House vs. Senate Basketball Game (and budget news)

Hello Friends,

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

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Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you had a restful and reflective Memorial Day weekend. At our town hall this weekend, we began with a moment of silence to honor those who died in service to our country. My family has a longstanding tradition (since before I was born) of decorating the graves of family members–going back six generations in Yamhill County.

My grandmother and grandfather’s burial plots with a fresh bouquet of flowers

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Tigard Town Hall

Thank you to those who came to my town hall with Tigard Mayor Heidi Lueb this weekend. I offered an overview of some of the significant legislation that we’ve been working on this session, and Mayor Lueb provided some highlights of work happening locally in Tigard, including the recent “time, place, and manner” decision on camping (check out this article from the Valley Times to learn more). I sincerely appreciated hearing the questions and comments from community members–the feedback helps me be more effective as a legislator.

Mayor Lueb and I at our town hall at the Tigard Library

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Big Investments

Since the May revenue forecast was released, the legislature has been developing significant budget packages. Although all legislation and budgets are stalled because of the Senate walkout, I am still hopeful they will return so we can advance these critical investments. Here are three big ones:

Education

Last week was a big week for Oregon’s K-12 public education system. The Speaker of the House and the Senate President’s office announced their plans to fund the State School Fund at $10.2 billion–a huge win for students. The first legislative funding estimate was $9.5 billion. 

To illustrate the impact of that $700 million difference: each additional $100 million in the State School Fund means approximately $1 million per year for the Tigard-Tualatin School District. There will also be a significant new investment in early literacy through a bill I’ve been working on since the beginning of the session.

Drought Prevention

In the last few years, Oregon has seen an increase in the frequency and severity of drought and water security issues. Two of my colleagues, Rep. Ken Helm (D-Beaverton) and Rep. Mark Owens (R-Crane), have been working for many months on a bipartisan water security budget framework that would modernize irrigation infrastructure, protect and enhance water sources critical to our industries and ecosystems, and increase our necessary data collection efforts so we can identify points of risk in our irrigation systems.

Public Safety

Today, the legislative leaders announced the Public Safety and Accountability Budget. This includes plans to fully fund the Department of Justice to tackle human trafficking, violence prevention, and expanded services for crime victims. The budget also allocates $611 million for the Oregon State Police, $2.2 billion for the Department of Corrections, $83 million for the Department of Public Safety and Safety Standards and Training to address the law enforcement workforce shortage, and more. I am looking forward to how this increased budget will help address the Fentynal crisis our state is facing.

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Early Literacy Win!

Governor Kotek issued an executive order, which establishes the Early Literacy Preparation Council. This is excellent news. I offered a memo to the Governor’s Office a few weeks ago on this topic and was pleased to see many of my recommendations reflected. Representative Jason Kropf (D-Bend) and I have been working closely with the Governor’s Office on early literacy. Rep. Kropf and I issued the following press release:

“We applaud the Governor’s leadership and steadfast commitment to reforming early literacy instruction in our state. The Early Literacy Preparation Council will help strengthen standards for elementary educator licensure and preparation programs, ensuring our literacy instruction reflects research on how to best teach kids to read and write.

Literacy is a foundational skill that impacts our students’ abilities to succeed in the classroom and beyond. When more than half of Oregon third graders are not reading at grade level, we know we have to do more as a state and act with expediency.

The Council’s work will complement pending early literacy investments made through House Bill 3198 A. The bill supports evidence-based, culturally responsive, early literacy strategies in and outside of the classroom. In-school strategies will include resources for high-dosage tutoring, curriculum adoption, and teacher training and coaching.

House Bill 3198 A is currently in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. While the bill has bicameral and bipartisan support, its future remains uncertain amidst continued walkouts staged by Senate Republicans.

We will continue to champion and shine a light on work that addresses Oregon’s literacy crisis and reflects our shared commitment to quality education.”

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State Workforce Crisis

Most folks are aware of the workforce crisis that private companies are facing in Oregon. It’s important to know that Oregon’s state government is facing a workforce crisis, too, with nearly 1 in 5 budgeted state positions left vacant. Oregon is seeing difficulty in attracting and retaining talent key to making state agencies run. Many Oregon state agency workers had a churn rate of 36%--more than 10 times the national average. These positions are critical to the basic functioning of our state, and we need to be creative in addressing this challenge.

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Honorary Pages

Thank you so much to Molly Fast from Tigard High School for spending time at the Capitol last Wednesday as an Honorary House Page. I’ve known Molly for several years (she was a volunteer, with her mom Madae, at Packed with Pride Food Bank). Congrats to Molly for being selected as a page!

Representative Neron, Honorary Page Molly Fast, and I on the House Floor

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OR-217 Traffic News

The Oregon Department of Transportation has a plan to reconstruct OR-217, here’s what that may mean for your commute:

• STARTING TODAY: The northbound loop on-ramp from OR-99W onto OR-217 North is closed for two months.
• Detour for drivers heading north on OR-99W looking to connect to northbound OR-217: Use the OR-99W on-ramp to head south on OR-217, exit at 72nd Avenue (Exit 7), and then use the 72nd Avenue on-ramp to head north on OR-217.
• The on-ramp to OR-217 north from southbound OR-99W will remain open.

For more information about the construction project, detours, and closures, you can read about the project here.

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One Fun Thing: Charity Basketball Event

Last week, the House and Senate held a bipartisan, bicameral charity basketball game for the Boys and Girls Club. Each chamber of the legislature had two teams, with the inter-chamber winner facing off in the title game of House v. Senate. Although my House team beat the other House team, we lost against the winning Senate team in a hard-fought Championship Game. 

If you are a constituent of mine, you will be proud to know that my team’s coach, Rep. Lucetta Elmer (R-McMinnville) named me our team’s MVP on the House Floor. But you may be embarrassed to know that I was sore for three days.

Here’s the important part: we were able to raise over $14,000 for an incredibly worthy charitable cause.

Warming up at the House v. Senate basketball game–before I was out of breath.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 

Ben Bowman
Oregon State Representative

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