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“Nothing is more important to Senate Democrats this session than making sure that we’re creating jobs for Oregonians. However, there is no such thing as a magic wand that will instantly erase unemployment and make the challenges Oregon’s families face disappear.”

“Instead, we have to continue working toward recovery. We will do that by making sure those struggling most don’t fall through the cracks and using whatever legislative resources available to get Oregonians back to work.”

“Senate Bill 1017 will help small businesses on Main Streets across Oregon access capital to grow and create jobs. At the same time, we will continue to monitor the job creation programs passed last session to make sure they’re putting people back to work and using resources efficiently.”

“Our priorities are reflected by the first bill we moved through the Senate, giving immediate help to Oregonians who are struggling most. Over 18,000 Oregonians will be able to feed their families and pay rent because of the unemployment insurance extension we passed last week.”

Federal agreement follows 2009 legislation to phase out chemical in Oregon

SALEM – Senate Democrats welcomed news yesterday that the Environmental Protection Agency had reached an agreement with chemical manufacturers to phase out a toxic, endocrine- disrupting chemical, deca brominated diphenyl ether, otherwise known as Deca-BDE. Oregon’s Senate Bill 596, passed in the 2009 session, phases out use of the Deca-BDE in products bought and sold in the state.

“We made the case during the 2009 session that using this chemical was an unnecessary risk for the health of our children and safety of our environment,” said Senator Mark Hass (D-Beaverton), chief sponsor of the bill. “When we heard this bill in committee earlier this year, the industry said that we should wait for a national standard, but in the end it was the states that led the way. This proves that legislation passed at the state level can make a big impact on the standards we set across the nation.”

Brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) migrate from their host products into the environment and eventually into our bodies, where they build up in the fat tissue of people and animals. Studies show that Deca-BDE breaks down over time into more toxic forms, Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE, both of which have been determined to have serious negative health effects and were similarly phased out of the market in Oregon through legislation passed in 2005.

Senator Jackie Dingfelder (D-Portland), chair of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, credited the work of state legislatures like Oregon for putting pressure on industry to change their practices.

“This decision never would have happened at the federal level if the states weren’t pushing to get this chemical out of products,” said Dingfelder.  “The chemical industry spent millions of dollars lobbying to maintain the status quo, but as states stepped up to ban this product it made more sense for the industry to stop making this harmful product in the first place.”

According to the EPA, the two largest American producers and largest American importer of Deca-BDE have “committed to end production, importation, and sales of Deca-BDE for most uses in the United States by December 31, 2012, and to end all uses by the end of 2013.”

“Senate Democrats have a commitment to protecting the public health of our families,” said Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin). “SB 596 is a good example of how we can set a standard for environmental excellence nationwide.”

While Deca-BDE is currently used widely as a flame retardant in a number of products, resorcinol bisdiphenyl phosphate (RDP) is a safer, technically feasible alternative to Deca-BDE. With passage of SB 596, Oregon followed Maine and Washington in their restrictive use of Deca-BDE.

From Senate President Peter Courtney this afternoon, on the appointment of Chris Edwards to serve in Senate District 7, replacing former Senator Vicki Walker:

During his two terms in the House, Senator-elect Edwards earned a reputation as a passionate advocate for his constituents. He’s willing to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get the job done. He has big shoes to fill, but I am impressed by his willingness to take on any challenge. Edwards is good. He’s very good. He was made for the Senate.

HB 2895 expands a pilot program that solicits public input on ballot initiatives

SALEM – The Senate voted this morning to support the establishment of citizen review panels on state initiatives. House Bill 2895 encourages public perspective by including statements on proposed initiatives in voters’ guides written by panels of average Oregonians.

“The creation of these panels complements Oregon’s tradition of citizen engagement in the political process,” said Senator Rick Metsger (D-Welches), who carried the bill on the floor.

In September 2008, the first Citizen Initiative Review was conducted as a pilot project. The process involved a panel of twenty-three registered voters from across the state, chosen using a stratified random sampling procedure to ensure that the resulting panel consisted of a fair representation of Oregon’s voting population in terms of age, gender, race, educational attainment, place of residence, and political affiliation.

Over a period of five days, panelists heard from initiative proponents, opponents, and background witnesses. With the assistance of trained moderators, the panelists debated whether they supported or opposed the initiative, along with their specific reasons. The panel then developed a Citizens’ Statement containing their conclusions about the initiative that was made available to voters. HB 2895 expands this pilot project, facilitated through a public-private partnership. One to three measures will be studied for the 2010 general election.

“Oregon has long been an innovator in the area of direct democracy,” said Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), chair of the Senate Rules Committee. “This bill represents another example of how our state continues to encourage and support citizen engagement in the process of governing.”

HB 2895 was introduced in the House by Representatives Ben Cannon (D-Portland) and Chris Harker (D-Beaverton). The bill now goes to the Governor for his signature.

The co-chairs of the Joint Legislative Ways and Means Committee released their plan Monday to fund state services over the next two years with a $14.6 billion state budget, including a $6 billion allocation for K-12 education funding.

The budget includes $2 billion in cuts from the essential budget level. The co-chairs budget also utilizes federal stimulus dollars ($399 million from the state stabilization fund and $542 dedicated to Medicaid), state reserve funds ($361), and $800 million in new revenue to close the state’s $4.2 billion budget hole.

After spending two weeks holding public hearings around the state, co-chairs Representative Peter Buckley and Senator Margaret Carter said it was clear Oregonians preferred a balanced approach that did not rely solely on cuts or on new revenue increases. The vast majority of 600 Oregonians who testified at the nine public hearings said a balance between cuts and revenue was essential to the future of Oregon.

“This budget cuts over $2 billion in state services, so the impacts are clearly going to be felt by Oregonians across the state.  But I believe we have provided a balanced approach that protects the core missions of our state – including education and services to our seniors and our most vulnerable citizens,” said Buckley (D-Ashland).

“These are difficult times and just like families across Oregon, the state must make agonizing budget decisions.  The reality is that every agency and every program will feel the pain,” said Carter (D-Portland). “To the greatest extent possible, we believe we have created a budget that doesn’t put our children at risk; a budget that protects the most vulnerable Oregonians including our senior citizens; and a budget that provides security for the public and keeps our courts open.”
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Thanks for visiting the latest iteration of our website and blog!

This enhanced version of our site includes many exciting features to connect you with your state government. As always, we appreciate your feedback. Please e-mail us with any questions, comments or feedback.

Yours,

-The Oregon Senate Democrats Team

On Saturday, April 25, members of the Oregon Legislature’s budget writing committee, full Ways and Means, traveled to Ontario and Pendleton to discuss the upcoming 2-year budget with constituents.

Below you will find a slideshow from the flight aboard an Oregon National Guard CH-47 and the town hall event in Ontario and Pendleton. Click here for a full-sized version.

SB 316 will require insurance companies to continue providing routine care to patients

SALEM—Legislation expanding patient access to clinical trials was passed by the Oregon Senate this morning. SB 316 will require insurance companies to cover routine care for patients participating in FDA approved clinical trials.

“This legislation is about access,” said Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), sponsor of the bill. “I introduced this bill because of a constituent whose insurance company denied her basic coverage for participating in a clinical trial—a trial that had the potential to dramatically improve her quality of life.”

Clinical trials provide potential pathways towards improved care, more effective medication, and ultimately, cures, for a variety of diseases, said Devlin. However, because some health plans define clinical trials as ‘experimental’ or ‘investigational,’ some insurance policies exclude the costs of routine care a patient would normally receive whether they were enrolled in the trial or not. This routine care includes blood work, x-rays, and basic tests, even when that care is ordered by a primary physician not associated with a clinical trial.

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The Oregonian had a story in today’s edition about four important health care reform bills that passed out of the Senate Health Care and Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Tuesday evening. An excerpt follows and you can read the full story by clicking here.

The Oregon Legislature took its first steps toward health care reform Tuesday when a Senate committee passed a batch of bills aimed at improving care and reducing costs.

One of the proposals, Senate Bill 451, would establish the nation’s first state registry of people’s wishes for end-of-life care.

The committee also approved:

• Senate Bill 452, which would establish a council to help health care providers convert to electronic patient records.

• Senate Bill 455, which would bring together insurers and health care providers to develop and use evidenced-based clinical guidelines and best practices.

• Senate Bill 457, which would require the state to establish a database on Oregon’s health care work-force size and needs.

Passage of the four bills marks the Legislature’s first move to carry out an ambitious health care reform plan designed by a legislative task force, the Oregon Health Fund Board, over the past year. They are among at least 17 bills that have emerged from the board’s report to the Legislature last fall.

Programs will give Oregon competitive advantage for federal dollars

SALEM – Four pieces of legislation that will put Oregon at the forefront of modernizing health care technologies are scheduled for work session by the Senate Health Care and Veterans’ Affairs Committee this evening. These bills have the potential reduce costs for Oregonians while attracting millions in federal matching funds as part of the Obama administration’s plan for health care reform and economic stimulus.

“Health care reform is about more than just expanding access,” said Deputy Majority Leader Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham), chair of the committee. “We also have to look at inefficiencies in our system to lower costs, save time, and improve care.”

• SB 451 requires the Department of Human Services to establish and operate a statewide registry for collection and dissemination of physician orders for life-sustaining treatments, known also as POLSTs. This registry will help ensure that an individual’s wishes for emergency care are immediately available to health care providers, particularly for those patients with advanced chronic illness.
• SB 452 establishes a Health Information Technology Oversight Council to support the accelerated adoption of electronic health records. Research shows that the modernization of health care records can improve efficiency, reduce mistakes, strengthen disease management efforts, and improve care coordination. Within 12 years, Oregon could see a savings of $1 billion per year by investing in health information technology.
• SB 455 brings health care providers and insurers together with the state to develop and implement common evidence-based clinical guidelines and best practice standards for the use of medical technology. This legislation will improve the health care delivery system in Oregon by reducing costs and improving access and quality.
• SB 457 will require the Office of Health Policy and Research to create a health care workforce database. Currently, the state has no means to track ongoing, consistent, comparable data about our health care workforce. This database would provide critical information about the supply and distribution of health providers around the state – information that will inform efforts to building an effective health care delivery system. Read the rest of this entry »