It’s hard to believe, but May is already growing old and rumors are abounding of the 76th Legislative Session ending mid-June. Still, most of the budget bills have yet to be voted on and other important issues have to be resolved. We won’t be going anywhere until our work is done!
Until then please continue to keep in touch. Write, email, or call us at (503) 986-1439. I’ve really enjoyed hearing from many of you already and shared some of your comments below.
If you’d like to keep up on Floor Sessions or Committee meetings from home you can find links to the different Capitol channels by clicking Here. You can find information on when the House and Senate are in Session and when the Committees are meeting Here.
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Redistricting Maps Released
The proposed Republican and Democratic redistricting maps have been released for public testimony, and they sure are causing a stir! Take a look at them for yourself and let me know what you think. You can submit written testimony to the committee by sending an email to oregon.redistricting@state.or.us.
Click here to see the Republican Version
Click here to see the Democrat Version
Unfortunately, there are many significant flaws in the Democrat proposal. For starters, it changes the district from being roughly split between the parties in terms of voter registration to giving the Democrats a greater than 14% advantage. It also removes Canby entirely while adding Gladstone, putting me in the same district as Representative Dave Hunt. It barely even included my house (Cherie and I live on the far SW corner of the map). Frankly, I believe this map is unnecessarily partisan and needlessly reshapes the district, separating communities of interest. What do you think?
If you have any concerns or comments, please send them to the Committee. You can find more information on the redistricting process and other proposed maps by clicking Here.
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In the Mail
If you’ve contacted your elected officials before, you may wonder what affect your messages have had, so I want to share some of the comments my office has received through letters, emails, and phone calls. Hearing from you helps!
I received great letters from several Teenpact students, including this one from James about his visit to the Capitol: “…The whole time was a great learning experience, from the buttons on the desk to the books on the shelf. …I enjoyed and appreciated the time you spent with us.”
From 12-year old Grant: “Thank you for helping small businesses….I would like to manage a small business someday…”
Here are some of the many responses to my last newsletter:
“Thank you for the great job you are doing in the legislature and trying to bring some compassion into the decisions to be made.” – Fred and Judy
“What a wonderful and endearing message for you to send this week (Mother’s Day). I have two sons as well, so it very much touched my heart. As I received your message I was in the process of finishing up touches of a cookbook of all the families [sic] favorite recipes that my mom made over the years. We’re going to be giving it to her as one of the gifts in celebration of her 90th birthday this month.” – Kay
“[Your] efforts to keep job creation at the foreground of this session’s conversation is positive and very much needed.” – Brian Hodson, President of the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce
“Thank you…for caring for our families and individuals impacted by Blue Heron. We are seeing the effects of this loss.” – Deb
“I am sorry that big heart of yours needed some help…” – Greg
“…Thank you for sponsoring Senate Bill 736, [which] will create jobs, inspire economic development in rural areas, stimulate tourism up and down the Columbia basin, provide better protection for wild fish recovery…” – Liz
“Thank you for being a sane politician.” – Amanda
In response to learning that I do not support the ban on single use plastic shopping bags: “Finally someone is listening!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!” – Gary
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Accountability in Government
When I ran for office, one of my priorities was to increase government accountability. I am pleased to report that an important bill I sponsored is doing just that and recently passed unanimously in the House and Senate. House Bill 2825 improves the transparency of economic development tax incentives. Included programs are the Business Energy Tax Credit, the Strategic Investment Program, and Enterprise Zones, which all account for about $600 million in spending over the next two years. This bill requires information about the recipients of these credits (who received the credits, how much they received, and what they used it for) to be posted on Oregon’s transparency website: www.oregon.gov/transparency.
Hopefully with bills like this we can shed some light on another of our significant budget expenditures and make sure no tax dollars are being wasted!
