PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Legislature is considering a new bill that would add a tax on coffee beans and ground coffee, officials say. 
 
 But the chair of the Committee on Revenue said it’s not going anywhere. 
 
 House Bill 2875 would impose a tax of five cents per pound on wholesale coffee. It’s sponsored by the Oregon House Committee on Revenue. 
 
 Funds raised from this new tax would go toward establishing the “Alternative Education Sustainability Fund.” Half of those funds would go toward the Oregon Military Department to be used in the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program. The other half would fund grants for Oregon school districts that operate alternative high school programs, as well as primary schools. 
 
 Schools that operate alternative high school programs and primary schools would be able to apply for those grants from the Oregon Department of Education. If awarded, the grant money could be used for “cost of operations and capital construction” of alternative high school programs and primary school reading programs. 
 
 If passed, the bill would go into effect on July 1, 2018. The bill did not mention an estimate of how much revenue this new tax would provide, but Oregon is facing a $1.8 billion budget gap. 
 
 This new tax would require a three-fifths majority from both the Oregon House of Representatives and Senate in order to pass. 
 
 A spokesman for House Republicans released the following statement on the proposal: 
 
 “I’ll say this about House Democrats; they never seem to run out of ideas for new tax increases. A tax on coffee is clearly not a proposal Oregonians would support, and we hope Democrats will disavow it just as quickly as they introduced it.” 
 
 On Friday, Scott Moore of the Oregon House Democrats told KOIN 6 News the bill is not going to even get out of committee. Lindsey O’Brien, the director of communications for House Speaker Tina Kotek, told KOIN 6 News there are “more than a 100 bills introduced to the Revenue committee alone, most of which will not move forward.” 
 
 Read the entire bill below. ||||| PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With the Oregon Legislature set to convene on February 1, Republicans and Democrats will gather in Salem to decide how best to deal with the state’s $1.8 billion budget gap, whether to ditch the statewide ban on rent control and other pressing issues. 
 
 Oregon’s Budget 
 
 A budget framework for the 2017-2019 biennium was released on January 19 by the Co-Chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, and it detailed how Oregon’s incoming revenue is 8% lower than what’s needed at current levels. 
 
 The framework listed a number of spending categories where cuts would need to take place, including education and health care. Needless to say, the cuts would have a large impact on several departments and would lead to layoffs in schools, declining health insurance coverage for Oregonians covered by the Oregon Health Plan, declining state funding for TANF and more. Furthermore, cuts to state funding could trigger a reduction in federal funding, creating a much greater loss to programs. 
 
 After the framework was released, House Republican Caucus Budget Chair Greg Smith, R-Heppner, issued the following statement: 
 
 “Like many Oregonians, I am deeply frustrated by the financial situation our state finds itself in. It is difficult to comprehend that at the same time our state is taking in record tax revenues, we are being told we do not have enough money to pay our bills.” 
 
 Smith went on to say House Republicans “stand ready” to work with Democrats in order to deliver on a budget that’ll acknowledge the need for spending reform. 
 
 Gov. Kate Brown unveiled her budget in December 2016, focusing on education, health care and job growth. 
 
 She proposed closing a loophole in so-called pass-through taxes, increasing a tobacco tax and discarding the customary increases in budgets for state universities and community colleges. Her budget will also look for inefficiencies, including keeping vacant state jobs open for 60 days and eliminating non-mandatory travel for state employees. Together, cuts and revenue increases are expected to address the current $1.8 billion gap. 
 
 Statewide Ban on Rent Control 
 
 With rent prices in Portland continuing to climb, many in the Rose City (like Commissioner Chloe Eudaly) are calling for quick action to protect renters. In November 2016, Eudaly called for a rent freeze and an end to no-cause evictions. A poll in September 2016 found 52% of Oregonians support repealing the statewide ban on rent control. 
 
 In response to these calls for action, House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, filed House Bill 2001 to repeal Oregon’s ban on city and county ordinances regulating rents. Her bill also aims to allow cities and counties to adopt rent stabilization programs (with certain restrictions) and impose a temporary moratorium on rent increases greater than 5% for residential tenancies (with some exceptions). 
 
 The House Speaker announced that she supported a state limit on rent increases and banning no-cause evictions at the state level back in September 2016. 
 
 A similar bill, sponsored by multiple representatives, also seeks to allow cities and counties to create ordinances regulating rent. Like Kotek’s legislation, House Bill 2003 would also repeal ORS 91.225 (the legislation prohibiting local rent control). House Bill 2003 differs, in that it doesn’t contain a cap on rent increases. 
 
 Both bills will face opposition from House Republicans. 
 
 A spokesman for House Republicans told KOIN 6 News more government intrusion into the marketplace wasn’t the answer to high rent prices. House Republicans said although rent control is potentially beneficial in the very short-term, it has proven to have negative impacts in the long-term. They cite a consensus among economists that rent control doesn’t produce the results it aims to achieve. 
 
 House Republicans believe that high rent prices are a result of a “basic breakdown in the laws of supply and demand” and suggest relieving pressure by incentivizing the development and construction of affordable units, to increase supply and lower demand. 
 
 Rural Communities 
 
 House Republicans said they want to prioritize rural Oregon during this legislative session by “forcing the majority party to be mindful of the impact of new laws on rural communities” and “advocating for policies that will help incentivize economic growth in rural Oregon.” 
 
 Despite the Portland-metro area having recovered from the depths of the great recession, some rural communities have not yet bounced back. 
 
 Rural Oregon still has a high unemployment rate, lower annual incomes for its workforce and downward demographic trends, according to the State of Oregon Employment Department. 
 
 Kotek also mentioned rural communities in her opening day remarks, saying “Despite these successes, we have more work to do to build an economy that creates equal opportunity for all. We cannot leave our rural communities behind as the state’s economy grows.” 
 
 She went on to speak on equal pay for women and supporting working families through affordable child care and policies that’ll allow workers to care for family members. 
 
 Justice and Ethics 
 
 In 2015, Oregon outlawed profiling by law enforcement based on race, ethnicity or other characteristics. 
 
 Kotek said she wants to “take the next steps” down that road, including setting up data collection, policies and training necessary to further cut down on profiling. 
 
 She also wants the legislature to consider reforms to how people are charged for certain drug offenses, how grand juries operate and to adequately fund public defense and increase support for legal assistance in civil cases. 
 
 Meanwhile, House Republicans are drafting legislation to limit the number of Salem employees that move from influential government positions to eventually turning into lobbyists that interact with the government, as well as the reverse. 
 
 The legislature will also have a number of other important issues to tackle, and it all begins in just over a week. ||||| Oregon voters were in a mostly naysaying mood when it came to statewide ballot measures, with partial returns showing all but two citizen initiatives headed for defeat Tuesday night. 
 
 Measures related to casinos, marijuana, gill netting and estate taxes all got the heave-ho, while proposals to divert corporate "kicker" tax refunds to public schools and ban real estate sales taxes passed. 
 
 "Oregonians have seen the impact of more than a decade of ongoing school budget cuts," said Scott Moore, spokesman for Our Oregon, the union-backed group that championed the kicker change. "We've reached a tipping point and voters are really demanding something be done to invest in our K-12 schools." 
 
 Also approved were two house-cleaning measures put on the ballot by the Legislature. One outlines how government would function in the event of a catastrophic emergency, the other makes minor word changes to the state constitution regarding references to "branches of government." 
 
 For all the noise, bother and shake-up potential of the campaigns, Oregon will barely change in the wake of the elections. Residents still won't be allowed to grow and smoke pot at will, there won't be a big casino complex at Portland's doorstep and the state will continue to collect inheritance taxes on estates worth more than $1 million. 
 
 Even the change to the state's unique-in-the-nation kicker law and the ban on real estate taxes won't be noticed by most Oregonians. Measure 85, which was leading 60 percent to 40 percent, affects corporations, not individual taxpayers. Most Oregonians will continue to be eligible for kicker refunds if state revenues exceed projections by 2 percent or more. 
 
 In the event of a corporate kicker -- which hasn't happened in at least five years -- the money will now go into a special fund for schools instead of being rebated to companies that pay income taxes in Oregon. 
 
 And Oregon doesn't have a statewide real estate tax -- Measure 79 is more of a pre-emptive strike. Realtors chunked in more than $5 million to help ensure its passage. 
 
 Voters were less charitable with heirs to $1 million-plus estates. Measure 84, which would have phased out Oregon's inheritance taxes, was losing by 10 percentage points. 
 
 The most resounding defeats of the night went to the two casino measures. Measure 82, which sought to amend the state constitution to allow nontribal casinos, and Measure 83, which would have allowed a casino to be built in Wood Village, were failing by 40 percentage points. 
 
 Supporters, bankrolled by Canadian investors, spent more than $5 million on the two measures, but suspended their campaign with several weeks to go after polls showed little public support. Opponents, bankrolled by a tribe with a casino west of Salem that stood to lose business, spent close to $3 million to maintain their competitive edge. 
 
 Measure 80, which would have made it legal to possess and use marijuana recreationally, was going down 55 percent to 45 percent. Supporters spent close to half a million dollars getting the measure on the ballot, but had little left for a campaign to pass it. 
 
 Similar pot legalization measures in Washington and Colorado were ahead in late vote tallies. Oregon's had the distinction as the least restrictive, allowing adults to grow and possess unlimited amounts for personal use, and setting up a separate state commission to license growers and sell to the public in state-run stores. 
 
 Also defeated was a measure that would have banned nontribal gill netting on the Columbia River. Supporters of the measure suspended their campaign and urged a "no" vote after Gov. John Kitzhaber helped broker a compromise on the issue. 
 
 
 
 -- Harry Esteve 
 
 Follow @hjesteve ||||| Just because Congress ground to a virtual halt in 2016 doesn’t mean the country stopped making new laws. 
 
 From taxes to minimum wage to gun control, a broad range of changes is coming at the state level as Americans ring in 2017. And, as has been the trend lately, the new year will bring far broader legalization of marijuana. 
 
 It’s what The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, in a letter to Vice President-elect Mike Pence arguing against pot prohibitions, called an “unprecedented schism between state and federal law in regards to … cannabis statutes.” While that debate will play out anew as the Trump administration takes office with a law-and-order mandate, the “schism” grows wider in 2017. 
 
 Already, revelers in Massachusetts and California will have the legal option of pairing their New Year’s Eve champagne with a joint. Approved by voters in November, legal recreational pot use took effect on Dec. 15 in Massachusetts; legal personal use of the drug took effect in California shortly after voters approved it there, though retail sales are still months away from implementation. 
 
 Nevada legalized recreational pot on Jan. 1, and Maine will follow soon after. 
 
 Voters in the last election approved legalizing the drug for medical purposes in North Dakota, Montana, Florida and Arkansas. In Colorado, one of the first states to legalize pot, licensed medical marijuana growers will now be allowed to sell pot as well. 
 
 Colorado voters also backed an increase in the statewide minimum wage. 
 
 Starting Jan. 1, the wage increased from $8.31 to $9.30 per hour for non-tipped workers and will increase by $0.90 per hour every year until it reaches $12 an hour on Jan. 1, 2020. 
 
 Voters in Maine, Arizona and Washington also voted in favor of minimum wage hikes. An appeals court in Arizona recently rejected an effort by state businesses to delay the Jan. 1 implementation. 
 
 As wage hikes enter the pipeline, so have tax hikes: 
 
 In Portland, Ore., the city council passed a so-called CEO tax, a first-in-the-nation ordinance to put a tax surcharge on publicly traded companies whose CEOs earn 100 times more than the median wage of other company employees. According to the National Law Review, a surcharge of 10 percent of the base tax liability would be imposed on those companies beginning on Jan. 1. 
 
 Buying presents next Christmas or anything from Amazon also will be more expensive for Utah residents in 2017 thanks to a new law requiring online retailers to charge consumers a 4.7 state sales tax at the point of sale, rather than relying on the honor system. 
 
 On the tax relief side of the ledger, Illinois approved a measure tossing out a 6.25 percent “luxury” tax on tampons. 
 
 Illinois passed dozens of other laws, including changes so that starting Jan. 1 it will no longer be illegal to catch catfish using a pitchfork, speargun or bow and arrow. Critically, the term “public hunting ground for pheasants” will be replaced by “public hunting ground for game birds.” 
 
 On the West Coast, gun owners in California will face new restrictions after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law banning the purchase of semiautomatic rifles with so-called “evil features.” 
 
 The “evil features” include pistol grips, flash hiders and bullet-buttons that make it easier to remove and replace ammunition magazines. The Los Angeles Times reported an increase in gun purchases in the lead-up to the Jan. 1 implementation. 
 
 The gun measure is one of the few new California laws that do not have roots on the desk of state Sen. Jerry Hill, the sponsor of 17 bills taking effect in the new year. The laws run the gamut from how police store their weapons in their vehicles to tour bus safety to restrictions on water use. 
 
 While Congress itself largely was inactive over the past year, a new regulation stemming from the Affordable Care Act, and set to take effect Jan. 1, could have far-reaching implications across the country. 
 
 Under the change, states will have the option to seek so-called Section 1332 waivers to try to modify parts of ObamaCare for their residents. A number of states have sought to get that process started – though the incoming Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress want to repeal and replace the law as a whole next year. ||||| TABOR requirement asks voters to decide whether the state gets to keep $66.1 million in taxes they already have approved 
 
 Colorado voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a statewide ballot measure that gives state lawmakers permission, once again, to spend $66.1 million in taxes collected from the sale of recreational marijuana. 
 
 The outcome came as no surprise given its bipartisan backing, and election returns as of 9:40 p.m. showed Proposition BB receiving about 69 percent support, well above the majority-vote threshold, according to returns from counties. 
 
 The secretary of state website incorrectly reported the first returns — getting the results backward, officials confirmed. 
 
 The measure sends the first $40 million to school construction and $12 million designated for youth and substance-abuse programs. The remaining $14.1 million goes to discretionary accounts controlled by lawmakers. 
 
 The ballot question was the third time in four years that voters considered how to spend pot taxes, after approving Amendment 64 in 2012 to legalize marijuana and Proposition AA in 2013 to levy sales and excises taxes. In both prior ballot questions, voters sanctioned sending $40 million toward school construction. 
 
 "These election results shouldn't surprise anyone," said Sen. Pat Steadman, the Denver Democrat who authored the measure. "Voters have twice indicated they wanted marijuana to be taxed, and the vote just reaffirms that for a third time." 
 
 Tuesday's vote became necessary after fiscal analysts underestimated how much revenue the state would collect without the new tax in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. 
 
 The projection is required in the tax's first year by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, and the mistake mandated a refund unless lawmakers won voter approval to spend it. 
 
 If the measure failed, taxpayers would have received a $25 million rebate — ranging from $6 to $16 per person, depending on income level — and another $41 million would return to marijuana growers and recreational users through tax breaks. 
 
 The question generated little attention in the off-year election, reflecting the limited controversy on the measure in the General Assembly earlier this year. Only 23 of 100 lawmakers voted against the bill, all Republicans. 
 
 "We are just fulfilling the promises that were made when Amendment 64 was passed," said state Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Douglas County, in a recent interview. 
 
 The "Vote Yes on Prop BB" campaign anticipated raising about $14,000 but didn't spend any money on advertisements or mass mailers. 
 
 The "No on Prop BB/No on Excess Government" committee didn't collect any money. 
 
 But critics — including Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group — sought to label the question as a "tax increase," adding a political tint to the issue. 
 
 The Independence Institute, a limited government advocacy organization based in Denver, also raised questions about how the money would be spent, suggesting it could be unsustainable. 
 
 "The original proponents of Amendment 64 were very clever ... to tie pot taxes to school construction, even though the two have zero to do with each other," said Mike Krause at the Independence Institute. "It made it an easy choice for a lot of voters." 
 
 However, Krause said the vote "shows a degree of inconsistency on how people feel about TABOR, because most TABOR overrides, at least statewide, don't do well." 
 
 John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank
– Nearly 250 years after the Boston Tea Party, we could have a Salem Coffee Party on our hands. The Oregon Legislature is weighing a tax of 5 cents per pound on wholesale coffee, including coffee beans and ground coffee. KOIN reports that no revenue projection was given in House Bill 2875, but the Willamette Week's math suggests it could bring in about $2 million a year. (The state's budget gap stands at $1.8 billion.) The money would be earmarked for the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program, alternative high school programs, and primary school reading programs. Willamette Week sees a disconnect there, reporting that lawmakers typically try to "establish a clear connection" between the tax and what the revenue will do, like property taxes paid by homeowners covering fire services. "The relationship between coffee consumption and alternative education is less clear," it writes. That said, the bill will go into effect on July 1, 2018, if it receives a three-fifths majority in the state House and Senate. A rep for House Republicans says "a tax on coffee is clearly not a proposal Oregonians would support, and we hope Democrats will disavow it just as quickly as they introduced it."