Bill for Jobs in Oregon, Killed by OR Legislature

From:

Steve Hughes, State Director

Oregon Working Families Party

I've received a lot of questions from many of you about what happened to HB4142, the bill that would have expanded the state's purchasing preference for recycled paper to include giving priority to recycled paper produced in Oregon's paper mills.

As you know the bill was killed. I want to review what happened here, because I think it is instructive for any of us trying to make positive change in the Oregon legislature.

First of all, to pass this legislation, here are some of the things we did:

• Built a coalition: We assembled a coalition of labor and environmental organizations behind the bill, including the Association of Pulp and Paper Workers, the Steelworkers union, the Oregon Environmental Council, the Sierra Club and the Coalition for a Livable Future. 
•  Worked with the legislature: We recruited sponsors for our bill. Arnie Roblan, the Democratic Co-Speaker of the House signed on as the chief sponsor, and 5 of the 8 members of the House Business and Labor Committee, the committee to which the bill was assigned, signed on to be co-sponsors, including the committee co-chairs Bill Kennemer (R - Oregon City) and Chris Garrett (D - Lake Oswego).
• Organized public testimony: We presented testimony to the committee last Wednesday. We brought forward rank and file mill workers, union leaders, representatives from environmental organizations, and the management of one of the mills in Oregon to speak on behalf of HB4142.
•  Applied grassroots pressure: We presented YOUR petition signatures and comments--numbering almost 1500 of you from every corner of the state--to the committee in support of this legislation.

You might say we had gotten all our ducks in a row. Which is why the legislature's inaction on this bill was as disappointing to me as I'm sure it was to you.

So, why did this happen?

I think the Oregonian's coverage of the bill's demise this week put it best:

The Oregonian, February 14, 2012:

Powerful lobbyists can also pull the trigger on a bill, even a bill that has House Co-Speaker Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, as its chief sponsor. 

 

Barbara Dudley, a volunteer with the Oregon Working Families Party, accuses Salem veteran Mark Nelson of helping to kill a bill directing state agencies to give preference to Oregon paper mills when buying recycled paper. 

 

People testifying at the public hearing were overwhelmingly in favor of the idea because it's about jobs, Dudley says. 'But we ran up against industry interests.'

Roblan confirms that the co-chairs of the House Business and Labor Committee 'weren't able to get it out' and onto the floor. Nelson says he did speak to lawmakers about the bill.

The paper mills that Mr. Nelson is referring to are, among others, Georgia Pacific, which happens to be owned by the notorious Koch brothers. Furthermore, as a multi-national corporation, Georgia Pacific is positioned to actually benefit from the offshoring Oregon's mill jobs.

You might say this the way things always happen in Salem, and we just need to suck it up and accept it. It's true that the legislative process is unpredictable and sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. But, what I refuse to accept is a system that has become so distorted by corporate influence that common sense legislation can be killed so quickly and quietly by lobbyists who choose to operate behind the scenes.

Where to now?

I'm still hopeful that something good can come out of this disappointing incident, but I need your help. If you're upset like I am that powerful industry lobbyists with ties to the Koch brothers have the power to snuff out a good bill that successfully united organized labor and the environmentalists after years of strife, then please help keep this story from dying.

We don't have the money the Koch brother have and we never will, so we will have to use the tools we do have available. And in case you feel like the fight is just too big let's remember that the generations of justice seekers that went before us faced long odds too. They won some and they lost some, but they never gave up.

Please take a moment to see the news coverage of HB4142's demise. And then, please, take a moment to write a letter to the editor.

Thanks for all you do,

Steve Hughes, State Director

Oregon Working Families Party