East County Voices - $1 billion more for schools

Friends,

We’re rapidly closing in on the end of session, but we still have some important budget pieces to pass. The Senate has passed the biggest piece this week, the K-12 budget, which adds $1 billion to our schools over the next two years. This is good news for Oregon and our K-12 schools.

There is also good news for community colleges. The House passed House Bill 2305, which would re-direct the corporate kicker to the Community College Support Fund. In 2012, voters stated overwhelmingly that they wanted to eliminate the corporate kicker. If the Senate passes this bill, we will send any corporate kicker funds to help community colleges one biennium earlier.

Legislative Update

Helping student parents
House Bill 3149 is our first bill to pass both the House and Senate and it is now headed to the Governor. This bill creates a task force to study the cost and funding sources to provide childcare to parents who attend our community colleges, because having a child should not be a barrier to achieving a degree.

Working for small businesses
Starting a small business is a challenging task on its own and working with state agencies can create added complications for business owners. To help with this, the House passed House Bill 3459-A to establish the Office of Small Business Administration. This office would help facilitate interactions between small businesses and state agencies, and conduct reviews and investigations of complaints received from small business about their interactions with state agencies. With this bill, we will help remove some of the burdens placed on small businesses when working with sate agencies.

Helping Oregonians Save for Retirement
Oregonians are struggling to save for retirement and many who have retired are forced to return to work to make ends meet. On Monday, the House passed House Bill 3436-B, which creates the Oregon Retirement Savings Investment Task Force. This task force will develop recommendations to help increase Oregonians ability to save for retirement; one possible idea is to create individual retirement accounts similar to the 529 plan for higher education.

In the News

TriMet Audit Making News
House Bill 3316 to audit TriMet has been making news recently and it passed the House yesterday with overwhelming support. LastThursday an op-ed I wrote on the audit was published in the Portland Tribune and I also joined Think Out Loud on Oregon Public Broadcasting to talk more about the bill.

Click here to read my op-ed in the Portland Tribune

Click here to hear my interview on Think Out Loud

Stay in Touch

You can keep up with all the action here in Salem by liking my page on Facebook. Visit my Facebook page by clicking here.

As always, my staff and I love to hear from our constituents and if you have a question or want to let us know what you think about a bill, email me at Rep.ChrisGorsek@state.or.us or call us at 503-986-1449.

Chris