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To contact me, please click here: Rep.BenBowman@oregonlegislature.gov
Dear friends and neighbors,
After months spent down in Salem, it’s good to be spending my days back in Tigard. The last few weeks I’ve been catching up with neighbors, visiting community events, and checking in with city leaders. These conversations are helping me shape my priorities for the short session, and they’re always a good reminder that the best ideas don’t come from the Capitol, they come from right here in our community.
First – I want to say thank you to the full house of constituents who came to my joint town hall with Senator Courtney Neron Misslin and Representative Sue Rieke Smith. It was one of the largest town halls I can remember – with some challenging but important questions, both during and after the event.
There’s a lot going on right now—across Oregon, nationally, and globally. I appreciate everyone who is reaching out to my office to share their thoughts and concerns. I want to share a little about how I’m thinking about the state of our politics at the moment.
The world is changing. In my conversations across our community, people are sharing the challenges they’re facing and the anxieties they have about the state of the world. We can’t pretend we’re living through “normal times” (although I’m not sure there is such a thing). This is a transformational moment.
I’ve been reflecting on this as I shape my agenda for the months ahead. My job isn’t just to react to the latest crisis or headline – it’s to think about where we want to go as a state and to fight for the kind of Oregon we want to hand to the next generation. We have some work to do – but there is an opportunity in this moment of uncertainty, too.
If you have ideas, thoughts, or a vision for what you hope Oregon looks like in the years to come (and you’re willing to work to make it happen), I’d love to hear from you. Reach out, share your perspective, and let’s reimagine the future together. I believe those conversations can help us all feel a little more hopeful about the opportunities ahead.
Last week I had the chance to join a Tigard City Council meeting and share a quick update from the work we did in Salem. These meetings are always a highlight for me because they remind me how much good work is happening at the local level, and how much stronger we are when state and city leaders are pulling in the same direction.
We talked about the big issues facing our community: how we grow responsibly while keeping Tigard livable, how we speed up the production of housing while supporting cities like Tigard who punch above their weight, and how we invest in the infrastructure and services that people rely on every day. None of these challenges are simple, and they don’t fit neatly into state or city “lanes.” They require us to roll up our sleeves and problem-solve together.
I left the meeting feeling grateful for Tigard’s leadership and grateful for my colleagues Rep. Sue Rieke Smith and Sen. Neron Misslin, who presented alongside me. Whether it’s housing, transportation, or community safety, Tigard has been ahead of the curve in finding creative solutions. My job is to make sure the state is a strong partner in that work. That partnership is how we’ll make the progress our community deserves.
Last weekend, I joined Rep. Sarah Finger McDonald for a town hall in Corvallis (with a surprise drop-in from our Speaker Pro-Tem and my friend, Rep. David Gomberg). I joined to speak about our work on healthcare, the ongoing work on transportation, and the Legislature’s response to challenges coming from the federal level.
One highlight for me was talking about the passage of my corporate practice of medicine reform bill. I’ve talked a lot about this, but it was especially nice to speak about it in a place where it really matters.
The problem this bill is addressing—of private equity firms and big corporations buying up independent medical practices across Oregon, leaving doctors and patients with less control—happened right here in Corvallis when Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, acquired the Corvallis Clinic.
This transaction gave us critical insight into how the system was being bent to allow corporate takeovers of community-based medicine. Thanks to the Health Care Market Oversight (HCMO) review process, Optum was required to disclose their organizational structure to the public, helping us learn how big corporations were skirting regulations which said that licensees must own and control the medical practices that people rely on for care.
Thanks to what we learned in Corvallis, the advocacy of local physicians and patients, and Rep. Finger McDonald’s leadership, we built the case for reform. The result was the strongest protections in the country to ensure medical practices are controlled by physicians, not corporations.
It felt fitting to celebrate this win in Corvallis. It’s a reminder that big legislative victories don’t start in the Capitol—they start in communities, with people who speak up, organize, and push us to act.
In many ways, the months before a legislative session are the most enjoyable part of this job. It’s a chance to get grounded in the community again, attending events, meeting with neighbors, and learning about local needs and priorities. We are planning some exciting things in the coming months—so stay tuned!
As always, thank you for reading! If you see me out and about in Tigard, please don’t hesitate to say hello.
 Ben Bowman
State Representative House District 25
House Majority Leader
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1425
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-295, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.BenBowman@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bowman
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