April 8, 2010
Oregon governor vetoes three bills, cites brief session
PORTLAND — Gov. Ted Kulongoski has vetoed three bills the Oregon Legislature approved in February, exposing the fault lines among the Democrats who control the state's government.
Kulongoski had specific objections to each measure. But he also said Thursday that each would be a significant change in long-standing policies, and none got a sufficiently thorough airing in the four-week session.
Senate President Peter Courtney said the Democratic governor had signaled he wasn't happy with the Legislature, also controlled by Democrats.
Among the sore points: lawmakers overrode three Kulongoski vetoes from 2009, didn't heed his call to work over the state's "kicker" tax rebates, and sent schools an extra $200 million in aid despite the governor's misgivings.
"Frankly, I'm surprised he vetoed only three," Courtney said. "I thought he would veto a ton."
Thursday was the deadline for Kulongoski to act on measures from the February session. He has signed 104 and let one more become law without his signature.
Despite his vetoes, Kulongoski continues to support a constitutional amendment that Democrats put on the fall ballot to allow brief, off-year sessions such as February's. They would be limited to about six weeks, two more than this year's session.
Spokeswoman Jillian Schoene said Kulongoski believes that such sessions should focus on the state's budget.
Many legislators, including Courtney, said this year's session took on too many bills, and minority Republicans often complained that legislation didn't get adequate hearings, especially when bills were changed late in the session.
Kulongoski used identical language in each veto message to criticize the way the Legislature handled the three bills, saying "public give-and-take is critical" to getting all parties to have a say in policy.
"I believe we must always be open and transparent when we are proposing changes to long-established Oregon policy, especially in a short legislative session," Kulongoski said.
A Democrat who backed one of the bills that Kulongoski rejected said it had started life in 2005, had been worked on again in 2009, and had the benefit of presession agreements among doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and others trying to get mental health drugs to people who need them.
So, said Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson of Gresham, the measure had more than enough exposure and public comment. "It's a little disingenuous to say this wasn't the time," she said.
The bill aimed to allow psychologists, with special training, to prescribe some mental health drugs, something normally done by doctors and psychiatrists, she said.
Another bill would have allowed beverage distributors to set up a cooperative to handle containers that consumers return to grocery stores under the state's bottle bill.
Kulongoski said it could lead to more centralized redemption centers and make it less convenient for consumers to recycle.
"What the guv did, which was really stupid, was he slapped the grocers in the face," said Paul Romain, their lobbyist.
Democratic lawmakers accepted the bill as a way to make recycling work better and set the stage for expanding the scope of the bottle bill, Romain said.
"My question is: why isn't such expansion in the bill before me?" Kulongoski's veto message asked.
A provision in a third bill would have allowed active teachers to be members of the State Board of Education - a provision supported by the Oregon Education Association, the statewide teachers union.
Kulongoski said that it's OK for retired educators to be on the board that sets policy on school matters, but allowing active teachers would be "inconsistent with the need for impartiality among the members."
http://www.tdn.com/news/article_fdf51a64-4396-11df-9eec-001cc4c002e0.html
