affairs:

On the final day of the session, the final budget rebalance bill included $550,000 for DLCD and the three counties for work “related to regional land use planning activities.” We will be working with the Governor, his staff, LCDC, the Department of Land Conservation and Development, and the counties to make sure that this money is spent in a way that supports the resource economies of Southern Oregon. We will keep you posted on opportunities to help shape this conversation.

 

Comments

[Dan Gellner]

So in summary, what you are saying is: If a county or city want to do something with their land, and the LCDC wants to require environmental impact statements, studies and other mounds of useless paperwork to protect "the people" of Oregon. The LCDC is going to have to pay those entities to conduct such testing (And I agree, $550k can be spent much better... note to self... create an independent research firm) as a requirement... That doesn't seem fair?

If you have a county that wants to do something... and the state is requiring them to do a bunch of studies.... then I think the state should have to pay the studies. Counties are trying to do things that benefit their citizens.

It's about time that some of these over regulating bureaucracies had some consideration (that's a business law term) for their requirements. So if the state wants to stick it's nose in what is going on at a county level with the citizens of that local level, and be high and mighty and tell them what to do... They should pay.

Once again, the money could go to better use. But... when you have a big government to run good use of money has never been a priority.

Brian, you spend a lot of time bitching about Republicans. But as it takes two to tango, politicians built this stupid system of the way things get done. Not just Republicans. This is just re-channeling state money to protect the environment, and the cost of doing it outside of the scope of the law. This is how it's done. It ain't pretty, and terribly inefficient but it's how politicians made it.

[Brian Hines]

Dan, last time I checked, the government wasn't paying me to comply with laws, rules, and regulations. In fact, when we recently reconfigured our carport, I had to pay Marion County for a building permit. So are you saying that the government should pay people/organizations to comply with government regulations?

That doesn't make sense. But if you can pull this off, make sure I get my reimbursement check from the county, state, and federal governments for all the rules, regulations, and laws that I've had to comply with at my own expense.

Regarding redefining farm and forest lands, LCDC isn't forcing the three southern Oregon counties to do this. The nine county commissioners in these counties want to do it. As noted in this post, state law already gives them this ability. They can try to get a new regional definition of farm and forest land approved whenever they want to.

Question is, why should $550,000 of general fund taxpayer money be given to these three counties? What's the reason for doing this? Best as I can tell, this was a politically-motivated back room deal with no compelling public interest behind it.

Lastly, I'm bitching about Democrats and Gov. Kitzhaber in this post, along with Republicans. The Dems and Governor's Office agreed to this deal, or it wouldn't have gone through. Like you said, it's how politics works, but I don't have to like how it works.

Guess I'm naive in believing that what I learned in elementary school about "how a bill becomes law" should be the way it's done -- open, honestly, transparently.

[thomas workman]

The issue? If you cant define it? umm uh huh ..uhmmm due to some desire to be nice or make friends? not sure which. Arghhh !!! Why do folks insist on being politically correct? OXymoron!!!This land is our land. These laws are not ours. WIseguy? No, seriously its our land and its not to be governed in backrooms or in poll booths! This is redundant! Occupy A (yes A is meant to be 1, single...less than 2 by half)piece of land. Forget about Wall Street and land management bills. Respect that land own it work it defend it .... refuse to disrespect it! I can see how we as a country arrived at this place/space.Does anyone fathom a reason to continue on like any bill, law government program, group, arghhh can undo the wrongnes. Wake up! Work for your freedom, your families , your food and your land. Stop worrying about bills, laws, land beyond.How bout the next game you play, is red rover or yatzee. Plant Play Love Live Sin and Forgive. In A NUTSHELL unless you plan to really do something about it quit feeding the conspiracy monster and Occupy a piece of our land! hugs. For those of the opinion that my words are silly, ridiculous or futile?? Uneducated? wishywashy and pointless? I commend you and i implore you to toss your Ego out the door. Get some dream time and wake up! hmm not much else to do. Smile Laugh pretend the rest of your life is reality and the past just was.Darn this was supposed to be about corruption and misappropriation af funds/land. Unless you'd rather just wake up!