Showdown today on budget.

Byline: DAVID STEVES The Register-Guard

SALEM - The House worked late Monday to prepare for a showdown vote on the floor today on a plan to fix the state budget with cuts, borrowing and a tax increase, although Republican leaders weren't sure if they had the votes to pass it.

House Speaker Mark Simmons, R-Elgin, said he would start holding floor votes on proposals to borrow $200 million for schools, push a $350 million tax boost to the Nov. 5 ballot and impose $200 million in cuts to human services, colleges, universities and public safety. The cuts would be reduced to $50 million if voters pass the temporary boost in income taxes.

A budget panel worked into the night to move bills to the floor as the Legislature ended the ninth day of the fifth special session of the year.

After bipartisan negotiations broke down earlier Monday, Simmons said it was time to see what could pass - and what could not.

"There's no coalescing, and I need to make it go. I need to make it happen," he said. "So the best way to see what will pass is to put it on the floor and let them vote."

Negotiations between Gov. John Kitzhaber and legislative leaders from both parties were suspended after it became clear that the two parties were at odds over which way to go. Republicans insisted on bailing schools out through borrowing, while tying the fate of social services, public safety and higher education to the success or failure of a tax increase that would be referred to the voters. Democrats objected to such an approach, saying the tax increase should be approved by the Legislature.

"It's pretty clear negotiations have broken down," said Senate Democratic Leader Kate Brown of Portland, who said the public's disgust with what they see as legislative paralysis is a concern.

"At this point it's time to run the plan. Run any plan. Do something," she said.

The governor had planned to make across-the-board cuts. But with growing concern that the Legislature may be incapable of coming up with enough votes to pass anything, Kitzhaber has added a new wrinkle to that plan.

When asked during the negotiating session what he would do if the Legislature adjourned without a solution, he responded: "I'll call you back for a sixth session." Kitzhaber said the session would fall after the Sept. 17 election, when voters will decide on two money measures that will determine whether the budget hole will get bigger.

Spokesman Tom Towslee said the governor remains committed to across-the-board cuts as the only tool available to him to rebalance the budget if the Legislature fails to do so. Should that happen in this fifth special session, Towslee said, the cuts would continue to be implemented, but the governor would order legislators back to Salem to give them one more chance to avert them through alternative cuts or other means.

"Some members think you can cut nearly $500 million out of state government without hurting the public," Towslee said. "Well, let's see the cuts."

Kitzhaber scheduled a news conference for this morning to talk about the cuts being implemented. State police plan to send out layoff notices today and other steps will be taken under a budget-cutting emergency rule filed Monday by the state Department of Administrative Services.

House Democrats expressed anger over Simmons' handling of the session. When the session was called nearly two weeks ago, Kitzhaber and legislative Democrats had supported an income tax referral. But Simmons refused to schedule such a proposal for a vote, saying he personally opposed one and was unconvinced the Legislature would support it.

In the meantime, a statutory deadline to refer such a measure has passed. Also, many of Oregon's 36 counties are past or fast approaching their usual deadlines to get ballots printed for the November election.

In an e-mail to state Elections Director John Lindback, Lane County's elections supervisor, Annette Newingham, wrote that final legislative action would be needed by Wednesday, especially because of the time needed to send ballots to military personnel and other voters living overseas.

After Wednesday, printing would be delayed to the point that ballots would reach overseas voters one or two days too late to comply with legal prohibitions against disenfranchising some voters.

Kitzhaber and several House Democrats said they are concerned about another deadline that came and went Sunday: State elections officials say the publication schedule for distributing the main voters' pamphlet in time for the statutory Oct. 16 deadline no longer gives them time to include pro and con arguments or explanatory material on ballot referrals.

There remains time to include such material in the second voters' pamphlet volume, which deals with candidates, but Democratic lawmakers said that isn't good enough.

Democrats also criticized Simmons' insistence that a tax referral not be used to fund public schools, which they said would make it much harder to pass a tax measure - presumably because they think voters would be less willing to approve a tax increase if it could not be billed as a way to protect schools from cuts.

"That's another way the speaker has set this up to fail," said House Democratic Leader Deborah Kafoury of Portland.

She and 15 other House Democrats held a news conference to announce their alternative to Simmons' plan. It would borrow $100 million, impose $50 million in cuts, raise $395 million through a temporary income tax and raise $12 million by temporarily boosting corporate income taxes. The tax increases would be legislatively enacted, rather than referred to voters. The average household would see taxes increase by $150, Kafoury said.

Simmons said Democrats are welcome to propose their plan to the budget panel working to send legislation to the House floor to see if a majority is willing to add it to other bills.

WHAT'S NEXT

House: Convenes at 11 a.m. today for budget votes

Senate: Convenes at 1 p.m. today

Governor: John Kitzhaber plans a news conference this morning