We're Halfway There...

Friends and Neighbors,

Now that you all have Bon Jovi's song stuck in your head, let me explain what I mean by "halfway there". The 82nd Legislative Session will (most likely) end on June 25th. That means that we are now officially halfway through the marathon of a long legislative session. At this point of the session there are a couple of important scheduling deadlines for any bill to meet in order to remain viable and have a chance at passing to the House floor for a vote.

As part of the legislative lifecycle, all bills must have a public hearing and a work session in committee before coming to the House floor for a vote. A work session is when the committee votes the bill out of committee. Some bills leave committee and go straight to the floor for a vote, while bills that need funding go to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.

The legislature has specific deadlines that bills must meet in order to continue in the process. You can find the deadline dates by visiting this calendar. Friday, March 17th, was the deadline that all bills in policy committees must be scheduled for a work session or they will not move forward the rest of this session. The work sessions for these bills must happen on or before April 4th. Bills in the Rules committee or a joint committee do not have the same deadlines.

Below I have highlighted my bills that will continue in the process and the ones that did not make it this time. I am proud of the policy that will be moving forward at this time, and I am committed to continue working on the policy of the bills that did not make it this time.

We are currently at the circled part of the process illustrated above for how a bill becomes a law. Like I said, halfway there!

Bills Moving Forward

• HB 2697
  • Requires hospitals to establish technical staff and service staff staffing committees to develop staffing plans, in addition to nurse staffing committee.

• HB 2918 and HB 2925
  • Fixing issues with HB 4052 from the 2022 legislative session which directed the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Advocacy Commission Office to set up mobile health units and look at solutions to address racism as a public health crisis. HB 2918 adds additional funds to the mobile health unit pilot program to help implementation. HB 2925 continues funds and the work of the state agencies and affinity groups. This will allow for work to continue until the final report is due in June 2026.
• HB 2919
  • Provides that registered nurse providing patient care in good faith is immune from criminal liability for act or omission that is part of provision of care unless offense has intentional or knowing culpable mental state.
• HB 2920
  • Directs insurer to consider only specified information in determining rates for motor vehicle liability insurance policy. Specifically, they cannot use credit score for determining rates. Other factors such as housing status, marital status, and employment also cannot be used.
• HB 2921
  • Requires hospitals to file certain reports showing demographics of hospitals' workforces with Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries for posting to Bureau of Labor and Industries' website.
• HB 2922
  • Increases bond amounts that persons licensed by Construction Contractors Board must maintain. This would increase the base amount by $5,000. The current base is $10,000-$20,000.
• HB 2926
  • Directs Oregon Health Authority to establish program to provide financial incentives to hospitals for offering clinical training opportunities for nursing students.
• HB 2927
  • Establishes Statewide Steering Committee on Sickle Cell Disease.
• HB 3313
  • Requires Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office, Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Commission on Black Affairs, Commission for Women, and Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs to each employ at least one paid intern each. 
• HB 3324
  • Directs Oregon Health Authority to establish a program to provide incentives to nurse instructors.
• HB 3515
  • Provides that a city with a population greater than 600,000 may refer a ballot measure to electors to form a park and recreation district and have the entirety of the governing body of a city serve as the entirety of the membership of the board of the district so formed.
• SB 629
  • Modifies membership of Oregon State Hospital Advisory Board to include board members with a wider range of experiences and backgrounds regarding mental health.
• SB 704
  • Establishes Universal Health Plan Governance Board and directs board to create comprehensive plan for implementing Universal Health Plan beginning in 2027.
• SB 776
  • Establishes a task force on reparations for Oregonians of African-American descent. Directs task force to study and develop proposals for financial and non-financial reparations, develop appropriate methods for educating the public about the task force findings, and recommend appropriate remedies based on task force findings.
• SB 851
  • Requires the Bureau of Labor and Industries to study matters relating to psychological abuse occurring in workplaces in Oregon.
• SB 907
  • Provides employee with the right to refuse to perform a task assigned by employer under certain circumstances, including dangerous conditions.
• SB 925
  
  • Makes it an unlawful practice for employer or employment agency to advertise job, promotion, or transfer opportunity without disclosing pay range and employment benefits in job posting.

Bills That Didn't Cross The Finish Line

Every legislator hopes that all of their bills make it to the House floor for a vote, but realistically we all know that is not the case. Here is a brief overview of my bills that didn't make it this session, but I'm hopefully about introducing again in the future. (It's not uncommon for a bill to be introduced in two or three sessions before passing into law.)

• HB 2744
  • Adds registered nurse who is nursing faculty member to types of providers who are eligible for income tax credit allowed to rural medical providers.
• HB 2923
  • Imposes requirements on hospitals with respect to health care workers' schedules.
• HB 2924
  • Expands allowable uses of sick leave provisions to include leave for employee's mental health and for care of mental health needs of employee's family member.
• HB 2928
  • Extends health care provider incentive program to health care providers who are students enrolled in health professional training programs leading to licensure as licensed practical nurse or registered nurse.
• HB 3182
  
  • Requires hospitals to record and report to Oregon Health Authority the hospitals' daily cash on hand.
• HB 3285
  • Makes it an unlawful practice for employer or employment agency to advertise job, promotion, or transfer opportunity without disclosing pay range and employment benefits in job posting.
• HB 3314
  • Directs Oregon Health Authority to develop an incentive program to increase nighttime and weekend clinical training placements for nursing students.
• HB 3315
  
  • Establishes Registered Nurse Grant program within the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
• HB 3413
  • Adds Registered Nurse who is nursing faculty member to types of providers who are eligible for income tax credit allowed to rural medical providers.
• HB 3415
  • Requires Oregon State Board of Nursing to study the nursing workforce.
• HB 3493
  
  • Requires employer to compensate employees for on-call shift for which an employee must remain on or near employer's premises or such that employee cannot use scheduled on-call hours for personal purposes.
• HB 3553
  • Requires employers who provide sick leave, vacation leave, or personal business leave benefits to employees to compensate employees for all earned but unused accrued leave when employment terminates.

North Portland Aquatic Center Update

The Portland Parks & Rec team will be holding another community workshop at the end of April to discuss the three locations being considered for the new North Portland Aquatic Center. The community workshop will be on Thursday, April 27th, from 5:30-7:30pm at the cafeteria of César Chávez School (5103 N. Willis Blvd., Portland, OR 97203).

The North Portland community is invited to attend to share their thoughts and priorities with Portland Parks & Rec. The project team will share a detailed sample design drawing of what a future aquatic center would look like for each of the three prospective sites. The focus of this workshop in the series is to narrow down to one location from the list.

The workshop is free and open to the public and you can register to attend here. Childcare will be provided, and pizza will be provided by the César Chávez School PTA. PP&R will also open an online survey on the same day (April 27th) for those unable to attend and the survey will be open for at least two weeks.

The final three sites (in alphabetical order) are:

• Columbia Park
• Northgate Park
• University Park

If you would like email notifications for any of my bills as they continue to progress through the legislative session, you can sign up on the bill's OLIS page (all linked above). Click "e-Subscribe" near the top right corner and enter your email address to receive updates when the bill is scheduled for events such as work sessions, floor votes, and moving between chambers.

All the best,

Travis Nelson
State Representative
House District 44

Capitol Phone: 503-986-1444
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-275, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.TravisNelson@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/nelson​