Office of the Senate President 900 Court St., N.E., Room S-201 Salem OR  97301 www.leg.state.or.us/senate/senpres

News Release

Contact:    Robin Maxey                                                                  February 15, 2011

                   (503) 986-1605   

                   robin.maxey@state.or.us                                                             

Senate President: Co-Chairs Should

Build Budget on Tuesday Forecast

Key Indicators Show Oregon Economy Continuing to Improve

(SALEM) -- Senate President Peter Courtney said Tuesday that positive signs in seven key economic indicators in Oregon have bolstered his belief that lawmakers should break with tradition and begin to build the 2011-13 biennial budget on the state revenue forecast presented today.

“There are signs that our economy is on the rebound. We still have work to do, but after receiving today’s forecast and talking to economists it looks like we’re really on our way back,” said Courtney (D-Salem/Gervais/Woodburn) “This forecast gives us the last piece of the puzzle we need to complete the rebalance for the current biennium. It will also provide the target for building the 2011-13 co-chairs budget.”

Courtney said he has already asked Joint Ways and Means Committee Co-Chair Richard Devlin, the Senate’s chief budget writer, to use the February forecast to create a co-chairs’ budget before the end of March. Tuesday’s forecast and data released in the University of Oregon Economic Index earlier this month convinced the President that he and other legislative leaders are on the right track.

Traditionally, the co-chairs’ budget is not released until later in the session. For example, during the 2009 session, the co-chairs’ budget was released May 18.

“The co-chairs’ budget is never the final budget, but it’s the first public document that shows where the legislature is headed in the appropriations process,” Courtney said.  “Creating a co-chairs’ budget in March will enhance the public process we go through during Ways and Means hearings we will hold across the state in April.”

Courtney said he talked 11 days ago with University of Oregon Economics Professor Dr. Tim Duy, author of the UO Economic Index. Duy told the Senate President that all seven economic factors included in the index showed improvement in December.

According to the index:

· The number of residential building permits issued in Oregon increased;

· Initial unemployment claims dropped to their lowest level since April 2008;

· Temporary hiring, which indicates a possible expansion of the workforce, increased;

· Consumer confidence rose nationally;

· Orders for capital goods increased in the U.S.;

· Oregon’s weight-distance tax collections increased, indicating an up-tick in trucking traffic in the state;

· And the spread between long-term and short-term interest rates increased.

“I’m not an economist, but it doesn’t take a PhD to know – after what our economy has been through – that having all seven indicators show improvement in the same month is a pretty good sign,” Courtney said.

The President also pointed out that Oregon has seen four straight months of job growth in the private sector.

With the passage of Measure 71 in November, Oregon lawmakers are under Constitutional time limits to complete their work for the first time in state history. Getting a jump on the budgeting process could be crucial to meeting the new deadlines, Courtney said.

“If the revenue picture improves in the May forecast the way some economists think it might, we can make adjustments based on the priorities of Oregonians,” Courtney said.