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Dear Friends,
It's been a few weeks since my last legislative update as there has been little to report. Only a handful of committees are still meeting as the majority of policy committees have shut down due to legislative deadlines. Floor sessions have been scattered throughout the week(s) and as of yesterday, the Senate Chamber had yet to acquire quorum. Today, that changed when five Senators returned to provide quorum and ended the walk out. If a quorum continues in the Senate, it appears the session will adjourn by June 25th, and special sessions will be avoided
A "compromise" may have been reached by leadership, but I remain disappointed in the extreme partisanship and lack of collaboration that have proven to be the theme of this session. Leadership in the building may have changed and there may be several new members, but the same games and single party rule mentality remains strong. The most publicly visible bills of the session, HB 2002 and HB 2005, may have been “watered down” in the compromise by the Senate, but they are still concerning. Meanwhile, with all the attention focused on those two bills, other bills that will negatively impact Oregonians will now pass on party line votes during the remaining few days of the session because the Senate returned. On the positive side, it will allow budget bills to be completed and a special session, which is costly to Oregonians, has been avoided.
The amount of bills being passed with severe unintended consequences is vast as so much legislation has been poorly vetted. HB 2100 is a great example of the poor decisions being made at the Capitol. This bill increases your fees for drivers licenses, permits, identification cards, motor vehicles, etc. Not only did we recently increase these fees, but the increases are disproportionate - with commercial driver’s license (CDL's) being increased the most. Please see my comments on the House Floor. In addition, DMV requested these fees because of increased operational costs. Maybe they need to consider putting that additional revenue into improving their data security. If you missed the news today, DMV had a data breach and your personal data is most likely caught up in that mess. Make sure you watch for any identity theft.
Legislation like HB 2100 is not good for Oregonians and especially our truck drivers. I will continue to vet legislation and vote according to the values I was elected into office for, but 25 no votes don’t stop legislation or protect Oregonians. As always, thank you for your support. Please contact my office with any questions or concerns.
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 Anna Scharf
State Representative - HD 23
Last month, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) temporarily removed the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for educators and health care workers. I have been asking for over 18 months why we are still requiring vaccines for school employees, volunteers in the classroom and even bus drivers. I have submitted public comment twice and both times my comments and comments of thousands of others were ignored. It is time to end this unnecessary requirement and take away this hurdle to filling the many vacancies in our education system.
You can voice your support to permanently remove this vaccine mandate by submitting comments to publichealth.rules@odhsoha.oregon.gov by June 21st.
 Congratulations to the Lady Dragons on their State Championship win earlier this month! It was so great to have them join me at the Capitol last week. You can watch my courtesy for this great program on the House Floor by clicking here.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1423
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, H-387, Salem, OR 97301
Email: Rep.AnnaScharf@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/scharf
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