This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

To put it mildly, my life is a bit different in retirement than it was when I worked for 25 years as an Oregon state lobbyist.

As every formal legislative session began in Salem, I used to worry about how my clients would fare at the hands of lawmakers.

Now?

Not so much.  First, there are no clients.  Second, I watch legislative processes only with interest as I sit in the cheap seats, either in Salem, Oregon where I live for much of the year, or in La Quinta, California where I sojourn in the winter.

So it was this morning that I read a post from the folks in my old lobbying firm, CFM Advocates.  Here is a summary of how they commented on the legislative session now a few days old:

“The Oregon Legislative Assembly convenes today for a 160-day session with a new Senate President for the first time in two decades and a new Governor who has made housing and homelessness a top priority.

“The most diverse Legislature in Oregon history was greeted on opening day with 783 Senate measures and 1,078 House measures already introduced and printed, with more to come.

“Legislative focus will be on how to turn Governor Tina Kotek’s goal of producing 36,000 new housing units per year into reality.  Reaching that stretch goal will require financing and more flexible zoning.  It also will require creativity in matching low-income and supportive housing with access to healthcare services and public transportation and training more construction workers.

“Other legislative priorities include fortifying Oregon’s behavioral health system, bolstering public education in high-poverty areas and competing for federal funding to boost domestic semi-conductor production and research.”

And, after reading on-line missives from Democrats and Republicans, these issues emerged:

• Dealing with how to increase the number of public defenders.
• Improving the operation of the state’s mental hospital in Salem.
• Implementing or modifying Measure 114, the gun safety initiative that voters approved, but has been held up by court rulings on its constitutionality under the Second Amendment.
• Pushing for more access to women’s reproductive health in rural parts of the state.
• Deciding whether to send the $3.7 billion kicker rebate out to the taxpayers.
• Considering a $300 million fund to lure computer chip manufacturing expansion in Oregon.

As is true in every legislative session, both Democrats and Republicans announced their priorities using very general language.

For Democrats who are in charge in both the House and the Senate, though without super-majorities, the list is long.  It includes creating “affordable housing,” dealing with homelessness, retaining behavioral health workers, bolstering addiction treatment services, improving public safety, and a host of others.

Democrats, of course, see a huge role for government in all these issues.

For Republicans, their view is less aggressive, though they mention these issues, which, at least in general language, appear close to what Democrats say:  Prioritizing fiscal responsibility (whatever that means), addressing housing, homelessness, and mental health, supporting law enforcement and increasing community safety, and protecting rural Oregon and the natural resource economy.

Now, as always, the devil will be in the details as legislators look for action.

And, remember, the only issue legislators and the governor have no choice but to handle is to develop a balanced-budget for 2023-25.  Emphasis on the word balanced.  Revenue must equal expenses and the reverse, which, of course, is far different from the federal government.

The next major development on this front will be the required publication of Governor Kotek’s “recommended budget for 2023-25.” By law, the deadline is no later than February 1.

What she recommends then will be under consideration in the Joint Ways and Means through the end of June.

So, enough.  As a retiree, I am heading out to the golf course without a legislative care in the world.