Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Today is one of the first major deadlines of the session and things are really heating up in Salem.
 Photo still from House Committee on Business and Labor meeting
-
House Committee on Higher Education: we considered numerous bills – including HB 3121 to promote affordable textbooks and other materials as well as HB 2262 to encourage more students to pursue a career in early childhood education. We also heard very stirring testimony on HB 3456, a bill designed to prevent sexual assaults on college campuses.
-
House Committee on Business and Labor: we reviewed bills related to the workforce - including retention bonuses, pay equity, and fair wages. In addition, we looked at HB 3471 which would prohibit settlements in workers compensation cases from including a provision to terminate the worker from further employment.
-
Joint Committee on Semiconductors: SB 4, also known as the “Oregon CHIPS” bill, made it out of our committee with bipartisan support on Wednesday. It includes $190 million for a new loan / grant fund to promote semiconductors, $10 million to help local governments prepare industrial land sites, and $10 million for the University Innovation Research Fund. It also gives the governor the flexibility to designate industrial land to grow the microchip industry and create living wage jobs for Oregonians. SB 4 now moves to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.
-
Joint Commitee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development: we received a multi-day briefing from the Oregon Department of Transportation on its major projects, options for the long-term funding of our infrastructure, creating a more climate-friendly transportation network, and more.
This week, the Oregon House of Representatives responded to the housing and homelessness crisis by passing the bipartisan Affordable Housing & Emergency Homelessness Response Package (HB2001/HB5019). We're taking bold action to help shelter Oregonians living on the street, prevent more homelessness and ramp up affordable housing production across the state. The package includes things like:
-
$25 million to address youth homelessness by helping school-aged children or their families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
-
$20 million to help develop more modular housing, prioritizing disaster recovery areas, and low-income and middle-income housing projects.
-
$3 million to fund a pilot project for pre-construction loans for developers to build rental housing affordable to moderate-income level homes.
-
$5 million in grants to help farmers improve farmworker housing.
-
$27 million to 25 rural counties to help address homelessness.
This is the first major policy package of the session and is a huge step forward as we try to make affordable and accessible housing a reality for every Oregonian.
This week I had the opportunity to sit down with Eastern Oregon University's President, Richard Chaves, and Vice President, Tim Seydel, to discuss the amazing work they are doing in partnership with local community colleges. It has also been a pleasure working with them on my non-profit work study bill, HB2802, which would establish pilot programs at PSU and EOU to provide discounted tuition to students who work at a small, non-profits in their community.
I also spent some time with Oregon State University's President, Jayathi Murthy, to talk about the exciting and innovative work that OSU is doing to train our technology workforce.
In order for a bill to move forward in this session, it needs to be scheduled for a Work Session by today and it needs to be voted out of committee no later than April 4th. Bills in regular policy committees cannot move forward if they are not scheduled and passed by those dates. House Committee on Revenue, House Committee on Rules, and all Joint Committees are not subject to these deadlines.
Don't forget to contact my office with any questions or feedback. You can do so via email at Rep.NathanSosa@Oregonlegislature.gov or by phone at (503) 986-1430. Feel free to also stop by in-person at office H-280. I look forward to hearing from you!
Take care!
 Capitol Phone: 503-986-1430
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-280, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.NathanSosa@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/sosa
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RepresentativeSosa
| 
