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February has been a very busy month here in
the Oregon capitol. While the change in
the governor’s office has been garnering a lot of attention, my colleagues and I
have been focused on passing legislation that will impact the lives of all Oregonians.
My committee assignments keep me busy, but I
am always happy to meet with people from my district.
This month I’ve signed on as a sponsor of several
bills, including House Bill 2996 which will create the Oregon Center of Cyber
Excellence. I also worked with Washington County teachers to draft one of my priority
bills to address education funding. Furthermore, I have been busy reviewing many
important proposals coming through my committees including several bills
addressing the tax implications of central assessment, and a bill expanding the
e-permitting system in Oregon. And in the Joint Ways & Means Subcommittee
on Information Technology we have been hearing testimony from the heads of
different departments to get a better understanding of the state of IT in
Oregon.
I really enjoyed meeting with so many of you at
my Joint Constituent Coffee last month with Representatives Gallegos and McLain. If you’re seeking an opportunity to meet with
me in-district please try to attend my Constituent Coffee in Forest Grove
tomorrow morning.
Constituent
Coffee
My next Constituent Coffee will be this coming
Saturday, February 21st from
10:00-11:30 a.m. at BJ's Coffee Company,
located at 2834 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove, OR 97116. Please join me for this opportunity to meet face-to-face to
discuss issues that matter to you. My next constituent coffee is tentatively
planned for March in Cornelius – I’ll post the exact date and time once
I have confirmed the location.
Oregon
Center for Cyber Excellence
We know how important
cyber security is after the hacker attack on the Oregon Secretary of State’s
office last year. Although the attack was caught early before any damage was
done, we need to step up and improve the condition of Oregon’s cyber-security. For
that reason, I am really excited to be a chief sponsor of HB 2996. This bill is
a great opportunity to advance the state of cyber-security in Oregon by
creating The Oregon Center for Cyber Excellence. The Center will provide
services and expertise to Oregon businesses, stakeholders, and government
agencies. It will work to help coordinate cyber-security education and research
at post-secondary institutions in Oregon, and develop best practices for
cyber-safety. The Center will also develop cyber competitions and other
programs to build the practical workforce skills necessary to address
cyber-security threats. This combination of services and expertise will protect
Oregon’s businesses from immediate and long-term cyber-threats, and will make
Oregon students the industry leaders in cyber-security.
Education
Funding Opportunity
Representatives Gallegos, Representative
McLain, and I met with Washington County teachers and stakeholders earlier this
month to hear directly from them what they need to help our students succeed. One
idea that they came up with is to make a small change to Oregon income tax
forms to make it easier for individuals to donate all or part of their tax
refund to help fund primary and secondary education. Currently a number of
non-profit organizations and political parties have check boxes on the Oregon
income tax form, which allows people to donate their refund (in whole or in
part) to these organizations. Representative McLain and I have asked for bills
to be drafted to direct the Department of Revenue to add a check box that will
allow people to donate their refunds to schools too.
Committee
Highlights
Finance
& Revenue – This month the Finance & Revenue
Committee has been parsing the details of central tax assessment of businesses
(Senate Bills 570 & 571). Topics include how to tax intangibles (SB 570)
and the data center exemption (SB 571).
Business
& Transportation – Senate Bill 133 to improve the business
permitting system was passed out of committee with a unanimous “do pass”
recommendation, and is heading to the senate floor. I am proud to be carrying
this bill, which will remove the sunset on the current online system, and
expand access to additional local government entities that provide
construction-related services. SB 133 will help make the building permitting
process faster, easier, and more accessible for all Oregonians
Joint Ways & Means Subcommittee on Information Technology
– In the IT Subcommittee we have been hearing testimony from CIOs and Directors
of departments about the current state of Information Technology in Oregon. So
far we have heard from the Oregon State Chief Information Officer,
the Department of Administrative Services, the Oregon Judicial Department, and
the Office of Legislative Administration. It’s been extremely helpful and
informative to gather this baseline information.
Start
of Session Survey Results
After tallying the results it looks like the number
one issue for my constituents was split between ensuring Oregon businesses have
the resources they need to create jobs, and additional investments in education
and job training programs. Repairing Oregon’s infrastructure rounded out the
top three.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to
take the survey on my website. Keep an eye out for future surveys!
Snapshots
 Cornelius Library Celebration
I had a wonderful time on January 25th celebrating the Cornelius Library receiving a $2.4 million lottery grant, which will enable them to fund the Cornelius Place Project. I’m pictured here with Cornelius Councilor Dave Schamp and Cornelius Mayor Jef Dalin.
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National Wear Red Day
I was proud to join my colleagues on February 6th in wearing red to help the American Heart Association of Oregon & SW Washington raise awareness that heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 women.
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Stay in Touch!
We want to stay in contact with you! If you are not already subscribed, please
visit my legislative website and enter your email address into the
“e-Subscribe” link at the right so that you never miss a newsletter. You will also find me on Facebook, or you can follow me on Twitter to stay up to date with what my office is up
to. Or, you can always check the events calendar on my legislative website!
As always, I am here to serve you. If there is something I can do to assist you,
please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office.
Best,
 Senator Chuck Riley
Senate District 15
email: Sen.ChuckRiley@state.or.us I phone: 503-986-1715
address: 900 Court St NE, S-303, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/riley
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