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We recently declared sine die on the 2022 Legislative Short Session. For most of Oregon's history, the legislature only met for six months in odd-numbered years. When funding needs arose in the 18-month interim, the Emergency Board, which is composed of members of the state House and Senate, convened to distribute funds as needed. In 2010, because Oregon's Emergency Board was having to meet so often, the Legislature asked voters to approve a 35-day short session in every even-numbered year to deal with budget issues.
We are allowed a limited number of bills in the short session, in order to maintain the focus on cleaning up unintended consequences from new laws passed in the long session and making budget adjustments. In this short session, we added some law enforcement tools to deal with the illegal cannabis situation here in southern Oregon. We also funded the Department of Forestry and distributed federal money that had not been allocated in the long session. Please read below to learn more.
As always, if you have questions or concerns about the budget allocations or policy bills that were passed this session, please email me and my staff at Rep.KimWallan@oregonlegislature.gov. We are now in the interim, which means our time in the Salem office will be limited and we will not have regular access to USPS mail.
Best,
Kim
As you probably know, there is a tremendous amount of money coming to the states from the federal government, which has been one of the drivers of the inflation we've been seeing. It is the responsibility of the legislature to allocate these funds and rebalance our state budget in light of the increased revenue. In this session, funds were allocated mainly for certain types of projects, including housing and homeless transition support, workforce training, and rural drought relief and other investments.
While Portland always gets the lion's share of state money, I managed to secure $4.85 million for completion of the voter-approved Rogue X sports complex as well as homeless transition and trash clean-up.
Click anywhere on this image to see a rendering of our Rogue X facility. It will include recreation & competition pools, a splash pad, sport courts, events spaces, and more:
House bill 3000 from last session gave law enforcement a number of tools to address the illegal cannabis grows in southern Oregon. This session we gave them more avenues to manage the resulting water theft and human trafficking crises, along with limitations on how much cannabis may be grown legally.
You may have heard that a law passed in 2021 was interpreted by Portland Police as an outright ban on tear gas. This session we amended that to clarify that tear gas is allowed in riot situations. While we helped the police maintain public safety with this measure, unfortunately, a measure to limit the ability of the police to make a traffic stop for a missing headlight or tail light passed, in spite of the danger to public safety that will result. Headlight and tail light stops are an important way law enforcement officers identify and interrupt human trafficking and drug crimes.
I heard from many of you about SB 1529, which in its original version would have granted massively expanded powers to OHA. After two years of confusing and often conflicting rules from the Oregon Health Authority, this bill would have given the director as much power as the governor to declare public health emergencies.
I was strongly opposed to this bill, and I'm pleased to report that this section was removed from the measure. With the expanded powers for OHA blocked, the bill now guarantees insurance coverage for primary and mental health care doctor visits.
You may recall that in 2021, the governor signed a bill (SB 744) eliminating graduation requirements for Oregon's students. I believed then and still maintain that dropping graduation requirements does a great disservice not only to our students, but to our state. We should instead being working to develop ways to make up for the learning loss caused by school closures and quarantining in 2020 and 2021.
My bill this session, HB 4028, was designed to reinstitute not only graduation requirements but also educational standards in every grade. We have a responsibility to provide our students with meaningful education and diplomas that will prepare them for their future positions in universities and careers.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1406
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, H-376, Salem, OR 97301
Email: Rep.KimWallan@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/wallan
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