I hope this newsletter finds you and your family well this
holiday season! Looking back on 2015, I’m proud of all we were able to
accomplish during my first legislative session as your state senator. Many of
the pieces of legislation that we passed during the 78th Legislative
Session go into effect on January 1 – see below for more details on these
important changes. And, please join me at Manaia Coffee on January 23rd for my
first constituent coffee of the new year!
Community News &
Announcements
Constituent
Coffee: My first 2016 Constituent Coffee will be Saturday, January 23rd
at 10 a.m. at Manaia Coffee located at 203 E Main Street in Hillsboro. This is
a great opportunity for you to meet with me in the district to discuss any
issues you or our community are facing. It is also a chance to hear about the
legislation I’m introducing for the 2016 session. I hope to see you there!
New Year - New
Laws: While many bills that were passed during the 2015 legislative
session have already become law, there are some important changes that go into
effect on January 1, 2016. Here are some of the key pieces of legislation going
into effect next month:
SB
454: Paid Sick Time. With the passage of Senate Bill 454, Oregon
joins a growing number of states requiring a statewide paid sick time policy
for workers. SB 454 requires most employers having ten or more employees to
implement a sick time policy allowing an employee to earn, accrue, donate, or
use at least 40 hours of paid sick time per year. Additionally, the bill
requires most employers who employ fewer than ten employees to implement an
unpaid sick time policy. This legislative victory will ensure that Oregon
workers don’t have to choose between their health—or the health of their
children—and their livelihood.
HB
2007: Equal Pay for Equal Work. House Bill 2007 protects workers
by prohibiting retaliation against employees who discuss wages amongst
themselves. Prior to passage, workers in Oregon could face consequences for
sharing their wage or salary rate with their coworkers or for voicing their
right to a fair wage. Threat of retaliation has been cited as an impediment to
progress on equal pay for equal work for Oregon women.
SB
552: Domestic Worker Protections. Domestic workers are a crucial
workforce comprised primarily of women and, particularly, women of color. These
workers provide in-home services such as childcare, cooking, and housekeeping.
Senate Bill 552 establishes workplace protections for primarily domestic
workers who live in the home they serve and classifies violations as unlawful
employment practices. The protections for domestic workers in SB 552 include
overtime pay, periods of rest, paid vacation time, and freedom from harassment.
HB
3025: Bans Consideration of Criminal History before Job Interview. House
Bill 3025, “Ban the Box,” will help those Oregonians with prior arrests or
convictions seek gainful employment. The bill creates an unlawful employment
practice that bans employers from excluding consideration of a job applicant
from an initial interview solely because of a past criminal conviction. The
bill does not prevent an employer from considering an applicant’s criminal
history in making their hiring decisions.
SB
411: Personal Injury Protection and Stacking in Car Insurance
Policies. Senate Bill 411 will put injured drivers’ needs ahead of
insurance companies by changing state laws on uninsured motorist coverage and
personal injury protection coverage. There are two main provisions in SB 411:
the first allows injured motorists to add their uninsured motorist coverage on
top of the at-fault driver’s liability coverage so injured consumers get the
coverage they paid for with their premium. The second provision addresses
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. Currently, a policyholder’s PIP
coverage is repaid to the insurance company before the injured party is paid
total damages. SB 411 allows the injured motorist to recover their total
damages first.
SB 482:
Pacific Northwest Manufacturing Partnership. Senate Bill 482 creates the
Pacific Northwest Manufacturing Partnership Advisory Committee (PNMP), a
consortium dedicated to accelerating the resurgence of manufacturing in the
Northwest. The PNMP will sit within Business Oregon, the state’s economic
development agency. Staff in the department will focus on facilitating regional
collaboration amongst the manufacturing sector by working with relevant
education and research institutions.
HB
2734: Cleaning up Polluted Sites for Business Development. House
Bill 2734 gives local governments the ability to create land bank authorities -
an innovative tool to clean up brownfields —former industrial or commercial
sites where development is hindered by real or perceived environmental
contamination. Left untouched, these properties pose threats to human health
and the environment while also undermining economic development and failing to contribute
to the local and state economies. The 2015 Legislature also allocated $7
million for these efforts to help cities and counties make better use of their
land.
SB
320: Supporting Small Home Businesses. Currently, the Oregon
Department of Agriculture (ODA) requires anyone who would like to sell baked
goods made in his or her home kitchen to meet specific requirements and obtain
a domestic kitchen license. Senate Bill 320 allows small-scale operations to
prepare and sell baked goods without ODA licensure. These food entrepreneurs
throughout Oregon will still be required to label and safely handle their
products but will be able to do so with fewer burdens on their budding businesses.
HB
3343: Improving Access to Birth Control. House Bill 3343 makes
Oregon the first state in the nation to ensure that women can access a full
12-month supply of birth control by requiring insurance companies to cover the
cost up front rather than across multiple trips to the pharmacy. Along with House
Bill 2879 which will allow women to obtain birth control directly from
pharmacists without a doctor’s visit, these bills will improve women’s access
to using birth control by helping to support consistent birth control use and
driving down unintended pregnancies in Oregon.
SB
759: Helping Victims of Campus Sexual Assault. In response to
pressing concerns about how sexual assaults cases are handled on college
campuses, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 759. This bill requires higher
education institutions in Oregon to adopt and make public a written protocol
for responding to a sexual assault involving a student, faculty member, or
staff member. The protocol must include information on victims’ rights and
resources on or off campus. In addition, a law that has already taken effect—House
Bill 3476—ensures that victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, or
stalking can seek support services without compromising their privacy. Under
this bill, information shared with a certified advocate will be privileged
communication and kept confidential unless a victim consents to disclosure.
Together, both bills will help ensure that victims are informed, supported, and
respected, especially on college campuses.
HB
2317: Doubling the Statute of Limitations on Rape. Oregon’s
six-year statute of limitations on rape and other certain sex crimes was one of
the shortest in the country. House Bill 2317 doubles the statute of limitations
for first degree sex crimes, including rape, to 12 years. Under current state
law, there is no statute of limitations when DNA evidence is present.
SB 3:
Increased Penalty for Violating Domestic Violence Restraining Order. Oregon
faces a domestic violence death nearly once a month. This bill better protects
victims of domestic abuse by strengthening the enforcement of restraining
orders. Senate Bill 3 increases the penalty for violating a Family Abuse
Prevention Act restraining order, if there is clear risk of physical injury, to
a Class C felony. The bill also gives judges the ability to make violations
punishable by up to five years imprisonment, a $125,000 fine, or both (Class C
Felony).
SB
492: Work Leave for Victims of Domestic Violence. Senate Bill
492 allows employees to use sick leave or personal business leave to seek
services, assistance, or treatment if they are a victim of domestic violence,
sexual assault, or stalking. Prior to passage, employees could be limited to
using only vacation leave for such purposes. The bill applies to workplaces
with six or more employees.
SB
641: Smartphone Data Privacy. Data stored on a smartphone or
other portable electronic device can paint a near complete picture of even the
most intimate and personal details of someone’s life. To ensure that law
enforcement only access this data appropriately, Senate Bill 641 requires a
warrant or consent to copy data from a portable electronic device and allows
information obtained without a warrant or consent to be excluded from use in
court.
SB
839: Good Samaritan Immunity Law for Drug Overdoses. Senate Bill
839 allows individuals to seek medical attention without fear of arrest when a
person experiences a drug overdose. SB 839 will provide narrow legal immunity
for possession charges against a person when they call for help with a drug
overdose. The bill increases the likelihood that a person overdosing on drugs,
or someone in their company, will call for medical assistance in time to make a
critical difference.
SB
921: Fritz-Fairchild Act for Highway Cable Barriers. Senate Bill
921 directs the Oregon Department of Transportation to complete installation of
lifesaving median barriers on interstate highways where the space between
opposing lanes of traffic measures 100 feet or less. The measure is known as
the Fritz-Fairchild Act in memory of Dr. Steven Fritz and Cary Fairchild, both
employees of the Oregon State Hospital in Salem, who were killed in a
cross-over crash while commuting to work on September 24, 2014.
HB
2225 & HB
2226: Holding Criminal Elder Abusers Accountable. House Bills
2225 and 2226 ensure that people who take advantage of or steal from elderly
individuals are held accountable. HB 2225 provides greater flexibility for
investigation of financial crimes against seniors by broadening the
jurisdiction of a search warrant issued for this purpose. HB 2226 ensures that
a person who steals from a senior citizen does not avoid paying restitution
simply because the person they stole from has died.
HB
2300: “Right-to-Try” Treatment for Terminally Ill Patients. House
Bill 2300 creates a “Right-to-Try” law in Oregon, outlining the process by
which certain terminally ill patients can try an experimental treatment that
hasn’t yet been FDA approved. Several other states have considered and passed
similar legislation in recent years.
SB 89:
Local Assistance for Veterans. Many local communities in Oregon rely on volunteers
who assist and advocate for veterans. This valuable volunteer service is
offered differently from one locality to the next, sometimes in conjunction
with County Veterans Service Officers. Senate Bill 89 allows counties and the
Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs to appoint qualified, vetted volunteers
to provide specified support services. This bill will improve support for
veterans across the state, especially in rural Oregon.
SB
253: Confidentiality for Veterans. Senate Bill 253 allows
veterans, active-duty, reserve, and National Guard members of the armed forces
to be exempt from having certain personally identifiable and contact
information subject to public records requests. The bill will assist the Oregon
Department of Veterans Affairs in protecting the information of people
accessing their services, helping to foster trust between veterans and the
department.
HB
2645: Supporting Veterans in Higher Education. House Bill 2645
requires Oregon’s public universities, and allows community colleges, to give
eligible service members and their dependents enrollment priority over other
students. Many eligible veterans receive Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits
which help cover the cost of tuition for 36 months and provide a housing
stipend for enrolled students. HB 2645 will help ensure that veterans can get
the most from the benefits available to them by increasing opportunities to
participate in higher education.
HB
3524: Boosting the Supply of Affordable Housing. House Bill 3524
requires the State of Oregon to give nonprofit organizations the first right of
refusal to develop affordable housing on property that the State no longer
needs. This measure will help address an ongoing shortage of buildable land for
affordable housing.
Economic Forecast: The Oregon Office of Economic
Analysis recently released its quarterly
economic and revenue forecast and presented their findings to the State
Legislature. I’m thrilled to say that this forecast brought some very welcome
news as Oregon’s economy continues to grow not only in urban parts of the state
but also increasingly in rural communities as well.
Oregon’s economy continues to make
significant gains with strong, sustained growth in jobs, wages, and income. Oregon’s
unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in October, well below the 6.8 percent
unemployment rate a year earlier in October 2014. This number has climbed
slightly since early 2015, due in large part to recent population growth across
the state driving an increase of job seekers. However, the total number of jobs
in Oregon has never been higher—Oregon
is gaining approximately 4,000 jobs per month—more than adequate
to compensate for population growth. Recovery and job growth in rural Oregon
also continues to improve. Though some disparity persists between rural and
urban Oregon economies, every rural region of the state is adding jobs at
around an average 2 percent rate year-over-year, and nearly every rural county
in Oregon is experiencing real population growth.
Oregon’s growing economy means
projected state revenues for the 2015-17
biennium are up $56.3 million since
the September forecast. The forecast shows that revenues are on track
with our budget from last session—total General Fund and Lottery resources are
$8.3 million more than projected at the close of session. That means we can
stay on course to deliver increased funding for schools and other critical
services for Oregonians. The February 2016 session is right around the corner.
While our economy is stable for now, we will have an opportunity to make
adjustments to the budget if conditions should change.
We
still have work to do, and I’m hard at work preparing for the February 2016
session with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fund schools, help
small businesses, and expand family-wage job creation to help more Oregonians
share in the economic growth that our state is enjoying.
For more detailed information about recent job growth
numbers and Oregon’s economic outlook, the recent economic and revenue forecast
is available at oregoneconomicanalysis.com.
Community Events
If you’re going to be in Salem, please check out the
schedule for Holidays
at the Capitol. Musical performances will occur in the Capitol Rotunda
daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through December 22nd (tomorrow!). Click on the
link above to look at the schedule and see who will be performing!
The Winter Village
at Orenco Station is now open! The Winter Village features the only open
air ice skating rink in the area. You can visit now through January 3rd,
and start a new family tradition!
As we look to the new year, we think of the opportunities it
will bring us. Oregon has launched the Oregon
Promise, a new state program that gives the high school Class of 2016 and
qualified GED recipients the opportunity for full or partial tuition grants to
attend community college. If you or someone you know is going to be graduating
high school this year encourage them to apply now. The application period
closes on March 1, 2016.
Snapshots!
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Celebrating the 100th episode of Grimm! |
Signing clean air and clean energy ballot initiatives! |
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Stay in Touch!
Please be advised that my capitol office will be operating on reduced hours during the interim. My staff will be available during normal business hours Tuesday through Friday. You may reach us by email: sen.chuckriley@state.or.us or by phone: 503-986-1715. The Salem office mailing address is 900 Court St NE / S-303, Salem, OR 97301.
If you are not already subscribed, be sure to visit my legislative website and enter your email address into the “e-Subscribe” box at the right so that you will never miss a newsletter. Or, simply email my office and we will sign you up! I can be found on Facebook, or you can follow me on Twitter to stay up to date with what my office is up to. Or, you can always check the events calendar on my legislative website!
As always, I am here to serve you. If there is something I can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office.
Sincerely,
Senator Chuck Riley
Senate District 15
email: Sen.ChuckRiley@state.or.us I phone: 503-986-1715 address: 900 Court St NE, S-303, Salem, OR, 97301 website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/riley
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