Note:  Education reports after January, 2024, are included in Social policy reports. Education reports prior to February, 2024, can be found HERE.

Please see the Legislation Tracker for 2025 Social Policy bills.

Jump to topic:

• After School and Summer

• Behavioral Health

• Civil Commitment

• Education

• Gun Policy

• Healthcare

• Housing Legislation

• Immigration

• Revenue

After School and Summer

By Katie Riley

There are several bills that are dealing with afterschool and summer care. On Monday, March 17th, the League visited legislators to ask that HB 3039 and HB 2007 which both concern summer learning, include a differentiation of care during non-school time from summer school for both funding and data reporting purposes. The offices that were visited included those for Senators Lieber, Sollman, and Bonham and Representatives Ruiz and Sanchez. Those visits were selected due to their leadership positions on party caucuses and/or committees that determine budget allocations. We also talked to legislative sponsoring offices for SB 876 (Sen. Dick Anderson) and HB 3162 (Rep. Jami Cate), both of whom propose funding for after school care. SB 876 has passed out of committee and will need to be voted on by the Senate before it can be sent to the House for consideration.  HB 3162 has not received a committee hearing so it may not progress further.  

The House Committee on Education was scheduled to have a hearing on Wednesday, March 19th on HB 3039 and HB 2007 but only HB 2007 had a hearing. Both bills have had amendments submitted which help to improve the focus on expanded learning to include the possibility of after school care during the summer. Senator Sollman and Representative Ruiz who authored HB 2007 with Representative Fahey testified. Time was limited so only a few community members were able to testify and most supported the bill with the new amendment submitted by Representative Susan McLain. LWVOR submitted written testimony for both bills encouraging further amendment to differentiate care during after school hours from summer school. Without separate data, it will be impossible to determine the impact of each component. It is expected that the HB 3039 and HB 2007 may be combined. Since HB 3039 is one of the Governor's priority bills, legislators are working hard to address problems before the bill is passed out of committee. A work session is scheduled in the committee for Monday, March 24th.

Behavioral Health

By Stephanie Aller

The House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee held a public hearing and work session on HB3129 (Higher Education Behavioral Health Workforce Expansion Fund.) LWVOR submitted testimony earlier in support of this bill. The committee adopted an amendment to the bill which includes a minimum service requirement of at least two years for student recipients. It also increased the amount appropriated for the bill from $17,900,000 to $25,700,000. The bill passed the committee on March 18 and was referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

Civil Commitment

By Patricia Garner

SB 171/HB 2467:  A significant amendment to  these bills is anticipated to be filed by the Forensic Behavioral Health Work Group chaired by Representative Jason Kropf. The primary proponent of the legislation is the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Oregon (NAMI). Current law provides that a person can be civilly committed if that person is dangerous to self or others, but importantly, dangerousness to self or others is not defined. This ambiguity has created significant barriers to civil commitment. This LC attempts to remedy this ambiguity. It provides that dangerousness to self / others takes place when a person is engaged in or is threatening to engage in behavior that  resulted in or was likely to result in physical harm to self /another, and it is reasonably foreseeable that due to their mental disorder, they will engage in behavior that presents a risk of harm to self/others in the near future. 

Importantly, “near future” is specifically defined as a period of time that is reasonably foreseeable, but no more than 14 days. “Physical harm” is also clarified as physical contact that results in injury to another, and serious physical harm places a person at a “non-speculative” risk of death, impairment of health or bodily organs, including impairment or deterioration of brain function due to untreated psychiatric conditions. In deciding whether someone should be committed, the court is also specifically authorized to consider whether that person has insight into their mental illness and their ability to follow a treatment plan. This latter factor relates to anosognosia, a neurological condition where a person is unable to recognize her or his own illness, which is common in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injuries, strokes, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. (See Judiciary Committee Hearing at 54:15 minutes). The prevalence of anosognosia in mental illness means that many people are not just avoiding treatment, but rather they do not apprehend they even have a mental illness.

The LC also specifies several factors that can be used when a person is subject to commitment because of danger to self. Some of these factors include recent overt acts attempting to cause serious physical harm to self, recent threats to inflict this harm, the context of such acts or threats, and any past behavior resulting from a mental disorder that caused physical harm to self and past patterns of deterioration that contributed to prior involuntary hospitalizations. Dangerousness to others generally follows this format, but also recent destructive acts against property that were reasonably likely to place others at risk of injury

HB 2015 – Oregon Residential Services Legislation

This bill is currently a placeholder but should shortly be amended to require the Oregon Health Authority to study and make recommendations (9-25 and 9-26) to the Legislature about a range of issues related to residential treatment facilities and homes. The areas for review are detailed. For example, they include considerations that staffing costs for a facility should not change when the acuity of an individual changes, the workforce needs to be paid a professional wage, whether and how to support discharge from residential levels of placement, and how to create one license and set of rules for Transition Aged Youth Residential Treatment Homes that serve people 17.5 to 24 years of age.

Education

By Jean Pierce

Recently, the Trump administration sent a “Dear Colleague” letter pressuring educational administrators not to “embrace pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences”. This was accompanied by a FAQ sheet. In addition, there is an Executive Order threatening cuts to essential programs if schools honor standards of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). So on March 13th Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, joined 14 other state attorneys general to provide guidance regarding  what public schools can do to honor the law.   They note that “nothing in the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter or FAQ changes existing law and well-established legal principles that encourage—and even require—schools to promote educational opportunity for students of all backgrounds.”

This week the administration issued an Executive Order closing the Department of Education. While the administration insists that it will continue funding student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking, still no plan has been suggested for how that might happen.

The Education Law Center has a helpful tool showing how much federal funding for K-12 education each state is receiving for FY 2025. The total for Oregon is more than $433 Million. This includes close to $200 million for Title 1 (funding for educating low income students) and more than $170 million for IDEA (funding education of students with special needs). 

Legislation which advanced this week

• SB 1098, which prohibits discrimination when selecting or retaining school library materials, textbooks or instructional materials or when developing and implementing a curriculum was passed unamended with  a partisan vote, by the Senate Education Committee. LWVOR submitted testimony for the bill.

• HB2997, which directs the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to establish a grant program to  expand access to populations which are under-represented in colleges and universities, was passed  with a partisan vote by the House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development with an amendment to appropriate $5 million. LWVOR submitted testimony for the bill.

• HB 3182, which directs the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to award grants to nonprofit organizations providing affordable housing support to low-income students. was passed 6 to 1 with minor amendments by the House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development. LWVOR  submitted testimony for the bill.

HB 3183, which would appropriate money to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission  to provide no-cost, low-cost textbooks and course materials across Oregon’s colleges and universities, was passed 6 to 1 by the House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development with an amendment lowering the amount appropriated from $4.5 million to $2 million. LWVOR submitted testimony for the bill.

Gun Policy

By Marge Easley

Six gun policy bills are now making their way through the legislative process. 

HB 3075, heard on March 17 in House Judiciary, contains details for implementing the firearm permitting requirement in Measure 114 (2022). The committee received over 1000 pieces of testimony on the bill, including testimony from the League, and emotions ran high during oral testimony in the packed hearing room. A work session is scheduled for April 2.

HB 3076, heard on March 20 in House Judiciary, establishes a gun dealer licensing program in Oregon. League testimony stated that a state system is needed to curtail illegal guns that are used in crimes, often obtained through straw purchases and gun shop thefts. Oversight is currently under the direction of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), but the agency is woefully underfunded, and inspections are a rarity. A work session on the bill is scheduled for April 2.

The League is also following four additional gun policy bills that are scheduled for an omnibus hearing and possible work sessions in the Senate Judiciary on April 7. SB 696 bans rapid-fire devices that convert semi-automatic weapons to the nearly full-automatic. SB 697 raises the age to purchase military-style weapons like AR-15s from age 18 to 21. SB 698 expands the types of public buildings that are authorized to ban firearms, even for holders of concealed handgun licenses (CHLs). SB 429 creates a 72-hour waiting period for the purchase of a firearm.

Healthcare

By Christa Danielson

HB 2010-A: The League submitted testimony for this bill, which extends the funding for the state portion of Medicaid. The bill has passed both chambers and has been signed by the President of the Senate as well as the Speaker of the House. It will be heading  to the Governor’s desk for consideration of signature. 

Housing

By Nancy Donovan and Debbie Aiona

The Senate Committee on Housing and Development will hold another public hearing on SB 722 on March 26. The bill would prohibit residential landlords from software and occupancy control, and would apply rent caps for younger properties.

This bill would help prevent displacement by prohibiting landlords of multifamily housing from using Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to inflate rents or occupancy rates. This unethical practice is the subject of national attention. Attorneys General in eight states, including Oregon, have joined the Justice Department in an antitrust suit to disallow this method of sharing and aligning non-public information to drive up rents. 

The bill also would reduce the current 15-year exemption for new construction from our statewide rent stabilization statute down to 7 years. This change would provide reasonable rent stabilization protection for an additional 40,000 housing units and between 80,000 to 100,000 Oregonians. 

Oregon renters are the 6th most cost burdened in the nation, and our eviction crisis is growing with more than 27,000 cases filed last year. Eighty-eight percent of evictions are because tenants cannot afford Oregon’s high rents. Studies show that rent stabilization policies help keep tenants stably housed and reduce evictions. The League provided testimony in support of SB 722.

The House Committee on Housing and Homelessness will hold a public hearing on HB 2964 on March 26. It would direct Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) to provide grants and loans for predevelopment costs for new affordable housing. OHCS would have the responsibility to administer a grant and loan program for predevelopment costs for new affordable housing for low-income households to rent or own.  

OHCS would integrate this program into its existing Predevelopment Loan Fund with monies from the General Fund. Properties would be developed with affordability restrictions to ensure that they remain affordable. Oregon's population growth has outpaced housing construction leading to a severe shortage of affordable properties. This bill will give our state’s lower income households an opportunity to live in stable, new and affordable housing. The League provided testimony in support of HB 2964.

Immigration

By Becky Gladstone and Claudia Keith

We are considering joining a coalition that has recently formed to support a number of 2025 bills affecting many agricultural workers and other immigrants. There may be League alerts on this topic later this session. (refer to Immigration LR)

Revenue

By Peggy Lynch

The  Co-Chairs of Ways and Means provided their framework for the 2025-27 state budget.  Note on the last page the potential effect of federal budget cuts. This Oregonlive article suggests some of the most painful cuts.

The Joint Committee On Ways and Means Subcommittee On Capital Construction met on March 21st and received a report from the State Treasurer, including the 2025 bonding capacity:  “$2.22 Billion Issuance For Each Biennium, Or $1.11 Billion Annually”. We note that this capacity is based on the Sept. 2024 Revenue Forecast.  Also, there is a recommendation that bond sales be scattered throughout the biennium instead of waiting until the last quarter of the biennium. However, that means that the cost of debt service will have to be calculated into the 2025-27 budget. But scattering the sales can also provide the legislature with a pullback of those sales should the economy not support the ability of the state to back those bonds.

The Dept. of Administrative Services (DAS) on behalf of the Governor reported on the Governor’s bond requests in her 2025-27 budget. A complete list is available here.   

Interested in reading additional reports? Please see our Climate Emergency, Governance, and Natural Resources report sections.