Social Policy Reports

Steady progress has been made in addressing our state’s housing crisis by investing in affordable housing production and preservation. Now thousands of Oregonians have housing stability with affordable homes. Housing advocates are being encouraged to take action now by sending messages to members of the Oregon Legislature's Joint Subcommittee on Capital Construction, and top housing leaders in both the House and Senate, to invest in bond resources in the 2025-2027 state budget.

This week the League of Women Voters of the United States joined a sign-on letter urging Congress to oppose cuts to Medicaid to help prevent medical debt. Oregon spent about $13 billion on its Medicaid program in 2024, picking up about 25% of the cost for the program covering 1.43 million Oregonians.

Recently, Head Start has been the subject of a tug of war over federal funding. In March, the Administration announced that it was closing 5 regional offices, including one in Seattle which oversees funding for programs in Oregon. Nevertheless, programs did receive delayed funding in early April. But the office remains closed, jeopardizing funding of $196M for over 8000 students in Oregon. The proposed budget would totally eliminate funding for Head Start and Early Head Start.

LWVOR continues to focus on housing challenges experienced by people with the lowest incomes. Affordable homes in Oregon are in short supply, making it important to strengthen resident protections, as proposed in HB 3054 A. The bill seeks to limit rent increases for homeowners in home parks and marinas that are experiencing escalating rents and curtail landlord practices that may threaten residents’ ability to stay in their homes.

SB 951A prohibits a management service organization from making decisions about patient care. The bill also prohibits non-compete, non-disparage employment clauses in medical work’s contracts. This will allow caregivers to speak out without fear of reprisal if they feel there is a safety issue at the workplace involving patient care. It was passed by the Senate and will be heard in House Behavioral Health and Health Care on May 1.  

On April 8th the House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee unanimously passed HB 2015 Amendment 3 with a “do pass” recommendation and a referral to Ways & Means. This wide-ranging bill addresses regulatory barriers in building and operating secure residential treatment facilities (SRTF’s), residential treatment facilities (RTF’s) and residential treatment homes (RTH’s) in Oregon. It directs the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to study nursing requirements in SRTF’s and to assess alternative methodologies for reimbursement.

We are following numerous bills relating to after school and summer care, behavioral health, education, gun policy, housing, immigration, gun policy, and age-related issues.

We are following numerous bills relating to after school and summer care, behavioral health, education, gun policy, housing, immigration, public safety, and revenue.

We are following numerous bills relating to after school and summer care, civil commitment, behavioral health, education, gun policy, health care, housing, immigration, and revenue.

We are following numerous bills relating to behavioral health, education, gun policy, health care, housing, and reproductive health.

We are following numerous bills relating to behavioral health, child care, education, housing, and public safety.

We are following numerous bills relating to behavioral health, education, gun policy, health care, and housing.

We are following numerous bills relating to age discrimination/reproductive health, behavioral health, child care, criminal justice, education, housing, immigration, and public safety.

We are following numerous bills relating to behavioral health, child care, criminal justice, education, housing, immigration, and public safety.

On Feb. 3, the House Committee on Education held a public hearing for HB 2596 (Interstate Compact for School Psychologists).

The final report for the 2024 session report on HB 4082 includes a request of $50 million per year for the biennium ($100 million total).

Legislative Committees heard presentations describing the current state of funding, and foreshadowing requests for larger allocations.

The legislature will soon begin its 2025 session, and some bills related to afterschool and summer care will be introduced.

The Governor’s budget includes $80 million for summer school but it is not clear whether that includes summer child care.

House Revenue, 9/24/24, 2:30 PM, held report and discussion about how parameters of distribution of dollars of equalization between our school districts is decided, based on poverty, special education, individual education plans (IEP’s), etc.. A report from Revenue Dept. was that any changes to this plan would create winners and losers among school districts.

On May 29th the Senate interim Committee on Health Care met during legislative days. Of
interest is the ongoing concern about the rising cost of health care.

LWVOR wrote testimony supporting a bill which would have provided $50 million to support summer learning through ODE to school districts.

HB 4082 Summer Learning 2024 and Beyond was passed to allocate $30 million for summer learning in 2024 and implementation of a work group to plan for future funding and administration of summer learning and afterschool enrichment. Summer awards will be made to school districts by ODE.

HB 4082 Summer Learning 2024 and Beyond, was originally recommended for $50 million in funding. It was amended to include an additional $141,767 from Other funds (Student Success funding) for .50 FTE for ODE grant administration and $417,039 in general funds for ODE research and development of the Oregon 21st Century Community Learning Center Initiative.

On February 26, The Joint Committee on Addictions and Community Safety Response is holding a public hearing to consider two amendments to HB 4002 which deals with Oregon’s addiction crisis.

HB 4082, Summer Learning for 2024 and Beyond, to provide $50 million for summer care in 2024 and establish a workgroup for planning to support after-school and summer learning opportunities and care in the future was approved unanimously in the House Committee on Education and referred to Ways and Means.

Volunteers are needed who are interested in issues related to Children at Risk, Corrections, Farmworkers, Mental Health, and Physical Health. Please contact SocialPolicy@lwvor.org for more information about how you can make a difference with League advocacy.

Volunteers are needed who are interested in issues related to Children at Risk, Corrections, Farmworkers, Mental Health, and Physical Health. Please contact SocialPolicy@lwvor.org for more information about how you can make a difference with League advocacy.

The Joint Interim Addiction and Community Response Committee held an in-depth discussion on the controlled substance crimes of unlawful possession, manufacture or delivery of illegal drugs during November interim legislative days.

Senate Judiciary discussed SB 337 on 9-27. The bill formed a new Public Defense Services Commission, to become effective 1-1-2024. The staff is recruiting new defense attorneys for unrepresented clients residing In jails.

In 2023, it became clear that the housing crisis is now a statewide issue. In communities throughout Oregon people are living on the street and many of those who are housed are at risk of losing their homes because they can’t afford to pay their rent.

SB 1089 (changed from SB 704) Sets up a Governance board for Universal Health Care. The board would create a plan to finance and administer Universal Health Care for Oregonians.

On June 6, the Legislative Fiscal Office and the Joint W&Ms issued their recommended budget to the Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee on SB 5511, the Housing and Community Services Department (OHCS) budget: Legislative Fiscal Office's analysis.

At the urging of newly-elected Governor Kotek, the Oregon Legislature invested more than $215 million in the Early Session Housing Package.

The continued Republican walkout has prevented 17 floor sessions from being held, with 150 bills waiting to be worked on by the Senate after significant effort and gaining bipartisan support.

Fortunately, many critical housing policy bills and funding passed earlier in the session, but some are still under consideration or awaiting Senate action.

Republican walkouts have prevented the full Senate from considering key housing bills that passed out of Senate Housing and Development and are ready for floor votes. In better news, the full House adopted SB 702, which will require racial justice and implicit bias training for home appraisers.

Despite the controversy over sensitive bills and the walkout by Senate Republicans since last May 3, legislators continue to hold committee meetings with the intention of meeting their constitutional obligation to adjourn after 160 days, which is Sunday, June 25 at midnight.

To address the state’s Homelessness State of Emergency Governor Kotek launched earlier this year an emergency response initiative made up of seven regional multi-agency coordinating groups (MAC). On April 28, the Governor and Oregon Housing and Community Services announced that the funding agreements have been signed and are being sent to the regional MAC groups to effectively distribute this critically needed emergency resource.

Governor Kotek created the Housing Production Advisory Council to develop comprehensive recommendations to build 36,000 homes per year. On April 25, the Council released its Framework for Action Plan, which gives priority to solutions that will have the greatest impact in addressing the state’s housing shortage, and inequity and racial injustice. 

April is Fair Housing Month. This year marks the 55th anniversary of the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

SB 216 Passed out of SCHC 3/1, Now in House Behavioral Health and Health Care.

The Senate and House Judiciary Committees made their way through their backload of bills in work sessions on April 3 and 4.

It has been another busy week for the Legislature as it works to meet a first-chamber deadline of April 4, when bills must be sent out of committee, either to the floor for a vote or to another committee for further consideration.

Three key gun safety bills were heard together in a combined informational and public testimony hearing in House Judiciary on March 22.

“Unprecedented” is frequently quoted if the Legislature passes Governor Kotek’s comprehensive $200 million funding request.

SB 551, a bill that directs OHA to provide information on safe storage of firearms and prescription drugs to school districts for dissemination on their websites and social media, was heard in Senate Education on March 7.

The League submitted supportive testimony on two bills, both heard on February 27 in the House Judiciary, related to programs at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.

The Legislature is introducing bold and innovative bills to address critical issues facing our state, including homelessness, evictions, social inequities, and a severe affordable housing shortage.

Governor Kotek has underscored the need to address the state’s housing emergency, and the legislature is coalescing around bills to serve communities around the state in sheltering the unhoused, providing low- and extremely low-income housing, and serving those experiencing economic inequality.