|
Hello everyone!
I’m back in Salem preparing for the 2019 Legislative session. Last Monday I was honored as Oregon Chief Justice Martha Lee Walters administered the oath of office, marking the official start of my 8th term in office. It is truly a privilege to serve the people of House District 31, and I want to hear from you in the coming months to make sure the legislation we approve best serves our area and all Oregonians.
 Representative Witt Receives Oath of Office
Last week’s activity included training for lawmakers and staff, familiarizing us with the facilities, rules and procedures and reinforcing the best ways to establish a collegial and professional work environment that best serves the needs of our constituents.
My priorities this session include legislation designed to reduce the risk of school mass shootings. The security of our children and classrooms is a state and national concern, and I hope these are measures that all Oregonians can support.
-
HB 2289 would establish a school safety task force to review safety features for school facilities, develop recommendations for legislation and then report back to the legislature.
-
HB 2290 requires the development and implementation of a student threat assessment policy while ensuring the services of a behavioral health specialist for school districts.
-
HB 2287 authorizes school districts to allow firearm safety courses on school property in cooperation with the local law enforcement agency.
-
HB 2291 is an Oregon Tax Credit for Gun Safes and/or locking mechanisms, $50 per individual, or $100 per joint filing, applying to tax years 2020-2026.
I know many folks in House District 31 enjoy hunting and fishing as I do, and I’ve been hearing about problems you’ve had with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s new electronic licensing system. I reached out to ODFW to share your concerns, and they were very responsive. The electronic licensing system will save the department nearly $2 million over the next biennium, and while there is still a paper option, more people are opting for the electronic license reporting. When tagging your trophy, you report the same information you would on the paper license. Connectivity can be a problem in remote outdoor areas, but both the ODFW and Oregon State Police know this, and as long you input the required information on site, the data will sync up with your license when your phone gets into service range. Harvest of big game, including turkeys requires annual reporting, which was done by telephone, but is easily done on-line. However, you must verify your account first, before you can successfully get into the system. Families reporting to ODFW can use the same computer terminal, but each person above the age of 12 must have a separate email account for reporting purposes. The department safe-guards personal information by withholding it from the customer data base.
I very much appreciate ODFW’s responsiveness to the concerns I raised on your behalf. They are working proactively to correct problems, and things should go much more smoothly a year from now, when we repeat our annual reporting procedure. One of the important ways I can serve the people of House District 31 is to interface with State Agencies regarding your issues and concerns. By working together we’ll try to find more effective ways to operate state agencies to benefit everyone.
Thanks for reading my newsletter-
Representative Brad Witt
House District 31
email: Rep.BradWitt@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1431
address: 900 Court St NE, H-382, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/witt
| 
