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 March 30, 2015

 

 

 

 

Dear Constituents & Friends,


 

Thanks to all who attended my "Town Hall" events in district this weekend.   It was a beautiful Central Oregon weekend and the end of "spring break week" for the kids.  However, the turnout and two way communications was excellent.  My weekend began on Friday morning at 7:30 AM with a meeting with local leaders discussing the 78th legislative session and Central Oregon issues.


Friday afternoon, Senator Tim Knopp and I had a joint town hall at the Redmond City Hall and over 50 citizens attended.  The Senator and I discussed the session and our work together and individually to help Oregonians.   On Saturday morning, we met with over 30 citizens at the Sunriver Library. Afterwards we attended an open house at the new Sunriver Pharmacy.  Having a pharmacy in Sunriver satisfies a great need for the community.  Our office was able to help the owners, Judy & Greg Gilbert, expedite some state and insurance regulations compliance to help get open sooner.  Friday night, I attended the High Desert Friends of NRA annual Banquet.

 

For all whom were not able to attend the town hall meetings, I discussed our office priority of "constituent services" and provided some examples.  Then, I explained the 78th Legislative Session landscape provided by the Oregon voters. 


 
"The Senate has 18 Democrats and 12 Republicans.  To pass a policy bill, 16 votes are required and for revenue bills 18 votes are required.  The House has 35 Democrats and 25 Republicans.  To pass a policy bill requires 31 votes and for revenue bills, 36 are required.  Thus, the Democrat majority party is able to pass any policy bill without any Republican votes.  For the minority party to stop bills in the Senate; 3 Democrat votes are required and in the House five Democrat votes are required.   


 
The session began officially on February 2nd with the Governor resigning and changing his mind 5 times before he officially resigned and Kate Brown was sworn in as the 38th Oregon Governor on February 18th.

 

At a record pace, Democrats passed three partisan bills basically on party line votes.  HB 2700 related to class action suites and the significant supporters were trial attorneys.  Two House Republicans voted for the bill.  All Republican Senators voted no and one Democrat, Senator Betsy Johnson, joined the Republicans with a NO vote.

 

HB 2177 was Kate Brown's "universal voter registration bill."  It automatically registers people to vote when they get a drivers' license.  The House vote was 35-24 and the Senate was 17-13.  This bill was strongly supported by unions.

 

SB 324 A, the "low carbon fuels standard" bill, just passed the House with a 31-29 vote.  Thus, four Democrats voted NO in the House and the Senate vote was 17-13 with Senator Johnson again joining the Republican NO's.  This bill was the priority bill for Governor Kitzhaber, his first lady, Governor Brown, and the environmental community. 

 

There are many anti-business and over regulatory bills in the cue concerning issues like minimum wage, paid sick leave, and BOLI powers over business.  Check the list provided by small business lobbyists at this LINK.

 

I am serving as Vice Chair on the House Higher Education, Innovation, and Workforce Committee which is doing good work with few bad bills.

 

I am serving again on the Joint Ways & Means Committee which spends your taxes.  For the 2015-2017 budgets, taxpayers and lottery users have provided an estimated $18.5 billion.  This is an increase of $1.8 billion or 10.5%. I believe not many Oregon businesses had a profit increase of      10.5 %.

 

The Democrat leadership decides how to spend the $18.5 billion.  They decided that the PK-12 budget be funded at $7.255 billion.  The budget bill passed out of the House on Thursday on a party vote.  Republicans and education advocates believe this is not enough to prevent school district cuts.

 

Thus, it appears there is enough revenue to better fund our schools but leadership has decided to spend it on what they consider more important projects than PK-12 funding."


 
Senator Knopp and I along with Rep. Buehler are working on good common sense bills.  I have worked in Salem with a similar political landscape and passed good bills. Due to my experience and political relationships, I will be reporting on these bills in upcoming "Legislative Updates."  


 

Respectfully,

 


 

Gene Whisnant 

 

 

 

 
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Rep. Whisnant, Josie Whisnant and Vicki Olson

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