What happens on Day 10?

Hello Friends,

Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. Here is my weekly update from Salem:

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Reflecting on the Walkouts

If you’re following the news, you probably have seen some headlines about the Senate Republicans’ walkout. This morning, the walkout continued into its 10th day. For three Senators, today was their 10th unexcused absence–meaning that they will be unable to run for reelection. In 2022, over 68% of voters supported Measure 113, which imposes strict penalties on legislators who walk out of the job. To me, the message voters sent was clear: they expect legislators to show up to work.

While the Senate has been disrupted, the House has continued to meet regularly. In fact, I wanted to share some context that you might find surprising: so far this session, 87% of the bills we passed in the House have 3 or more Republican “yes” votes. I would never ask a colleague to set aside their fundamental values. On some issues, we will always struggle to agree. But I genuinely believe those issues represent a tiny minority of the work we do in the legislature. I hope that the Senators will return to work and we can finish this session with a strong spirit of bipartisanship.

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Hall Boulevard in the news

Last week I published an Op-Ed in the Valley Times on Hall Blvd, its problems, and what we can do to fix it. If you want to learn more about the details of the jurisdictional transfer, state of good repair, and the barriers to fixing Hall, I encourage you to give it a look.

Another bill of mine, HB 2793, would help standardize the process for jurisdictional transfers for all orphan highways (state owned roads in a state of disrepair) across the state. Hall Blvd is just one of many roads with significant issues as a result of chronic underfunding from the state. HB 2793 creates a rational, systemic approach to addressing our orphan highway problem by creating a process to facilitate jurisdictional transfers. 

Peter Wong, a longtime journalist covering the Oregon legislature, wrote a great piece about both bills and their hearings in a separate article from the Valley Times here.

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Ran into Tigard High grad Kavi Shrestha in the Capitol. Pictured with Rep. Dacia Grayber and Rep. Courtney Neron

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Town Hall next weekend

Next Saturday, May 27th, I’ll be hosting a town hall with the Mayor of Tigard Heidi Lueb. I’ll be talking about what is happening with the current legislative session including legislation and the senate walkouts. Mayor Lueb will debrief us on what is happening in Tigard, then we will be taking your questions. We hope to see you there!

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Expanding Voter Access

Voting is one of the most important aspects of our Democracy. This week we passed House Bill 2107, expanding Oregon’s automatic voter registration to the Oregonians who are on the Oregon Health Plan. HB 2107 is built on and accompanies our state’s famous “motor voter” automatic registration system that registers Oregonians when they get their driver’s license. HB 2107 fills a gap in the current system and registers eligible people to vote when someone signs up for the Oregon Health Plan.

To learn more about this bill and why it matters, click here

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Speaking up for Higher Education

Last week, I spoke at the Oregon Student Association’s rally for higher education funding. The ballooning costs of higher education are prohibitive for many Oregon students–and for many, it means being saddled with student loan debt for decades. Moreover, we are experiencing severe workforce crises across multiple sectors. My belief is that we will not solve these problems without significant investments from a dedicated revenue source into the higher education system–and corresponding structural changes from public universities to lower costs and increase accountability for student outcomes. I’m concerned that the costs of degrees are increasing rapidly and the economic pay-off of a college degree is stagnating. We need to do better for Oregon students. 

Speaking to students at the Oregon Student Association rally

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 

Ben Bowman
Oregon State Representative

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