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Dear Neighbors and Friends,
Happy Pongal, to all who celebrate! My neighbor and friend dropped off a traditional (and delicious) sweet Pongal porridge yesterday and shared with me some of her family’s traditions. Wishing all a wonderful harvest in 2023!
Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Junior by remembering his legacy and honoring him through education, activism, and service to our community. Dr. King was a fierce advocate, standing up against racism, injustice, guided by love and a vision for a brighter future for everyone. As this Op-Ed titled “This MLK Jr. Day, let’s learn lessons from history” so effectively underscores, though, it takes all of us working together, and no great leader does their work alone. The author writes, “We are all part of a network of relationships that influences us. We are all connected, indispensable to one another and to each of our individual stories.”
 You can participate in this day through reflection, celebration, or service. Here are community events to consider:
- The Chehalem Cultural Center is hosting their 13th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day Celebration at 5:30 this evening. The event is free and includes food, music, presentations, and discussion.
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The City of Tigard’s Day of Service includes tree planting and Food Box distribution.
- Donation events include Collecting Personal care items such as diapers, wipes, new underwear, new socks, and deodorant for The Canby Center. Drop off at the Social Services Lobby located at 2051 Kaen Rd, Oregon City through Jan 19th to support Clackamas County youth and families.
- Visit Clackamas County’s 3 ways to make a positive impact this Martin Luther King Jr. Day page to learn more about how you can give back, educate yourself and stay engaged. This page has lots of opportunities to volunteer, donate to culturally specific non-profits, join diversity, equity, and inclusion groups, and learn about Dr. King’s legacy.
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US National Parks will waive entrance fees for the holiday
Joint Town Hall with Representative Bowman and Senator Woods
Join me in two weeks, along with Representative Bowman and Senator Woods, for our Joint Town Hall on Saturday, January 28th from 12-1:30 pm at the King City Civic Association Clubhouse!
This is a great opportunity for you to hear about the legislative session, learn about what we hope to accomplish this year, and get your questions answered. We encourage you to share any questions, concerns, or requests for accommodations in advance using the registration link. Light refreshments will be offered. We hope to see you there!
Click the button below to register.
As always, please contact my office with any questions you might have, or if you need any assistance or accommodations by emailing Rep.CourtneyNeron@oregonlegislature.gov.
Session Just Around the Corner
With the start of session tomorrow, here are a few ways you can engage:
If you have questions or thoughts that you want to share about any policy, please feel free to reach out to my office at rep.courtneyneron@oregonlegislature.gov.
Housing
Constituent Jessica Israel came to my office hours recently to share with me that her family faces a 32% ($560-a-month) rent increase for their 3-bedroom Sherwood apartment, and 50% increase if they delay signing for a month. Here’s a KOIN and a KATU article that highlights her story. All this is happening after the apartment complex was purchased by Cushman & Wakefield (a corporate landlord company who made $7.8 billion in revenue in 2020). Jessica's complex is too new to fall under the rent cap Oregon passed in 2019.
Her story is not an isolated incident and illustrates issues I am working to address in our upcoming 2023 session. We must curb flagrant investor behavior and support rent-burdened and mortgage burdened Oregonians who are struggling to stay housed. I am chief sponsoring the following bills to address components of our housing crisis:
🏠 SB 611 will set reasonable rent increase allowances to no more than 3% to 8% per year and reduce the loophole for exemptions from 15-year-old complexes to 3-year-old complexes.
🏠 Homeshare, HB 3032 will exempt homeowners from taxes on income from renting out a room in their home at an affordable rate. Find more information about the Home Share bill here.
🏠 HB 3042 will improve notification for tenants and extend the Safe Harbor Period to three years when Publicly Supported Housing (PuSH) project funding ends. Read more about my PuSH bill here.
I am grateful that Governor Kotek understands the humanitarian crisis and is committed to working with our legislature to respond. In her first days as Governor, Tina Kotek declared a homelessness state of emergency, allowing our Department of Emergency Management to set up an incident command structure to coordinate state agencies and resources needed to address the crisis more quickly than otherwise possible.
Part of keeping people housed is ensuring that housing prices are achievable. With these and other essential policies and investments, we are working toward short and long-term solutions to keep Oregonians housed and stable.
Child Care
This past week I co-hosted Child Care For Oregon's (https://childcarefororegon.org/) Legislative Briefing to present our coalition's 2023 policy agenda and emphasize the need for continued advances in critical upstream investments in child care workforce development, infrastructure, access and affordability.
Stabilizing Oregon's caregiving workforce and improving access to quality, affordable childcare for working families are among my top priorities this session. I support the entire coalition agenda and have introduced:
⭐HB 3029 (https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/HB3029) Creates an incentive and assistance program to build our child care workforce modeled after the medical providers program.
⭐HB 3027 (https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Measures/Overview/HB3027): Funds trusted community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide navigation services to families who should be eligible for child care assistance.
Tour of Sherwood Hawks View Elementary with Lea, our Oregon Kid Governor!
This past Friday, Sherwood Mayor Tim Rosener and I met with Oregon Kid Governor Lea Andrus at Hawks View Elementary! It was so great to connect with Lea to talk about her kindness platform, her cabinet of fellow advocates, and the leadership opportunities she has this year.
I am inspired by rising, young leaders who are civically engaged. During the visit, she took me on a tour of her school and introduced me to her class, also known as Mr. Gregory’s G-Town!
I let them know how important it is to me that I hear from voters, but also that I connect with people in my district who can’t vote yet. Student voices of all ages can inform the work we do. They asked lots of fantastic questions and collectively emphasized that they hope we can improve school lunches.
I agree, nutrition is critical and our schools play a role in delivering quality meals. It’s time that all students have access to meals, which is why I have introduced HB3030 to establish the Universal School Meal Account this session to ensure that all students have access to nutrition, as they did during the pandemic. While I also hope to have further conversations about the amount of time students are given to eat, Mr. Gregory’s class underscored the critical importance of fresh, healthy meals.
Local News you may be tracking:
Aurora Airport Development
A recent ruling underscores that the land around the Aurora Airport is zoned for farm use, rather than commercial or airport development, and that a transportation facility is not reason alone to justify development on unincorporated land. Statesman Journal Article.
In July 2018, I toured the Aurora Airport and was shocked that the beautiful Oak Trees at the former church camp had been completely leveled, seemingly for development of the property.
New Tigard neighborhoods and Land Swap Conversations
Oregon has underbuilt housing by 100,000+ units in recent decades and Tigard is among the jurisdictions working hard to responsibly address the needs for more housing in our region. River Terrace 2.0 has potential to add single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, cottage clusters, courtyard units, row houses and accessory dwelling units if the land swap is approved. Virtual and in person Town Halls took place in early January. Metro is holding a public hearing on January 19 and is likely to vote on Ordinance No. 23-1488.
Economic Development
With the recent announcement that our Federal Delegation secured $3 million to fund the new Ice Age Drive roadway through the Tonquin Economic Development area, our region is even better poised to attract technology, manufacturing, aerospace, research, and semiconductor companies to our area. I will be pursuing additional state dollars to support this work that will bring quality jobs to our area.
Small Businesses can soon apply for tax-free grants of up to $10,000 from the Oregon Business Recovery Center. On Jan 31, 2023, the grant applications will open for people who are still trying to mitigate pandemic hardships and impacts on their small businesses. Find out more information at https://www.oregonbrc.org/home/small-business-grants.
Oregon Unclaimed Property Program
Oregon holds millions of dollars in Oregonian’s unclaimed assets. Our Unclaimed Property Program – now part of Oregon State Treasury – keeps those funds safe for their rightful owner to claim. It’s not too good to be true. Search to see if you have any unclaimed property (such as uncashed checks, forgotten bank accounts, security deposits, tax refunds, credit balances, investment accounts, and other funds) by visiting unclaimed.oregon.gov
Oregon Waives Fee for Social Work Licensure Exams
Oregon needs social workers and behavioral health workers. In 2022 we passed HB4071 to respond to the need with targeted financial incentives specifically designed to diversify and increase our behavioral health workforce. This week, OHA announced that they would be waiving the fee for qualifying applicants who take the Social Work Licensure Exam (typically $230-260) between now and February 19, 2024. More information can be found here.
In Closing
I look forward to serving in our 82nd Legislative Assembly that kicks off tomorrow will end by June 25, with a new Governor and the most diverse legislature in Oregon history. As always,I will be tracking local events and issues across our House District 26, and focusing on my committee assignments of Education, Early Childhood and Human Services, and Gambling Regulation, as well as my legislative agenda. My office and I stand ready to serve and hope you will stay connected through email, phone, town halls, and office hours.
Sincerely,
 State Representative Courtney Neron
Office Hours Registration
Town Hall RSVP
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1426
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, H-281, Salem, OR 97301
Email: Rep.CourtneyNeron@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/neron
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