Kulongoski calls special session.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SALEM - Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Thursday called the Legislature into its first special session in four years, saying he wants the assembly to meet April 20 to solve budget problems for Portland schools and the human services agency.

Kulongoski did not rule out other issues that had been under consideration for the session, including regulating the payday loan industry and imposing tougher sanctions and lifetime monitoring on child molesters. In a statement, the governor said he would sign a bill cracking down on sexual predators if one could be agreed upon. His chief of staff said Kulongoski would do the same if the Legislature can come through with payday loan legislation.

The governor's announcement followed several days of closed-door negotiations with leaders of the House and Senate, both of whom had pledged to pursue only a special session agenda that could be agreed to in advance by both chambers and the governor.

"I believe if we can work together, we can accomplish our task in one or two days," he said in his statement.

The two topics of agreement among all parties were the need to close a $136 million gap in the Department of Human Services budget and to help Portland Public Schools grapple with their $57 million shortfall.

The tentative proposal to aid the human services agency calls for using unspent money that has been carried over and emergency fund dollars to fill the gap. Half of the money would go to cover unanticipated caseload increases and federal cuts. The other half would be held in reserve and distributed only after administrators had undertaken management safeguards and other steps to assure lawmakers that they would be more accountable in the future.

The schools fix would involve two steps. One would be the distribution of $42 million in surplus lottery proceeds to all 198 school districts. That would give each district $61 on average per student. Given their enrollment figures, that would result in $1.2 million more for Eugene, $803,420 more for Springfield and $410,338 more for Bethel schools. For Portland schools, it would produce an additional $3.3 million. That figure would help the district plug part of its budget shortfall. The Legislature's second step to help Portland schools would be to authorize the district to seek an increase in local property taxes, resulting in $16 million more next year.

The special session would be the 36th by the Oregon Legislature. It has not met outside its regular session, held in odd-numbered years, since 2002, when the economy-driven budget crisis forced lawmakers back to Salem five times to deal with growing losses of revenue.

As of Thursday, lawmakers appeared close to a deal on a so-called Jessica's Law to address sexual predators. Senate Democrats had drafted a bill that met or exceeded all the components of Republican-backed legislation that died last session. It would set 25-year mandatory-minimum sentences for sexual predators who prey on children and would require lifetime monitoring. The law was named for a girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a registered sex offender after Florida authorities lost track of him.

Senate Republicans announced Thursday that they would join with Democrats in passing such a bill. In addition, House Speaker Karen Minnis said she had no doubt the House would pass such a bill in special session, given her chamber already had passed similar legislation last year.

Minnis said in a press statement that she "would also support legislation providing uniform protections for consumers of payday loans.'

That issue is being discussed by a pair of legislative negotiators from Eugene. Rep. Debi Farr, a Republican, has taken the lead on the issue for her chamber, while Democratic Sen. Floyd Prozanski championed a bill that passed his chamber last year. Prozanski said he was hopeful a deal could be reached, but warned that with such limited time before the next session, that was an uncertainty.

Any pay-day loan legislation considered in special session would have to include greater consumer protections from sky-high interest rates than what the Senate passed last year, he said, given that there now existed an alternative in the form of an initiative potentially headed to the November ballot. He said greater interest-rate protections would also be justified as a trade-off for Minnis' pursuit of a restriction on city- or county-passed restrictions that surpass state-level regulations.

Timing could add to the motivation for the Legislature's short stay in the Capitol: one day after the special session, building officials have scheduled a 7 p.m. shutdown of the electrical system for 10 days while a new system is being installed.

Asked what would happen if the Legislature was still in session when the lights go out, Capitol Facility Services Manager Herb Colomb responded: "It'll be mighty dark. We're in a contract, and I'm not going to break the contract."

Kulongoski chief of staff Pat Egan said the governor fully understood that the timing of a special session with the electricity shutdown would add pressure for the Legislature to get its work done quickly and adjourn.

"If there's additional motivation to get out of the building, that's a good thing," he said.

HERE THEY COME

Gov. Ted Kulongoski has called the Legislature into special session on April 20. Here's what the agenda could look like:

Human Services: Agreement is in place to close a $136 million Department of Human Services budget hole, using reserve dollars.

Schools: A deal is in the works to help Portland schools with their funding woes and also dole out surplus lottery dollars evenly among all Oregon school districts.

Schools: Talks are under way to pass "Jessica's Law" cracking down on sexual predators.

Payday loans: Lawmakers are weighing whether to regulate this sector of the lending industry.

Corporate kicker: Talks appear to have stalled on using a special session to redirect the $205 million in anticipated corporate tax rebates.