Westlund has an aggressive agenda

Ben Westlund has an agenda for what he wants to accomplish as Oregon State Treasurer that goes far beyond balancing the books and investing money.

Westlund, once a candidate for governor, hopes to change the direction of state investment. He believes his responsibility extends to helping build schools and creating more jobs in sustainable industries of the future, which will in turn improve state finances.

"In simplest terms, the treasurer's office is the place where investing and public policy intersect," said Westlund last week. "Budgets are moral documents. It is important for the treasurer to advocate for policies that create a meaningful rainy day fund. It is important to advocate for fiscally responsible legislation that allows our bond rating to improve and our debt costs to be reduced.

"If I do my job well we have additional dollars for vital public services," Westlund said.

The Treasurer's office has four essential divisions, according to Westlund: The investment division, responsible for investing $60 billion of Oregon Retirement System money; the debt management division, responsible for government bond issuance; the cash management division, responsible for managing somewhere between $120 and $140 billion per year in 15 million transactions including taxes, DMV registrations, DEQ fines, etc.; and the executive division, "the public policy advocacy arm of the treasurer's office."

Westlund believes the bond issuance function can help state finances, in that "revenue bonds fund a project that produces revenue, like a water system, or more importantly from my perspective, transmission lines from a remote wind or solar site to the grid, funded by revenue from the project."

But it is the advocacy arm that energizes the new treasurer's conversation. His vision goes beyond a flush rainy day fund and higher bond ratings. Westlund makes a case that he can argue that the state should fund up to half the cost of building new schools.

"One of the policies I will be advocating for is what I call the 'capitalization match.' It cuts the millage rate in half that districts have to go out and bond for improvements. In particular, it helps those counties in which there is a high percentage of properties 'in compression,' where they have hit the lid (of ballot Measure 5)," said Westlund.

Ballot Measure 5, passed in 1990, was an amendment to the Oregon Constitution that put limits on property taxes. One impact was that it moved a portion of funding for operations from local property taxes to the state via state school support.

Even then, districts had to pass local property taxes to build the buildings, if not pay the teachers. Some school districts might have a significant number of properties at the maximum allowed tax rate.

In this situation, the owners of two homes of equal value might pay significantly different property taxes for schools, one in effect subsidizing the other, according to Westlund.

He believes the state has a bond fund revenue stream to pay for half of all school K-12 construction.

"This would require legislative action. The treasurer's office has to be able to effectively advocate for public policy change in the legislature," he said.

Whose priorities will Westlund's policies reflect?

"They are mine. I am the chief executive officer of a constitutional office. I no longer have to support caucus priorities. I no longer have to engage in a committee process to have a prioritized list. I have been elected to lead," said Westlund. "I will be fully present and engaged in the legislative process as a public advocate. I will make appointments and meet legislators in their office. I will meet them in the hallway."

In addition to his stance on state financing for school construction, he has strong views on the future of Oregon's economy, and how to get there. Still, he says he is not making these decisions in a vacuum.

"At all my town halls and forums (during the election), we quickly got to the subject of the environment: Not just the ethical obligations we humans have to our planet, but the tremendous economic opportunities presented by the 'innovation economy' and 'clean tech investing,'" he said.

Westlund says Oregon is supremely positioned, "in spite of ourselves, yet because of ourselves" to take advantage of what will be a transformation in energy technology.

"We created and passed the best renewable portfolio standard in the nation that requires 2 percent of the power consumed in the state by 2025 to be from renewable sources: wind, wave solar geothermal, fuel cell. Right here in Central Oregon we have two of the most innovative clean tech companies in the world: PV Power, producer of the world's largest capacity inverters, and Idatech, the leading edge fuel cell technology in the world.

"And Oregon has the most advanced Business Energy Tax credit in America, and how it applies to innovators in the energy field. We are just entering the most transformational technological revolution in this country's history, even greater than the 'Information Technology' revolution."

Westlund would not only like to see the state foster new technology, but he would like to make it easier for efficiency improvements in existing buildings. He thinks the benefits could be significant.

"Buildings in Oregon consume 50 percent of the energy, with 25 percent going to automotive and 25 percent to industrial uses. Retrofit can be a major public policy energy thrust," he said.

"One of the most effective investments a property owner can make is retrofitting his or her existing building: insulation, windows, plugging the cracks, weather stripping, but also energy efficient appliances, heat pumps. A treasurer with the right priorities can help. I would like to make financing available to help retrofit not just public, but also but private buildings in Oregon."

Can Oregon afford these initiatives? What about falling employment and lower state revenues?

"I know the economy is in turmoil," he said. "All we read about are these significant and painful unemployment numbers that impact all of us. What we read less about are the new innovation companies that are in the process of moving here.

"Peak Sun Solar is just finishing a 500-job manufacturing plant in Albany that functionally reduces by 40 percent the cost of photovoltaic cells. This is from technology developed (more than 30) years ago under President Carter. We had the technology and put it on the shelf. We failed to use it and protect the country.

"This country is learning that we are economically vulnerable because of the lack of an energy policy from the last four presidents. There is a security interest here, a national interest, and it is time to start shifting subsidies paid to foreign fossil fuel production and invest them here in America in less toxic and more secure energy sources."

Energy brings Westlund back to education.

"We need to improve the value and performance of education, and funding the K-12 structure. We need to improve access to our institutions of higher learning to produce two categories of technological leaders: Innovators, those who will produce the technology, but also the managers to manage these business as we transform the way energy is produced," he said.

That is Westlund's vision for his role as Treasurer of the State of Oregon:

"I am chief financial officer of the state, not just for the retirement fund. In essence, I am the economic cheerleader for all Oregon businesses. At the end of the day it is jobs, jobs, jobs, created by investments in education, clean technology investment and the stewardship natural and financial resources."