DEMOCRATS GAIN IN OREGON LEGISLATURE

The midterm election Nov. 6 brought resounding victories to Democrats in Oregon, with the party holding the governor’s office as well as winning super-majorities in the Senate and House of the Oregon Legislature.

That could prove significant when it comes to funding for education, including community colleges.

Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, won re-election to a full term, defeating her Republican rival by more than 6 percentage points. Come January, Democrats also will hold 18 seats out of 30 in the Oregon Senate, after flipping a key seat in the Medford area. The party holds 38 of 60 seats in the Oregon House of Representatives after picking up three new seats this month.

This means Democrats hold super-majorities in both chambers. A super-majority is three-fifths or more of seats. In Oregon, a super-majority of votes is necessary to pass certain revenue measures, such as new or increased taxes. The path now seems clear – without enough Republican members to block the way – for more Democratic proposals to sail through the Legislature and, with the governor’s signature, become law.

GORSEK PERSPECTIVE

For some context on what these super-majorities could mean for education funding, we spoke with Mt. Hood Community College faculty member and state Rep. Chris Gorsek (D-Troutdale).

Gorsek won re-election for a fourth term as representative for District 49, which includes Fairview, Troutdale, and parts of Gresham and East Portland. He teaches geography and criminal justice at MHCC and is a former Portland police officer.

“Quite frankly, I was surprised we got super-majorities in both houses,” Gorsek said. With those victories, he said he and his Democratic colleagues are prepared to tackle long-term, chronic funding problems in the state. To do this, he foresees the Legislature working to ensure all corporations pay their fair share in taxes, he said.

With those super-majorities, Gorsek sees the potential to make big players such as Kroger (which owns Fred Meyer) and Wal-Mart “pay an equitable amount of money into the tax system,” he said.

Gorsek acknowledges that Oregon’s voter initiative and referendum system means a future campaign to undo any such moves by the Legislature is possible. Such campaigns often find financial backing from the same corporations that prefer low-tax, low-regulation business environments.

But he emphasizes that he would strive to avoid higher taxes on individuals, and ideally would reduce individual taxes if a steady revenue stream is established from new corporate taxes.

Also on Gorsek’s legislative agenda: addressing the lack of complete coverage by the Oregon State Police across the state. In parts of rural eastern and southern Oregon, it takes much longer to get a police response than in Oregon’s more urban areas, due to the distance between towns and homes and the large number of highway miles each officer covers – as well as reductions in local police forces.

Gorsek said he hopes to increase OSP presence and improve response times.

COLLEGE FUNDING HURDLES

As for community college funding specifically, the longtime instructor expressed frustration at the current situation.

“Community colleges are extremely important in the mix (of education), and yet we’re almost an afterthought,” Gorsek said. In addition to advocating for more secure funding, he said he aims to raise the visibility of community colleges in Oregon’s portfolio of educational options.

A significant funding roadblock lies in the Oregon Constitution, however. Gorsek points out that Article XI-G, Section 1(3) of the state constitution requires that any loans a community college receives from the state “be matched by an amount that is at least equal to the amount of the indebtedness.” If a community college wishes to borrow funds to expand its campus or construct a new building, it first must show it can raise a matching amount through local property taxes (by passing a local bond measure) and tuition. The only exception to this matching requirement is for seismic improvements.

The matching requirement puts certain community colleges at a disadvantage, according to Gorsek.

“The people that are most needy are probably the ones that can’t put the match up,” he notes. While Portland Community College has a very strong tax base due to the high value of property in Portland, for instance, other schools face very different situations. That includes Mt. Hood.

“We have to make an attempt to fix this,” Gorsek said. “We want to get (the constitution) changed so that it doesn’t require a match.”

He said he hopes holding a super-majority in both chambers will pave the way to a solution. If necessary, the Legislature may refer a constitutional amendment to Oregon’s citizens, he said. “What we have to do is approach voters and talk about the lack of fairness in the system” as it presently operates, he said.

In the meantime, community college stakeholders will closely watch budget and revenue-raising measures passed by the new Democratic super-majorities.

Gorsek does not want to miss the opportunity to bring positive changes. He said he recognizes that “The time is now.”