2023 Long Session Wrap Up
That's a wrap! The 2023 Legislative Session officially came to an end on Sunday—with just hours to spare from our Constitutional deadline—and it was a wild one. From the OLCC scandal that commandeered headlines, the resignation of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, breaches of transparency and process in the Legislature, to the Senate walkout and the deal that followed, this year's Session will be remembered for some time to come.
As usual, it was an uphill battle all session fighting against a divisive agenda spearheaded by the Majority here in Salem, most notably over HB 2002 and HB 2005, the two bills that were the focus of the walkout. Everyone would have their own idea of the success of limiting the impacts of potential damage of that agenda, and even headlines have ranged from calling HB 2002 and HB 2005 “gutted” to stating that Republican Senators sacrificed their careers and didn’t get much for it. But so goes the struggle of serving in the minority here in Salme.
Despite the usual frustrations, I want to stress that there was also a lot of constructive, bipartisan work done for Oregonians this session, and the contentious headlines only reflect a very small percent of the work that was done. There are always more issues impacting our communities that we’d like to see more meaningfully addressed, but progress was still made on numerous bipartisan issues impacting our state. It was this teamwork that resulted in four of my bills being passed through both chambers this session: HB 2898, HB 3073, HB 3626, and HJR 16. You can read more about these bills in the Legislative Spotlight section below.
The House Republican Caucus released the (below) press release on Sine Die.
Now the farm work begins as harvest is already underway, and somewhere in there, preparing for February’s Short Session! I look forward to continuing the momentum for critical issues to House District 11 like getting the resources needed for our schools to provide the education to our special ed students they deserve, finding new avenues for working with our wetlands restrictions, and finding much needed financing for our critical infrastructure projects.
It will be a nice break from being in Salem, but as always, I’m here to serve you! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if our office can be of any help with anything.
Noteworthy Bills from the Final Week
SB 1089 – Universal Health Care Board
Stemming from the passage of Ballot Measure 111 during 2022’s election, SB 1089 creates Universal Health Plan governance board. This board would largely be responsible for making the recommendations to the Legislature of how to roll out the first-in-the-nation universal health care plan, and probably more importantly, how to generate the billions of dollars in tax revenues to pay for it. SB 1089 passed the House on Friday.
HB 3414: Cutting Red Tape for Housing: Killed on the Senate Floor
This bill drew oppositions from both sides as ideology priorities clashed. There is no denying Oregon has a housing crisis, but early session policy only dealt with our homelessness crisis, not the critical need to ramp up housing production. HB 3414 would have made an impact on doing just that by limiting the conditions under which local government may deny an application for a variance from land use regulations of a residential development within an urban growth boundary and on lands zoned for residential use. Ultimately, I supported the bill because we were able to claw back a lot of the expansions that compromised farm lands, but environmental lobbyists were able to create enough pressure that the bill died on the Senate Floor on Sunday, by a single vote.
SB 611: More Rent Control Driving up Rent Prices
This bill also passed on Sunday despite fierce opposition from House and Senate Republicans, developers, and even some Democratic members. Make no mistake, rent control does not work when there's an existing housing shortage! Looking at cities across our country with the most rent control policies, residents suffer the highest rents, and SB 611 will only add to that effect here in Oregon. Policies like this add to the housing scarcity by driving away developers, limiting new production, while existing landlords sell into the private market.
SB 498: Estate Tax Exemption for Agriculture
A big win this session for our family farms was SB 498, which creates an exemption so that natural resource properties are not subject to the typical estate tax of 10%-16% for value over $1 million. This exclusion allows for up to $15 million, and will help many family farms remain family farms instead of being forced to sell lands to pay tax after an owner's death. This bill passed the House on the final day of session.
On Your November 2024 Ballot
HB 2004 - Ranked Choice Voting
HB 2004 is a ballot referral seeking to radically overhaul our electoral system here in Oregon at a time where quite frankly, many people have doubts about our election system and the Secretary of State’s office as a whole. While there are arguments to be made for and against this new system, I feel that ranked choice voting should be decided independently of the vested influence from those who stand to be elected by the system, but when this referral stems from the Legislature, that isn’t the case.
SJR 34: Establishing Commission to Raise Legislators’ Pay
This bill sets the stage for increasing the salary of Legislators, but actually makes it a choice of the people for whether or not Oregon should establish the Independent Public Service Compensation Commission, made up of human resources professionals to automatically raise wages as they see fit. The biggest issue around rising the salary of Legislators has been having Legislators deciding our own “raise.” That concern is largely eliminated with this approach, instead putting the question in the hands of our “bosses” – the people if they want to go down this path, but leaving actual raises in the hands of a vaguely defined commission.
HJR 16: Impeachment Bill
Oregon is the only state without an impeachment process for executive officials, leaving statewide elected officials with less avenues for accountability than any other elected state office. This resolution simply asks voters if they want to adopt a Constitutional Amendment that grants impeachment power to the Legislature for use in egregious misconduct of members in the Executive Branch. I introduced this bill, and was proud to see it pass both chambers unanimously after getting so little attention in past Legislative sessions.
Update on Some of My Bills
HJR 16: Impeachment Ballot Referral: Passed!
As mentioned above, HJR 16 simply asks voters on their 2024 general election ballot if they want to adopt a Constitutional Amendment that grants impeachment power to the Legislature. It proposes a 2/3 vote threshold to adopt impeachment articles as well as a 2/3 vote threshold for conviction, ensuring bipartisan support is needed for an impeachment to be considered. It was quite a surprise to see widespread support during this year's session (32 bill sponsors in the House alone!), no doubt boosted by Secretary Fagan's La Mota scandal and subsequent resignation.
HB 2895: Removing Funding Barriers for Students: Died in the House
This bill would amend Oregon's Student Funding Formula to remove the arbitrary 11% funding cap for Special Education students as well as give our homeless students extra weight in the formula, resulting in our schools having the additional funding they desperately require in order to address the needs of these students. We have an extremely high concentration of these students here in House District 11 compared to the rest of the state, and with the cap in place, our schools are denied the added resources for a SPED student if the school’s 11% cap is already filled. This bill had unanimous support in its initial policy committee, and there will certainly be an effort to bring it back even stronger before next session.
HB 2898: RV Habitation After Wildfires: Passed!
A major victory for our rural communities this session was the passage of my RV habitation during wildfire recovery bill. HB 2898 extends an already expired allowance that was passed in the 2021 session which allowed for recreational vehicles to be used for habitation on a lot where the single-family dwelling was destroyed in the 2020 wildfires, and creates this allowance for 5 years in any future natural disasters.
HB 3626: Strengthening Safe Surrender: Passed!
After HB 3076 was killed on the Senate floor in May through no fault of its own, I reintroduced it as HB 3626 to give it another chance for final passage. The bill moved quickly through the Legislative process and ultimately passed both chambers in the final days. HB 3626 would expand the safe surrender period of an infant in Oregon from 30 days to 60 days after birth, and more importantly create awareness of Oregon's existing Safe Surrender laws by requiring signage at safe surrender sites to inform communities of this protection.
HB 2917: Wetlands Relief Bill: Died in the House
This bill would remove wetlands from the state's buildable lands inventory, which doesn’t seem like much, but doing so would help communities show a more realistic picture of their inventory since wetlands mitigation costs make many otherwise available properties economically unviable for building. Most House District 11 communities are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to development, even to build additional housing. With surplus property listed on their inventory, there are not avenues for cities to seek additional lands, but without changes in wetlands mitigation policy, the lands available just don’t pencil out for building.
HB 3073: Address Confidentiality: Passed!
This bill would allow any candidate running for office, or any elected official to opt in to not having their home address published in candidate filings, lists of electors, or in voter files (not public records requests). Make no mistake, I am a firm believer in transparency—especially in government—but this has been an increasing deterrent for potential candidates considering running for office given the increasingly volatile nature of public service and security threats. HB 3073 strikes a balance of transparency and personal safety of officeholders, and better aligns the State’s publishing of sensitive personal information with the private sector.
HB 3248: Road Legal ATVs: Died in the House
This bill would have aligned Oregon with most other Western states which allow UTV/RTVs (“side-by-sides”) to be licensed and used on roadways if they meet the standard safety requirements of passenger vehicles. This would give flexibility in rural communities who can’t supersede the state’s authority on state-controlled roads, leaving a complex patchwork of differing rules within single jurisdictions. Tourism around ATVs is also a growing industry, and having the ability to not have to trailer ATVs along short stretches of roadway would help many Oregon communities take advantage of this trend.
Lebanon's 4th of July Celebration
Come out and celebrate our nation's independence at Cheadle Lake Park! This long-running community tradition was almost defunct, but Jamie Eriksen graciously agreed to take it over, and with the help of some amazing sponsors, Lebanon will once again have a community 4th of July Celebration! The park will open at 7:30 and the firework display will begin at 10:00.
Brownsville City-Wide Garage Sale
Brownsville's annual city-wide garage sale will take place on Saturday, July 15th! To host a sale and get on the map, you will need to send an application in no later than July 7th. You can find the application here. Print it out, fill it out, and mail it with $15 to the city (PO Box 161), or you can drop it by Armando's Mexican Restaurant.
Message From Oregon's Fire Marshall
With the 4th of July just around the corner, it's important to remember firework safety. Have fun, but keep in mind federal and state laws while you celebrate! It has been a very warm and dry beginning of summer here in Linn County, and there is no sign of that letting up anytime soon, so please do your part to help keep our community safe.
Oregon's New Secretary of State
Governor Kotek named LaVonne Griffin-Valade as Oregon's new Secretary of State on Wednesday. Griffin-Valade most notably spent 16 years as a government auditor before stepping away from government service in 2014. Following the well-publicized resignation of Secretary Fagan last month, we hope that Griffin-Valade is able to perform her duties well and restore some faith back into the office.
The Final Days of This Year's Session
Senate’s Record Walkout Ends
One Month into the Senate Walkout
Update on the Senate Standoff
Senate Walkout: 13 Days and Counting
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