It's a New Year, a new Legislative Assembly, and a new session. This is the "long session" which the state constitution limits to 160 days. I've moved clothes and personal items to a little house in Salem that I share with a colleague.

My schedule is not easy, with meetings in late afternoons and evenings every day. But the good news is that hearings have already been scheduled on several of my bills, so quickly that we're scrambling to get the word out and to prepare testimony.

At home on the weekends Steve and I cook enough food to last for dinners while I'm in Salem. We're planning on something fun each month, taking advantage of our great local arts and culture opportunities to see a play, a ballet, or a concert.

In this e-news you'll get a flavor for the pace and work at the Capitol, an update on my bills getting hearings, and a comment on how the chaos of federal actions affects Oregonians.

(This photo was snapped when Sen. Manning and I had a couple of minutes to talk on the terrace between the Senate and House.)

If you missed my latest e-news, here's the link to Fall 2024.

The 83rd Legislative Assembly

Members

The House of Representatives has 60 members; nine are new. The Senate has 30 members, eight are new. Several new members are returning after previous service (or serving in prior years).

This picture is "the back row bunch" - a few of us who sit in the last two rows in the House Chamber: Reps. Ricky Ruiz (Gresham), Nathan Sosa (Hillsboro), Travis Nelson (North Portland), and Susan McLain (Forest Grove).

Bills

This year is starting off with 1,218 bills in the House and 969 in the Senate. More will be filed in the next few weeks as last-minute ideas and bills from new members come in.  

Here's how to find what the legislature is working on. Day by day you can see the calendar and watch meetings in real time: the House, the Senate, and committees.

You can find bills by looking for keywords, like "prescription" or "electric." A list of bills will display, and as you hover over the bill number the short description will display. Once you click on the bill number, you can see what's happening. And you can sign up to be notified of hearings, etc. by selecting the "e-subscribe" option on the bill page.

Learn more about how to be engaged by clicking on this web page that includes information about coming to the Capitol, the legislative process, submitting testimony, and lots more.

"Inside baseball"

The logistics of scheduling 1.5 hour (minimum) meetings into just 8 hearing rooms is challenging. The House has 14 committees, the Senate has 12, and there are 18 joint committees with members from both House and Senate. So that is 44 committee meetings to schedule for one, two, or three times a week, and figure out how to time them so that the members of the committees are available to meet their assignments. (A few of us couldn't serve on a preferred committee where we had experience due to schedule conflicts.)

I was honored to make the speech nominating Julie Fahey for Speaker of the House

Speaker Fahey

Secretary of State Tobias Read (formerly State Treasurer; we have worked together since he was a colleague in the House!)

Getting down to business

We’re off with a running start. In just 9 days, House Committees heard 29 bills and Senate Committees heard 18 bills.

Major efforts

Several very big, important, persistent problems will be the subject of continued efforts, including housing and homelessness, mental and behavioral health, and health care. Developing a transportation package will be a huge effort. A change of federal administration means we may be looking to shore up Oregon’s values, from women’s health and reproductive rights to voting methods and ease of access to voting. Since Oregon tax law is tied to federal tax law we'll watch for federal actions that may impact our state budget, and note that tariffs and trade policy and reductions to IRS staffing could also impact Oregon's economy.

My individual priorities

I have submitted 22 bills now. Housing advocates will be taking the lead role for several bills, and other stakeholders will help with health care, pharmacy, and human service ideas. All of my bills can be found on OLIS. Here's an overview of the top priority areas.

• Health care: Several bills relating to corporate practice of medicine, contracts, pharmacy benefit managers, and protections for access to affordable prescription medication at local community pharmacies
• Human services: Cutting through bureaucracy for human service providers, because the need for behavioral health workforce is so urgent
• Emergency preparedness: Funding for early warning and emergency response systems managed at Oregon Hazards Lab
• K-12 schools: Reducing testing in K-12 classrooms that doesn’t help improve education for students but costs money and takes too many hours away from solid classroom instruction

Day one



On the first day of regular business, it was a full house in the office, including interns, and I was personally involved in all of these: managing stakeholder discussions about the urgent care bill, coordinating discussions with local, state and federal officials about proposed changes and safety concerns for the Eugene railyard, contacting the Department of Transportation about fuel use by fuel type, coordinating testimony for a bill to expand education opportunities for the nurse workforce, reviewing the agenda for the Revenue Committee I would chair in the afternoon and then topics for the Joint Transportation Committee in the evening.

Week one

Meetings with advocates, lobbyists, news reporters, and colleagues, updates on bill drafting and planning agendas upcoming meetings of committees that I will chair.

Week two

Four of my bills have had hearings already, including health care priorities. In this photo, Senator Prozanski and I are testifying and answering questions at the hearing on our Urgent Care and Nurse education bills. Click here to watch the recording of the committee hearing or read my testimony:

• Prescription drugs safety and efficacy when delivered by mail, exposed to cold or hot temperatures outside the safe range, HB 2318. (see more in September e-news)
• Expanding opportunities for nurse students to get a space in college programs HB 3220: for one nurse faculty increasing the number of students from 8 to 10
• Urgent care clinics, currently not regulated: bringing some structure by adding definition, registry, and standards. HB 3221

Federal affairs and alarms

I join many other legislators who are monitoring actions by the Executive Branch of the federal government. Recent federal actions are disrupting regular work, jeopardizing programs that Oregonians count on, and spreading uncertainty and even panic in some situations. Some of you have already heard about research programs abruptly halted, and the mass firing of 17 independent inspectors general, violating federal law requiring notice to Congress. Inspectors general are the people whose job is to be an independent watchdog over how programs are administered and money is spent. Ironically the role of Inspector General was created in the wake of Watergate to prevent abuse of power.

This week my office tried to access various federal webpages only to find out that they have been shut down. This USA Today article describes some of the changes including removal of pages explaining the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This CBC/Radio Canada article describes some of the website changes, including removal of links to information about reproductive health-care resources and the shortcut to "Climate Change and Health Equity." In my role chairing the Joint Committee on Information Management and Technology I am raising the issue of access to information generally, and specifically how broken links on federal websites might impact the work of state agencies or delivering programs for Oregonians.

State agencies and community organizations like Head Start are paid for specific programs by the federal government using funds allocated by Congress. Those payment reimbursement portals were temporarily disabled. Organizations providing food, shelter for victims of domestic violence, or help for disabled people, for example, are wondering whether they must plan to shut down in the near future. Transportation projects already approved are in jeopardy, including major work in urban areas and electric vehicle charging stations. The Governor and the Attorney General have teams working on the developing situation, for example joining other states in a lawsuit about funding halted for programs approved by Congress. I’m working with colleagues to ensure we protect Oregon’s interests and continue to receive funds promised by the federal government to keep critical services and programs – funded with Oregonians’ tax dollars.

Snapshots

City Hall was host to the recent Town Hall meeting. Council Chamber was full, and constituents asked questions about health care, housing, transportation, the new federal administration, and more. Later that week I hurried home from the last hearing of the day in Salem to meet with residents at Cascade Manor, and again it was a full house; the focus was access to health care.

Town Hall with Speaker Fahey, Senators Prozanski and Manning, Reps. Fragala, Lively, and me, hosted by Mayor Knudsen

Fun visit at Cascade Manor with old and new friends

Cascade Manor residents: we talked about the health care system

The D13 Team

Legislative Aides and Interns: a full house

Olivia and Spencer are joined by three interns. We're pleased to welcome Kiley, Jake, and Jefferson who will help with research, information management, and constituent mail.