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Friends and Neighbors,
Upcoming Events
Community Conversation #100!!
Join me for my 100th Community Conversation at Insomnia Coffee in downtown Hillsboro, on Saturday, December 3rd, from 10 to 11am. Bring your questions and share your thoughts or concerns. Then stick around to do some shopping in Downtown Hillsboro and support our local small businesses. I look forward to seeing you there!
In the Legislature
December Economic and Revenue Forecast
The December Economic and Revenue Forecast was released this morning. It is an excellent way to hear the state of the economy and especially how it impacts Oregon. See what is in store for the year to come on cost of living, inflation, job stability and more.
Watch the Forecast here.
Annual Public Hearings on Prescription Drug Prices
From Oregon Division of Financial Regulation
Each year the Department of Consumer and Business Services holds a public hearing on prescription drug pricing. The public hearings include state legislators and provide time for public comment. The hearings cover topics related to prescription drug pricing to inform the Oregon Legislature and the public. No pre-registration required.
Join via Zoom
Date: Thursday, Dec. 1
Time: 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Or call +1 669-254-5252 (Toll Free)
ID: 160-839-1802
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services is asking for the public's help before the 2022 public hearing on prescription drug prices. The department has set up a brief survey for consumers to share their stories about rising prescription drug prices. Drug prices play a major role in health care decisions of Oregonians and the cost of prescription drugs have steadily increased. The department wants to hear your stories about the increase in prescription drugs and how has it affected you and your family. You are encouraged to report on price increases you have experienced.
Taxpayer Advocate Office
Did you know? Oregon has a Taxpayer Advocate Office, established by the legislature in 2021, to help Oregonians with their tax related issues.
The taxpayer advocate will:
- Identify issues or barriers to equitable and fair tax collection.
- Identify meaningful ways to work with community partners, especially in efforts to reach previously underserved populations.
- Provide expedited service to taxpayers whose problems are not resolved through ordinary channels and receive and evaluate complaints of improper, abusive, or inefficient service by agency employees.
- Identify systemic issues and make recommendations to address them.
- Promote taxpayer issues and concerns to department policymakers and state legislators.
- Provide another access point to department information.
- Problem-solve and suggest options to taxpayer dilemmas that exist through normal channels the taxpayer may not have been aware of.
However, the advocate cannot change Oregon tax law for individual situations, interfere with normal processes unless a documented hardship exists, or provide legal counsel.
The Oregon Department of Revenue has added to its growing social media presence with the launch of a YouTube channel.
YouTube joins Twitter and LinkedIn among the agency’s social media platforms with Revenue planning to add Facebook and Instagram accounts in early 2023.
The channel was launched with a pair of videos highlighting the work of the Taxpayer Advocate Office, which was created by the Oregon Legislature in 2021 to be a voice and resource for taxpayers to support equitable and fair tax collection.
Revenue’s YouTube channel will feature videos produced by the department to provide information for Oregon taxpayers along with videos produced in support of agency news releases.
To keep up with the latest videos from DOR subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS5q9DMEllCTVgajVtmti_w.
Links to the Taxpayer Advocate Office videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_o13QipanA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODYeWDWGmtQ
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Native American Heritage Month
November is National Native American Heritage Month
Shared from NativeAmericanHeritageMonth.gov
What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.
One of the very proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the “First Americans” and for three years they adopted such a day. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, Kans., formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon the country to observe such a day. Coolidge issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of each May as an American Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens.
The year before this proclamation was issued, Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state seeking approval for a day to honor Indians. On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. There is no record, however, of such a national day being proclaimed.
The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Presently, several states have designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day we observe without any recognition as a national legal holiday.
In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.
Other Dedicated Web Sites
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Oregon's Nine Tribes
Shared from the Oregon State Capitol
Oregon is home to nine federally recognized tribes with rich and diverse cultural identities, histories, and connections to this land:
You can learn more about each of Oregon's nine tribes by visiting their websites above.
Visit Five Oaks Museum Online Exhibition - This IS Kalapuyan Land
Shared from Five Oaks Museum
This IS Kalapuyan Land opened in 2019 as a physical museum exhibition by Guest Curator Steph Littlebird Fogel (Grand Ronde, Kalapuya) and became an online exhibition in 2020. Fogel annotated panels from the museum’s prior exhibit on Kalapuyan peoples, curated contemporary Native artwork into the exhibition, and added historical content from David G. Lewis, Phd, who is a preeminent scholar on Western Oregon tribes. The exhibition prompts critical thinking around representation of Indigenous history and identity in non-Indigenous institutions.
View the online exhibition here.
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Community Outreach
National Apprenticeship Week - Nov 14th-20th
National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) is a nationwide celebration to showcase the opportunities that Registered Apprenticeships offer for Americans to develop workplace experience and skills that employers value.
In honor of the 85th Anniversary of the National Apprenticeship Act, the U.S. Department of Labor is hosting the 8th Annual National Apprenticeship Week (NAW)! This year’s NAW will take place November 14-20, 2022, at hundreds of events across the country. These events give leaders in
business, labor, workforce, education and other critical industries the opportunity to showcase their
Registered Apprenticeship programs, apprentices, and facilities to career seekers in their local communities. Additionally, apprentices have a platform to share their apprenticeship experience and how it has transformed their lives.
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Hillsboro Holly Days Celebration - Sat, Nov 19th from 2:00-7:00pm
Shared from DowntownHillsboro.org
 Celebrate the season at the annual Hillsboro Holly Days Celebration at the Hillsboro Civic Center on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Artisans showcase their best handmade work at this bustling market, while carolers, live music, and activities for all ages abound. Downtown merchants will also be open for business with a variety of in-shop activities and promotions. Downtown will be full of holiday cheer and excitement leading up to the awe-inspiring tree lighting at 6:00 pm.
Find more information here.
Portland State University - Career & Community Studies
Information Night on December 1, from 5:30-7:00pm. Zoom link here.
Affordable Connectivity Program
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a U.S. government program run by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program to help low-income households pay for internet service and connected devices like a laptop or tablet.
You are likely eligible if your household’s income is below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line, or if you or someone you live with currently receives a government benefit like SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, WIC, Pell Grant, or Free and Reduced-Price Lunch.
If your household is eligible, you could receive:
- Up to a $30/month discount on your internet service
- Up to a $75/month discount if your household is on qualifying Tribal lands
- A one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer (with a co-payment of more than $10 but less than $50)
- A low cost service plan that may be fully covered through the ACP*
Learn more and apply here.
Be good to yourself and each other. ❤
Onward & Upward,
 Senate District 15 lies on Kalapuya land. The Atfalati were the northernmost band of the Kalapuya that lived along the Tualatin River in present day Washington County. Many of the Atfalati descendants are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon today. The Indigenous Peoples of this land experienced a painful history of colonial violence, sickness and removal from their land. The Atfalati are the foundation of Oregon’s past and we must honor them well into our future.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1715
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-207, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Sen.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/sollman
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