Start working on implementation now or bills on housing, other priorities will disappoint

Solving Oregon’s problems requires better performance by the state’s regulatory agencies

The Oregon Legislature and Gov. Tina Kotek should be commended for making quick progress early in this session on pressing issues through legislation that addresses the the housing crisis and seeks to improve Oregon’s economic competitiveness.

But while this governor and Legislature seem to be moving with more purpose and urgency than has been the case in some recent legislative sessions, passing bills has not been Oregon’s biggest weakness. No matter what bills are passed, the legislation likely will fall short of goals unless implementation improves drastically. That means regulatory agencies must do a much better job.

Fewer things have a worse record of success than government regulations in Oregon. Though I acknowledge libertarian leanings, I don’t say that as someone opposed to all regulation. In fact, one reason government often fails to accomplish its goals is that the Republican Party reflexively opposes almost all regulations regardless of their purpose. Another reason is that few Democrats have experience in business or executive positions, leaving the party with little expertise in how to regulate effectively.

And Oregon’s regulatory record in recent years has been glaringly bad. Though it’s difficult to measure regulatory effectiveness, it’s hard to imagine how a state could accumulate a worse record than Oregon. The core problem lies in mistake-prone government departments and agencies. Sometimes the mistakes involve poor implementation of regulations; other times it involves mismanagement of core functions, or, worse, corruption. It’s a bipartisan problem. Both conservatives and liberals can find examples of bungled programs that were detrimental to their goals.

The good news is that this is a fixable problem and Gov. Tina Kotek has vowed to seek solutions. As she moves toward that goal, the governor should make sure that all state regulations – whether existing or new – pass these 3 tests:

·      They should be implementable.

·      They should have robust oversight.

·      They should provide timely, affordable service to both producers and consumers.

Here are some examples of past regulatory failures and thoughts on how adhering to these principles could lead to better performance in the future.

Few Oregon governmental failures caused as much pain to taxpaying citizens as the failure to process unemployment claims – or even answer phones – as thousands of workers lost their jobs at the start of the COVD-19 pandemic. This was a failure to perform one of the Employment Department’s most basic functions, distributing unemployment benefits to those who lost jobs.

While the pandemic created unique challenges because of the deluge of unanticipated claims, few other states struggled to the degree Oregon did. The core problems were common ones in Oregon government: inadequate technology and poor training. As a result, the department was unprepared when its services were most needed. Before legislation to address pressing problems even reaches House and Senate chambers, managers of all state agencies should be doubling down on training and reviewing technological needs to make sure they can implement whatever programs are passed.

Examples of lack of oversight are so numerous that it’s hard to decide which one teaches the best lesson about how Oregon should move forward. But, aggregately, it probably would be the various efforts of the state and municipalities to boost green energy development. A solid majority of Oregonians support the goals of these programs. But the programs have faced a litany of problems.

At one end of the spectrum is the Portland Clean Energy Fund, which has done an outstanding job channeling taxpayer money into a fund to pay for climate-related functions but failed to create an adequate apparatus for deciding how to spend the money. As a result, some $275 million sits unused in a bank account while the city struggles to pay for basic needs. Read this Willamette Week article for details. At the other end of the scale is the fraud and abuse that plagued programs such as solar tax credits.

The crafting of legislation and implementation of policies to address the housing crisis will provide the most visible test of Kotek’s efforts to improve the timeliness and efficiency of government agencies. Even those who support Oregon’s detailed land-use regulations acknowledge that those regulations, and the way they are implemented, add to the time and money required to develop housing.

The governor’s goal of adding 36,000 new housing units a year cannot be met without relaxing some of the rules and finding way to accelerate the processing of paperwork that’s deemed essential. Reducing legal challenges to legitimate projects is another challenge but is largely outside the control of the governor and Legislature.

These are just three recent, visible examples. There are other examples at both the state and municipal levels of programs that were hijacked by fraudsters (particularly ones that sought to benefit specific industries or groups), were derailed by out-of-control costs, or never got fully launched because of technological and organizational struggles.

It’s unrealistic to think results will be different this time without changes in how Oregon governmental agencies operate, including a significant improvement in oversight.

Mark Hester is a retired journalist and communications professional who worked 20 years at The Oregonian in positions including business editor, sports editor and editorial writer.