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To contact me, please click here: Rep.CourtBoice@oregonlegislature.gov
Hello Friends,
Session is in full swing at the Capitol! The year is off to a very productive start. Both the House and the Senate are busily crafting bills as we move forward to represent our constituents in the best manner possible.
It is an honor to be here as your District 1 Representative. Team Boice hopes you enjoy following along with many of the meetings, awards, and happenings as documented in this month's newsletter.
Today marks the 166th anniversary of when Oregon was granted statehood and became the Union's 33rd state on Feb. 14, 1859. The Oregon Historical Society typically offers free admission in honor of the holiday, but has postponed it to Saturday (Feb. 15th) and Sunday (Feb. 16th) due to its closure as a result of inclement weather. Take a look!
As always, feel free to reach out.
Yours very truly,
 Capitol Phone: 503-986-1401
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-382, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.CourtBoice@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/boice
Senator David Brock Smith was quick to propose a wise solution to the funding problem facing the Bay Area hospitals in Coos Bay. SB 1000 is part of our vision understanding how important regional hospitals are to Southwest Oregon and frankly, all Oregon hospitals.
 There are four excellent rural medical facilities and hospitals in my House District and Brock Smith’s Senate District. They combine to employ nearly 4,500 people and provide fabulous healthcare for our citizens. In addition, Bay Area is a critical Oregon healthcare hub to 200,000 Oregonians and deserves local and state support. We believe State Government will and should commit to a greater level of support. Read more here.
Senator David Brock Smith's beloved father passed on December 5th, 2024.
He is greatly missed and remembered for 27 years of service as a Navy Veteran, proud Mustang, and his loving devotion to his wife, children, extended family, and friends.
This week, we held a press conference to outline our priorities to help you and your family live in a safer, more affordable, and prosperous Oregon.
We are here to serve the people who are dissatisfied, overburdened, and increasingly frustrated with the direction Oregon is moving in, and together we will work together to get Oregon BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK. We aim to empower communities and families by focusing on the challenges that impact our day-to-day lives: high taxes on gas and earnings, expensive housing, inadequate education options, and chronic homelessness, which is affecting our ability to live in safe, drug-free neighborhoods.
AFFORDABILITY: Oregonians should be able to afford to live here. Taxes are too high. We want you and your family to keep more of what you make by cutting your income taxes and opposing new taxes and regulations that increase the cost of living.
HOUSING: Oregonians should be able to afford to buy or rent a home in the neighborhood they want to live in. While the governor wants to build more expensive, government-funded housing with taxpayer dollars, we want the government to get out of the way, lower property taxes, and eliminate heavy-handed regulations that are keeping you from buying a home.
EDUCATION: Every Oregon child deserves a quality education that fits their and their families’ needs. Education should be centered around what the student needs to thrive and be successful. We will work to dramatically reform public education to provide more options and give control back to families to choose the school that is best for them.
HOMELESSNESS: Oregonians deserve to live in safe, drug-free neighborhoods. Homelessness should be rare and temporary, not chronic and permanent. We want to end the homelessness crisis and restore safe and livable communities by repealing laws that allow homeless people to camp in our parks and on our sidewalks.
Read more on our press conference by clicking here.
As we're now into 2025, we are also counting something else - our electricity rates. Reports show that customers can expect another 5.5% increase in 2025. Oregon already saw a historic 18% increase in 2024 -- and this recent decision shows no end in sight.
While the company and government will tell you this is due to aging infrastructure, wildfire liability and an increase in demand - I will argue it is another failure of government-controlled monopolies.
As we have discussed with healthcare and various consumer services - government-controlled services and industry monopolies often provide antiquated and lower-quality services - for a higher price.
While there are calls for the government to step in and regulate rates - I am calling for the government to step out and allow the market to solve this problem. The time is now for Oregon to lift its monopoly protections and create a market for energy competition to increase consumer choice. This is the only way to keep the lights on for everyday Oregonians without breaking the bank.
Always a pleasure to work with State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple and her great staff.
Will We Be Ready for the 2025 Fire Season? Solutions '19' has the answers and deserves honest science and research!
These fires are what happens when the Elite Progressive Ideologies take total precedence over all else and everything we care about. Will we dramatically change course and immediately begin preparation for the greatest threat to our public safety? I offer the following short and long term proven solutions:
Stop the Radical Environmentalists Abuse of our Legal System: Continual, ridiculous, and costly lawsuits compounded by electing the wrong people, those who are often supported and funded by these elite lawyers. Those legal firms get rich off suffering Oregonians and incinerated wildlife.
Slow the Green New Economy: This climate religion and related emotional quests bring destruction and death – characterizing catastrophic fires as normal instead of preventing them is unacceptably abnormal. Stop teaching our children to worship the trees instead of fostering good stewardship and proper public lands protection with balanced production.
A Moratorium on Dam and Reservoir Removals: These are vital for flood control and water conservation. We cannot allow the removal of more dams further eliminating critical water storage.
Expedite the Salvage of Burned Timber: Due to extreme environmentalism these policies are the antithesis of sound timber management. When it finally sinks in that these valuable Oregonian assets are tragically being left on the stump - 96% wasted, the citizens will respond.
Remove Volatile Vegetation and Fire Fuels: Wisely managed by Native Americans, farmers and ranchers for centuries, we know brush grows so fast in our Oregon climate. It’s simple – water, grazing and timber harvest are crucial tools for preventing catastrophic fires – the above have all been horribly hampered resulting in 35 years of burn disasters.
Remove the 9 Oregon Fire Forest Protectives From the Oregon Department of Forestry: They should either be a 'stand alone' agency, governed by the Oregon State Fire Marshal or co-managed equally between the OEM - OSFM and Oregon Emergency Management.
Common Sense Water Management: The Native Americans referred to water as the “first medicine." We can’t accept water priorities disproportionately in favor of “endangered” species. Smart work will bring just results for all water users while putting firefighting as the highest priority.
Stop Decommissioning Our Back-Country Roads: This is not only very expensive, but block access for law enforcement, recreation, timber harvest and eliminates safety zones for our firefighters, and wildlife.
Support Rural and Volunteer Firefighters: Lack of support or at the very least, anemic funding makes it more difficult to recruit and prioritize funding for these great teams. The RVFD heroes are quite often the first ones to these dangerous fires.
A Moratorium on Wilderness Areas and Reserves: These lockouts result in more ‘let it burn’ policies, bringing our citizens more unhealthy and hazardous smoke, incinerates our wildlife, destroys our watersheds, compromises our rivers, cooks our soils, and endangers our fish recoveries.
Training More Firefighters at All Levels: This critical shortage must be addressed immediately. Long term career-based employees - 50% for firefighting and 50% for ground fuel management and abatement - a major part of the solutions to help mitigate catastrophic fires.
Engage Professional Foresters – Past and Present: Stop ignoring their historically proven expertise. Immediately pull them into the discussion. They will help with logical solutions including sensible controlled burns that we know can save lives, lands, and property.
Amend the Federal Endangered Species Act: Threatened and endangered vs. humans rights that are unacceptably taking a distant second! All bolstered by unrealistic ‘green’ policies and the climate religion used as unrealistic leverage to make our forests political instead of productive.
Bring Arsonists to Justice: Not enough focus, funding and personnel for the apprehension, arrests, and convictions of these criminals. They must know we have the resources to find them and they will pay a tremendous price in justice and punishment.
Reverse Current State Forest Policies: Oregon simply must stand firm against the federal mandates that are counter to workable solutions while demanding both governments return to tribal and private timber consistent management success models.
Reverse the Oregon Habitat Conservation Plan: Insanely designed for burning our forests instead of wise management, production and earning for all Oregonians and interests. Back to basics: Mow the grass, clear the brush, graze the meadows, and harvest the timber.
Work to keep Oregon Fire Insurance Companies in Oregon: These companies are either excessively raising premiums or slowly removing their coverage in our state. The same that has happened (past tense) in California both before and after the current LA Fires. We can and will resolve and demonstrate that Oregon is proactively implementing good and proven and work with them in preventing their exodus and extreme premiums!
Promote Economic Forest Values and Security: Reset the powerful Oregon history and natural resource heritage. Teach our generations to follow the 'Green Gold’ renewable timber advantage that has been and is gifted by our natural resources.
In early December, I submitted and asked Governor Kotek to consider a 2025 Fire Emergency Declaration plan. She and her staff declined, however after the LA Nuclear Fire Tragedies, I will re-submit in February - only 90 days before the 2025 Fire Season begins.
House Bill 3150 heard testimony in committee this week. This bill seeks to establish an income tax credit for Oregon volunteer firefighters. A tax credit would allow some compensation for those Oregonians who put their lives at risk without asking for anything in return.
“It is my hope that HB 3150 will be a meaningful step in helping our volunteer fire service, in that it will recognize volunteers for their own personal cost of providing services, reward volunteers for productivity through the associated qualification requirements, and incentivize future volunteerism.” — David Jensen, Fire Chief of Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue
“Volunteers are expected to meet rigorous training requirements while balancing full-time jobs and family commitments. Providing a modest $1,000 tax credit is a tangible way to recognize the dedication of these individuals and alleviate some of the financial burdens they face.” — Joseph Rodondi, Fire Chief of Lebanon Fire District
“This bill recognizes the invaluable contributions of these dedicated individuals who selflessly serve their communities, often at great personal sacrifice.” — Ben Stange, Fire Chief of Polk County Fire District No. 1, and Brian Stewart, Fire Chief of Clackamas Fire District
Feb. 5 was National Women and Girls in Sports Day. As we reflect on all the glass-ceiling-shattering accomplishments women and girls have made in sports over the years, we also celebrate President Trump’s efforts to protect the very thing that makes women’s sports, women’s sports.
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which bans biological males from competing against women in women’s sports by aligning federal policy with Title IX—a law that prohibits discrimination based on sex for schools that receive federal funding.
Republicans have introduced several pieces of legislation to protect women’s sports and are united in protecting women’s sports.
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House Bill 2037 ensures that only biological women can enter women’s locker rooms and bathrooms and participate in women’s sports in school.
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LC 3895 seeks to restore safety and fairness in women’s sports by prohibiting biological males, in Oregon's K-12 schools, from competing in extracurricular sports designed for biological females.
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SB 618 is similar to LC 3895 and focuses on prohibiting biological males, in Oregon's K-12 schools, from competing in extracurricular sports designed for biological females.
Britt and I arrived a month after the 2023 Full Legislative Session began. It was an exciting time, and quite a whirlwind after we were appointed by 8 of our 9 Coos, Curry and Douglas County Commissioners. We've had considerable support from Senator Brock Smith, his staff and many others and quickly ramped up to speed.
After eight years serving on the Oregon State Marine Board, six dedicated years as a Curry Commissioner and two years as the District 1 State Representative, my background equipped me for this role in serving Oregon constituents. Me and my staff are ready to take on the huge challenges and do everything possible to improve the lives of all the people we represent in Southwest Oregon.
Last month, we memorialized the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau as we remembered the six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.
It is critical that we learn about the lessons of the Holocaust and renew our promise to never let it happen again. We continue to pray that the hostages from the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel be safely returned.
Every year, Rep. Boice joins the team at Wreaths Across America to remember and Honor our veterans through the laying of Remembrance wreaths on the graves of our country's fallen heroes and the act of saying the name of each and every veteran aloud.
Rep. Boice speaking at Wreaths Across America.
As always, it is my honor to serve you and our community at your State Capitol this session. Please stay in touch and reach out if there are any issues you would like us to work on.
Reach my office:
Office Phone: 503-986-1401
Email: Rep.CourtBoice@oregonlegislature.gov
Office Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-000 | Salem, OR 97301
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepBoice
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