Oregon entered unchartered waters last week with the announcement that Legacy Health System, a private healthcare provider, would ‘merge’ with the state-sponsored Oregon Health and Science University. In this proposal, OHSU will be the surviving entity and will continue to be governed by its board of directors.
Numbers may not lie, but our interpretation of their meaning is often critical. Kotek’s numbers in the poll show an approval rating of 45% and a disapproval rating of 39% for a net positive of six points. Last fall, the same numbers for Gov. Brown were 41% approval and 54% disapproval, or a negative 13 points. Combined, that’s a 19-point swing to the upside.
The City Council voted this week to impose a payroll tax on all employees and independent contractors “for work performed within the Salem city limits.” The ordinance particularly calls out employees of the “State of Oregon” and “any political subdivision of the state.”
On Wednesday, the Senate moved the final passage of HB 2426 by one vote to end the prohibition on self-serve gas stations – allowing Oregonians to pump their own gas.
Throughout our history there have been legislative issues that have deeply divided the Oregon assembly. Should our Democratic Republic survive, there will be many more. Democracy survives only by engagement, not withdrawal.
Now an 11-year veteran of the Oregon Senate, Sen. Elizabeth Steiner keeps her own firm grip on the legislative process as co-chair of the powerful Ways & Means Committee. And she gets plenty of hands extended from all the new friends her position attracts.
Democrats and Republicans alike continue to counter each other’s tactics to grind the legislative process down to a crawl. From a robotic voice to read bills to the Flesch Kincaid Reading Test to calculating how many days they can stay away from Senate proceedings to deny a quorum, the ultimate game plan of either party is unknown. Crystal clear, however, is that the sand in the hourglass on this constitutionally restricted session is sifting quickly.
In less than three weeks, the state economists will chop their formulas, dice their dot charts, flow analysis, and multiple-colored lines of deviation, turn the blender on high, and, voila! They will pour a financial cocktail for legislators to taste just how much revenue will come into state coffers for the next two years.
The Oregon Board of Forestry is on the verge of finalizing a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) with the federal government that has fostered distrust and dismay in rural communities again. The HCP provides new governance for state forest lands that will dramatically reduce timber harvests below already low levels.
Oregon’s Legislature has hit the two-month warning mark, and the fans are getting restless. First downs are critical to keeping the chains moving on the remaining bills moving toward the goal line. But Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas) is not panicking. She trusts her training and her preparation. Forty miles to the South in Eugene, her son Ellis has taken a page from her playbook. He is a freshman running back for the University of Oregon football team.
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