By State Representative Rob Nosse
Every week I get emails or text messages, even a few Facebook messages, asking me what I am doing to resist the dismantling of the Federal Government by President Trump. I also have received emails, texts and messages asking me what I am doing about the looming changes we hear/read about in the news that might be coming from Congress. I almost always reply that I am doing what I can in the Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee I chair, where I am working on bills that will improve health care outcomes and make more behavioral health available.
Another thing I say is that Democrats in the Oregon Legislature are vetting other bills and budgets and staying connected with our Governor, who is constantly monitoring the situation and the potential impact on state agencies and programs. I also mention that I am staying in touch with our Attorney General who, along with other Democratic Attorney Generals, is suing President Trump to stop the implementation of various executive orders.
I think the answer never lands. People expect more but trying to figure out what more can actually mean is challenging and explaining that is challenging too. How does the State Legislature stand up to the assault on vital federal government programs that we rely on?
Like many of you, the House Democrats in the Oregon Legislature have been processing all this to death. Here are 10 things we are doing or planning to do that I think are concrete and specific.
One. The first thing right off the bat we are doing is making sure we can fund Medicaid by ensuring the various hospital and insurance assessments are renewed in order to maintain funding for Medicaid. Let’s hope Congress (Cliff Bentz) does not take that funding mechanism away.
Two. We are talking about funding K-12 education by making improvements to the way we calculate the CSL (the Current Service Level) and by funding summer learning sooner in the budget process so we can give districts certainty and time to set summer learning up. Additionally, we are trying to figure out funding for special education. We also want to improve performance accountability though the specifics of that are proving harder to land for lots of reasons.
Three. On transportation, the topic that is likely to dominate the session toward the end of spring is the need to find funding for the system, and how to keep ODOT more accountable and on track. No small task. Watch for more details about that toward the end of the session.
Four. Our public defense system, to say it plainly, needs to be more operational. As in, we need more lawyers to do this work, they need reasonable workloads and we need them to be compensated appropriately. This is an important part of our legal system. In the US, if you commit a crime and everyone is sure you are guilty you still have the right to help in the legal process. We owe it to our system to get this figured out.
Five. The House Democrats care a lot about gun violence prevention, as do I. We have been hearing bills to make progress on gun safety.
Six. We will certainly step up to provide more support for the work our cities and counties are doing to tackle housing and homelessness. We will likely put some infrastructure in place as it is clear we (the State of Oregon) are going to be doing this work for a long time. In order to do so, we need an agency in place to help us monitor how we are doing or not doing across the state and to help us make more strategic investments across the state.
Seven. We keep having bad wildfire seasons. We have to find a sustainable way to cover the costs of fighting the fires that are becoming progressively hotter and bigger every season. Some initial suggestions have made the news!
Eight. We will have responses for what President Trump and the US Congress may do that harms our state or goes after our core values. We are prepared to jump in court suing President Trump wherever it’s necessary to do so. We are trying to make plans, assess risks and have policies and budgets that will allow us to respond appropriately as well as mitigate the worst of the damage that may come.
Nine. We will of course pass a budget and steward the resources we have from taxes, fees and lottery money. This will include monitoring our own tax code as it interacts with the federal one so as not to inadvertently harm our ability to fund programs based on whatever changes the federal government may make.
Ten. This is a little vague, but we understand a lot of our systems struggle to operate (as in government computer systems and programs). This is where we can try and make programs work better and be more operational.
I realize not all of these points sound like we are taking on President Trump, but they are the overarching policy priorities of the House Democrats that we, myself included, believe are the right areas of focus and will help us get through the worse of this as it unfolds.
Write me at rep.robnosse@oregonlegislature.gov and/or subscribe to my weekly email for frequent updates on these issues.
