May 29 – June 2, 2023 Action Alerts!

HB 2100 – Raises DMV Fees on Customers 

This bill effectively raises fees across the board on the various services that the DMV offers, and unfortunately passed out of the Joint Committee on Ways & Means on a straight party-line vote. The fees most egregious to me centered around our truck drivers, raising their cost of entry into the profession at a time the state is investing in trying to get more drivers into the profession. A CDL will jump from $75 to $160, with testing going from $70 to $145. Oregonians are already hurting due to the ongoing inflationary crisis, and this bill only adds to that pain. 

SB 819 – Full School Days for Disabled Students 

One of the major bills scheduled to be up for debate this week was SB 819. This bill requires school districts to have parental consent before prescribing students with disabilities to abbreviated school days—eroding those students’ right to equal access to education. As you may know, House District 11 has some of the highest rates of special needs students in the state, and due to an arbitrary “cap” on the amount of SPED students allowed for the funding formula, our schools don’t receive the resources needed to fully support our SPED students’ education, resulting in things like abbreviated days. I feel SB 819 is part of a bigger, bipartisan effort to advocate for these students and the resources schools need to support them, and was disappointed to see it referred to the House Committee on Rules due to lack of support on the House Floor (despite passing the Senate 25-1, 4 exc.) 

SJR 26/SB 744 – Taking Your Tax Kicker Refund 

An attempt to take the people’s tax kicker refund was heard this week in the Senate. SJR 26 is a ballot referral that would propose to voters a change in Oregon’s Constitution to remove the requirement that tax revenues beyond what is budgeted be returned to tax payers. SB 744 is actual implementation policy that would go along with SJR 26 if it were to be passed by the people. Republicans continue to fight hard to make sure tax overages get paid back to our hard-working Oregonians. 

SB 1089 – Beginnings of Universal Health Care 

Stemming from the passage of Ballot Measure 111 from 2022, SB 1089 would stand up a 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. 

HB 2772 – Creating the Crime of Domestic Terrorism 

In a political era where it is more popular to make things more legal, this is a rare bill moving through the Legislature this session that actually creates a crime. Aimed at truly egregious acts, HB 2772 would target criminals intentionally destroying critical infrastructure (think bridges or critical components of our power grid) or intentionally dispersing toxins where they will impact humans. The bill has a work session this morning in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.