Oregon received around $121 million for education as a result of the federal stimulus bill passed earlier this year. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the stimulus funds are intended to save jobs at risk of budget cuts and to advance education reforms. CONTINUE READING

Listen to this testimony at 2:55:51-3:09:05 on this audio file.

 
My name is John Charles and I am president of Cascade Policy Institute, a non-profit policy research organization. I have extensive experience with urban mass transit, both as a consumer and as a researcher. During the past 29 years I have used the TriMet transit system over 20,000 times.

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Read the full text of the bill here.

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 Just when federal and state legislators are passing economic stimulus packages to get people working, House Bill 2204 in the Oregon State Legislature would end innovative programs that provide exactly the kind of stimulus that spurs people to continue working. Pieces of legislation are pending at both the state and the federal level for the addition of multiple public projects as part of economic stimulus packages. In contrast to the old “chicken in every pot” approach to poverty, there is another route one can go: the “job in every home” goal. America needs to work. It is the ultimate economic stimulus. CONTINUE READING

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In a world full of names, acronyms and management change plans, taxpayers can get lost. When the information to describe these programs is not transparent to the public, we cannot keep up with what our tax dollars are purchasing. Moreover, we cannot wander into discussions of government services without an entire world of letters swimming together to shorthand the names of agencies and programs. This alphabet soup is almost guaranteed to confuse those being asked to fund all these changes: the taxpayers. CONTINUE READING

Listen to this testimony at 1:00:00-1:03:45 on this audio file.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the assumption with HJM 11 is that we can get something for nothing through the hoped-for carbon sequestration on federal lands, as part of a national carbon rationing program. Advocates hope that the creation of a new type of asset called carbon sequestration offsets, formed literally out of thin air, will help lock up more federal lands into non-harvest regimes. CONTINUE READING

Listen to the testimony at 0:30-6:21 on this audio file.

 Mr. Chairman, although I look forward to someday driving an electric vehicle, subsidizing the industry is a bad idea. There is already a generous federal subsidy program for electric vehicles, beginning January 1, 2010. Tax credits for plug-in electric passenger vehicles and light trucks will range from $2,500 to $7,500, depending on battery capacity. CONTINUE READING

Most Oregonians think that our state government is short of money, billions of dollars short. Legislators are faced with cutting programs and raising taxes as they struggle to close a $4 billion hole in the General Fund budget.

What most Oregonians don’t know is that the General Fund is only about one third of all the money Oregon state government spends. CONTINUE READING

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Summary: SJR 29 is based on a fallacy. Its supporters assume that the kicker somehow has prevented the state from building a substantial rainy day fund, when in reality there has been no prohibition against lawmakers budgeting for less spending than the point estimate forecasts would allow. CONTINUE READING