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. ||||| Gov. Scott Walker unveils his 2011-'13 budget Tuesday to a joint Assembly and Senate at the Capitol. Credit: Gary Porter 
 
 By of the 
 
 Madison - Gov. Scott Walker vowed Tuesday to close a $3.5 billion budget gap by remolding Wisconsin government at every level: slashing aid to public schools and local governments while setting up increases in private school aid; eliminating 1,200 state jobs; and placing the tightest limits on property taxes that the state has seen. 
 
 To balance the budget without raising taxes or fees, the Republican governor is calling for sacrifices and changes affecting residents across the state, from students and participants in the SeniorCare prescription drug plan to poor families receiving health care or welfare from the state. 
 
 The two-year, $59.2 billion budget proposal also has a host of effects on Milwaukee, including ending the requirement that Milwaukee Public Schools teachers live in the city; expanding the use of voucher schools; and studying the possibility of converting the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee into a separate authority - a shift already being targeted for UW-Madison in the bill. 
 
 "We are returning to frugality and making the long-term decisions to balance our budget now and more importantly into the future. We will do the heavy lifting to protect our children and grandchildren from having to make the hard decisions that were once avoided," Walker said. 
 
 Throughout Walker's 25-minute speech, drumming and the roar of thousands of protesters could be heard outside through the thick walls of the Assembly chamber. The demonstration underscored a dramatic legal fight that played out Tuesday over the administration's restrictions on public access to the Capitol building before and during the speech. 
 
 The speech also came amid a continued standoff over a separate Walker proposal to eliminate nearly all collective bargaining for public unions that Senate Democrats have blocked by leaving the state. The Democrats' leader said Tuesday he believed progress is being made in ending the stalemate but declined to elaborate. 
 
 The proposed budget, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2013, would force local governments and schools to cut their spending, because their state aid would fall by roughly $1 billion over the next two years and they would be prevented from making up that money by raising property taxes. Walker has said that local governments should absorb hundreds of millions of dollars of those cuts by trimming their employees' health and pension benefits. 
 
 Statewide union leaders have said they will agree to those cuts but only if Walker drops his proposal to eliminate nearly all union bargaining rights for public employees. 
 
 Democrats described Walker's proposal in apocalyptic terms, with Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) calling it an "absolute annihilation" of public education. 
 
 "He does this under the guise of fixing the budget, but what he's really doing is waging war on Wisconsin," Grigsby said. 
 
 The effects on Milwaukee, she said, would be a "blow that I don't think we can stand up to." 
 
 Republicans praised Walker for honestly balancing the state budget. 
 
 "It's the first budget we've had in 12 years that's going to actually be a balanced budget without any funny money," said Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah). 
 
 Spending in the state's main account would rise by $384 million, or 1.4%, over the two years, with spending on health care increasing while most other major programs would see significant cuts. And with federal stimulus aid to the state budget having run out, total spending of state and federal dollars will drop by $4.2 billion, or 6.7%, over the two years. 
 
 The cuts in state jobs would be mostly vacant positions but could also include layoffs. 
 
 The Walker administration said his plan would cut the state's rolling shortfalls in future budgets by more than $2 billion, or 90%. But the plan would also push out $439 million in principal payments on state debt into later budgets and allow debt payments in future years to rise to unprecedented levels of more than 5% of the state's budget. 
 
 Here's a breakdown of Walker's proposal in key areas: 
 
 Education 
 
 The budget proposal would cleave $834 million in state aid for K-12 education, providing 7.9% below what was given in the current 2009-'11 budget. That would continue to move the state further from its former commitment to cover two-thirds of the costs of public schools. 
 
 In addition, the bill could increase the amount of money spent on Milwaukee's private school voucher system by making more city students eligible for the program and opening up enrollment to private schools in suburban Milwaukee County. 
 
 To keep school property taxes from filling the vacuum left by the loss of state aid, Walker has recommended a 5.5% decrease in the maximum amount per student that public school districts are able to receive in state aid and property taxes. That drop in the revenue caps would amount to a cut of about $555 in the average $10,100 per-pupil limit. The exact dollar amount would be greater for higher-revenue districts and lower for low-revenue districts. 
 
 UW-Madison economist Andrew Reschovsky said that could reduce the amount that school districts statewide could raise under the revenue caps by roughly $500 million and would likely lead to cuts affecting students. 
 
 "It's hard for me to believe that it wouldn't," Reschovsky said. 
 
 The proposal would turn the UW System's Madison campus into a quasi-public authority and study making the same change to the Milwaukee campus. 
 
 UW-Madison would face the deepest cut among state universities in Walker's proposed budget, but other state public universities would face 11% budget cuts and get none of the cost-saving tools UW-Madison would get by splitting from the UW System. 
 
 Tax cuts, the economy 
 
 Walker's budget would provide investors with lower state taxes on capital gains for investing in Wisconsin businesses. The capital gains changes would lower taxes by $36 million over the two years. 
 
 The bill also would give multistate corporations a larger window in using losses to offset their tax liability. That would lower taxes by $46 million over two years. 
 
 Those measures would come on top of the more than $100 million in tax cuts that Walker and lawmakers have already approved for the next two years. 
 
 The proposal would also provide $196 million over two years for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the partly private entity that is replacing the state Department of Commerce. 
 
 Health care 
 
 The budget would provide nearly $1.3 billion more in state money over the next two years - the biggest increase in state spending - to cover fast-growing costs in Medicaid health programs for the poor. But the administration will still have to find ways to avoid an additional $500 million in spending that would be needed under current trends for Medicaid. 
 
 So programs such as BadgerCare Plus for children and families, Family Care for the elderly and disabled in need of long-term care, and the SeniorCare prescription drug benefit still could see large changes and potential cuts. 
 
 For instance, SeniorCare recipients eligible for the separate federal Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit would be required to also enroll in the federal program. That would lower state spending by $15 million by shifting costs to the U.S. government. Recipients would see no changes in benefits, according to the administration. 
 
 Local governments 
 
 Besides the limits on school revenue, the bill would freeze property taxes for local governments, allowing them to increase only for the construction of new homes or buildings. 
 
 The bill would hold the growth in property taxes for the owner of the median-valued $160,000 home in the state to $42 over the next two years, according to projections by the administration. But the proposal would also squeeze local governments like cities and counties, which would see their aid cut by $96 million, or nearly 12% on average. 
 
 Walker's plan eliminates the requirement for local government to operate recycling programs, and also eliminates the state subsidies to run those programs. 
 
 In addition to the cuts in general aid for local governments, Walker's plan would reduce their payments to maintain local roads by 10%. 
 
 Transportation 
 
 Funding for highways would increase $410.5 million, and money would be fed into road projects in two key ways. First, it would shift $95 million from the state's main account to its road fund. Second, it would pay for bus and other transit systems - $115 million in all over two years - from the state's main account instead of the transportation fund. 
 
 Transit groups oppose such a change because they would have to compete with every other spending category to get funding. They also say public transportation keeps cars off roads, allowing them to last longer. 
 
 Over the next two years, Walker's budget would devote $225 million toward the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee County and $196 million toward rebuilding I-94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line. 
 
 Walker's budget also puts money toward four new major projects - I-39/90 from the Illinois state line to Madison; Highway 38 in Racine and Milwaukee counties; Highway 10/Highway 441 in Winnebago and Calumet counties; and Highway 15 in Outagamie County. 
 
 Public safety, corrections 
 
 The budget proposal calls for more DNA analysts in the State Crime Laboratory, more staff to investigate child pornography cases and enforce tougher drunken driving laws, and more public defenders. It includes $1 million for raises for prosecutors. 
 
 The budget would eliminate the early prison release program approved as a cost-saving measure two years ago when Democrats controlled the Statehouse. 
 
 Walker's budget saves money for corrections in other ways, primarily because the prison population is declining as part of a national trend. The average daily population in the last fiscal year was just over 23,000, and Walker believes it will decline to about 21,200 in two years. 
 
 Money is also saved by closing Ethan Allen School in Wales and South Oaks Girls School in Union Grove. Those facilities have seen declining populations, and their operations would be shifted to Lincoln Hills School in Lincoln County. 
 
 Absent senators 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said he met Monday in Kenosha with some of the 14 Democratic senators who have been in Illinois since Feb. 17 to block a vote on Walker's separate budget-repair proposal because it takes away most collective bargaining rights from public workers. 
 
 No Democrat gave any hint of returning, but Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said in a telephone interview Tuesday that there have been "substantive discussions" with Republicans over the impasse. 
 
 Walker has said Tuesday was a deadline for passing his budget-repair bill, starting work on a $165 million bond refinancing and avoiding layoffs of up to 1,500 state workers. 
 
 A Walker spokesman Tuesday declined to say whether or when layoffs might start, while Miller said they could still be averted. 
 
 Meanwhile, Kevin Barthel of Lakewood filed paperwork Tuesday in Oconto County Circuit Court seeking an order to force Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) to return to the Senate chamber. 
 
 *** 
 
 What's next 
 
 Gov. Scott Walker unveiled his 2011-'13 state budget Tuesday, but the bill must pass several hurdles to become law. 
 
 • First, the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee will receive briefings and hold public hearings on the bill in March and April. The committee will then vote on the bill and any amendments. 
 
 • Next, the Senate and Assembly must approve the bill along with any amendments. If the two houses pass different versions of the bill, they have to reconcile those differences, which can be done through a conference committee. 
 
 • Finally, Walker must sign the bill, potentially reshaping it with his powerful partial veto authority.
– 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."