No Way Out: Oregon lawmakers have called for the resignation of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan over reports that she has been paid for outside work on cannabis, an area of business she regulates. But beyond pressuring Fagan to step down, there is little lawmakers can do. Oregon is the only state in the nation that does not have a mechanism to impeach an executive official such as the governor, treasurer, and secretary of state.

In a repeat of the jam the state has put itself in most recently in 2015 with the 

It’s a repeat of the 2015 situation with Gov. John Kitzhaber 

Ways and Means Road Show comes to an end: There’s just one more hearing left.  It will be this coming Wednesday evening from 5 pm to 7 pm.  It will be a virtual hearing, via Microsoft Teams, with members in Hearing Room F at the Capitol and those testifying coming from all over the state.

Dembrow: 

Both chambers face another one of those crucial session deadlines this week. The deadline for posting work sessions on all bills that are in committee is this Friday. For example, if by the end of Friday, May 5th, a House bill that passed the House and is now in the Education Committee does not get scheduled for a work session (i.e., a committee vote) sometime in the next two weeks (by May 19th), it is dead for this session. I’m already being inundated with requests from sponsors to get their priority bills scheduled.

My sense at this point is that all, or nearly all, of the House bills that have come to Senate Education will in fact get both a hearing and a vote. That tends to be the case once a bill gets out of its first chamber. However, as I’ve mentioned before, opponents of a bill often choose to wait until the second chamber to raise their concerns and try to run out the clock. So far I haven’t heard any major concerns about the House bills in Senate Ed, but we still have a few more days for that!

I’ll let you know in next week’s newsletter how things are looking.

By the way, the House and Senate Rules Committees are still considering first-chamber bills that were late in being introduced or for whatever reason were not yet ready to go from their first committee to their first floor vote. (The deadlines don’t apply to the Rules Committee.) Many of those will be voted out of the Rules Committees over the next couple of weeks. Because of the requirement to post final work sessions this Friday, these bills will likely not be able to be assigned to a policy committee in the other chamber; they’ll need to go to the Rules Committee in that other chamber, hopefully leading up to a floor vote. But maybe not.

We’re getting to the point in session where the calendar begins to determine the ultimate fate of bills. It’s definitely not too late for most bills, but at some point it will be.

SB 611 gets hearing on May 4. 

Weber carried HB 3076A safe surrender bill – Levy is co-sponsor. Extends period for turning over child to 60 days. (chk)

End of Lloyd’s of London relationship.

Primary: May 21, 2024

September 14, 2023First day for major party or nonpartisan candidate to file declaration of candidacy or nominating petition. Includes precinct committeeperson. 249.037-250Primary September 14, 2023First day to file state voters’ pamphlet candidate statement or measure argument prospective petition. OAR 165-016-0000-250Primary September 14, 2023Last day for partisan candidate to register as member of major political party to satisfy 180 day membership requirement.

Fagan committee pays her $20K:

On April 20, The Committee to Elect Shemia Fagan reported an expenditure of $$20,149.96 to Fagan for “Reimbursement for Personal Expenditures.” 

She also reported $25,000 on April 12 from the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association.

Oregon GOP pitch: 

Friend,

There are only hours left till our end-of-month deadline is over and we are just short $2,196 from reaching our goal!

The latest finance reports are showing that frontline House Republicans are CRUSHING Democrats in fundraising but overall, Republicans are still behind.

We just need 92 grassroots supporters to donate $24 or more in order to beat our end-of-month goal!

Your support can make a difference in this fight.

With your contribution, we can:

Recruit and train conservative candidates to run for office

Develop and run effective voter outreach campaigns

Counter the Democrats’ false narratives with the truth about our platform and principles

Ensure that our message reaches voters across the state through targeted advertising and outreach efforts

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Friend, please help us by being one of those 92 supporters that help us meet our goal, our country depends on it!

Onward to victory,

Team ORGOP

Dembrow, Malheur Asks: 

Ways and Means Road Show – Malheur

1. Mayor of Vale. Capital:  construction for water distribution system.  

2. Capital construction for help with new lumber mill in Prairie City. Co-Gen facility (creating power from wood scrap). Need to connect to city sewer system. 

3. Harney County capital construction request.  Public services facility.  Need match of $4.7 million.  Funding for wildlife services at ODFW.

4. Malheur County needs capital construction dollars for its Transportation Reload facility.  Need additional $8.4 million due to inflation costs.

5. Need to look at how ODOT is funding its rural roads.  Oregon’s rural roads are among the deadliest in the country.

6. Jefferson County—needs funding for Central Oregon CC-Madras campus for health care and early childhood; fire house; lift lottery cap for OR fairgrounds; funding for OSU ag/forestry extension; 3124 water package.

7. Renovation and seismic upgrades for the Crook County Courthouse.  

8. Water and sewage for the Union County fairgrounds. Support for DA Offices; wolf compensation; ag extension and research. 955 agriculture workers stress hotline.

9. HB 2410 Ontario Rec Center. Recreation and support for at-risk youth.  Need state support to match local taxes and fundraising.

10. Support for rural residents’ fire insurance costs.

11. Grant County Regional Rural Revitalization for Housing 3138, 2019

12. Food for All Oregonians (SB 610).  State-supported SNAP (food stamps) support for all people, irrespective of documentation status.

13. Wallowa County.  Wolf compensation fund. SB 955 Ag Distress Bill (Suicide prevention hotline). 1% of lottery funds for county fairgrounds funding. OSU ag extension (SB 955).

14. Early learning.  Stable stubbort for early learning hubs.  Early literacy. Support for more early-learning workers.

15. HB 3198 Early literacy.  But caveats. Focus funding on kids who need it the most. Be explicit about the way the funds can be used. Prioritize teacher training.  Require high-doseage tutoring and high-quality curriculum; provide accountability.  Implementation needs to be guided by a group of practitioners.

16. HB 918. Improve housing practices.

17. Baker relief nursery. Wraparound support for children and parents. Need to increase funding by $5.3 million for current programs and $15m to expand.

18. BMCC.  Need state to partner with the community colleges.  Also a capital construction ask.

19. University support fund.  Oregon Opportunity Grant.

20. Eastern Oregon U.  Need more support for higher ed. We’re 43rd in the nation in our support for public higher ed. Tribal students grant.  Also, extra support for the small regional universities.

21. Value of Medicaid expansion.  But need workforce.

22. University students need support. 

23. SB 564 to support regional health equity coalitions.

24. Funding for increased payments to hire Direct Support Professionals, who work with and provide care for people with disabilities.

25. Support for ranchers who are losing livestock to wolves. Non-lethal methods not working for some packs who have been acclimatized to humans.

26. Food for All Oregonians.  Hunger is at critical levels in Eastern Oregon.  Need to help Food Bank improve its distribution system.

27. Community Action Network requests support for bills seeking to stay in their homes. Emergency Housing Account and others have not been increased since 2019. Need additional $9.8 million to ensure geographic equity. Food distribution network.  

28. HB 2631 – wolf compensation fund at 7 to 1 multiplier, as Wyoming does. Funding for Wallowa County Recreation Board.

29. Funding for Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, helping family farms remain in farming, combat subdivision of parcels.

30. Need to adjust urban growth boundary in Ontario. Prime farm land is on verge of being incorporated into the city, while land outside the growth boundary is not productive.  Need to swap.

31. Support for Youth Sports Complex in Pendleton.

32. Need to support for community corrections.  Need to 

33. SB 531. Summer learning opportunities. Particularly important in a high-poverty area like Malheur County.

34. Homelessness and homeless prevention.  It’s a big problem in Ontario, particularly as coupled with substance abuse and mental illness. Police in Ontario need support to more effectively help address these problems.

35. Ontario Community Recreation Center project.

36. Rural relief nurseries. Pioneer relief nursery in Pendleton requesting capital support in partnership with the Pendleton Childcare Center

37. Revolving Loan Program in Pendleton for road construction for new housing developments. 

38. Community corrections.

39.  Support for the OSU Ag Extension statewide services.

40. Need more childcare slots in Malheur County.  Facility needs help with renovation and expansion.

41. Meat processing expansion needed in Oregon.  Need to add to funding that was given in 2021. HB 2194 $4m for processing of carcass waste via biodigesters.

42. SB 531. Summer and After-School Learning. Half of local Boys and Girls Club are in foster care.

43. Support for Future Farmers of America and County Fairs.

44.  Need for affordable and conveniently located childcare. Need it to be offered outside of traditional business hours. Childcare is an essential infrastructure, just like roads and bridges to get people to work.

45. Regional Headstart and Oregon Pre-K. Need to pay workers salary similar to K-12 teachers.

46. Investment in quality child care and early childhood education is one of the most important investments a society can make. Very high rates of return.

47. OSU statewide research and extension services.

48. Adequate support for the university support fund and the Oregon Opportunity Fund.

49. Support for EOU, Oregon’s Rural University.  

50. Ongoing work on universal health care, via SB 1089

51. EOU, funding for Oregon’s universities and Oregon Opportunity Grant.

52. Support for Arts organizations.  

53. Food for All Oregonians.

54. Support for CASA, volunteers aid children in the foster system.

55. Expand collaboration programming around the state, e.g., the Harney County Water Collaborative. 

56. Mining needs to be facilitated, rather than building barriers. The Department of Geology and Mineral Industries is not helpful.

57. Support M110.  It is working, but needs more investment with recovery services.  

58. Fund community colleges both with ongoing funding and $50m in 1-time funding to help recover from the pandemic. First responders to the economic crisis.

59. Pedestrian road crossing in Echo, need to provide safe route to school for children in this very rural community.

60. Fire station in Jefferson.

61. Crook County Courthouse. Hope to rehab it, not bulldoze it.

62. Four Rivers Cultural Museum. Need $500K in support for capital improvements

Washington session ends. Max of 105 days. 

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/04/29/washington-2023-legislative-session-highlights/