Last week, we held September Legislative Days in Salem, three days centered around committee meetings and informational hearings to discuss issues which need to be addressed during the interim, one of which I mention below that is particularly important to our District.
While Salem is always busy, the real activity is and has been happening at home in House District 58.There is a lot of information in today’s newsletter including highlights regarding the Oregon School Boards Association Roadshow, a survey on Oregon forests, and news from around the region.
As always, please reach out to us with any questions or comments, ideas for legislation you’d like us to look into, events in the community you’d like us to highlight or anything else.
Thanks for all you do.
Grasshopper Crisis
During legislative days, we held an informational hearing on the Agricultural Impacts of the Grasshopper Crisis, a situation many of us who work in agriculture and/or live in rural parts of the state are far too familiar with. We are working on many levels and with many agencies and organizations to address grasshopper control, and our next step will be to champion a cost share program for grasshopper control prior to next spring.
I want to take a moment to especially thank Nick Schott from Burns for making the seven-hour drive to testify in person, Mike McKoen, a farmer from southern Oregon in Merrill, for providing testimony by video, and Diane Fillmore, a cattle Ranch Owner in Malheur County, for providing the committee with photos of the problem on her land (like the one above).
I highly recommend you watch the committee hearing here, Slides and pictures from the hearing can be found here.
OSBA Road Show comes to District 58
The Oregon School Boards Association legislative team and OSBA leaders will be hitting the road again from September through Nov. 1 to hear from their members and share insights from the Capitol.
In addition to securing $10.2 billion for the State School Fund, their team has much to share about legislative happenings and the road ahead. Please come prepared to share your thoughts about a statewide collective bargaining/salary schedule to help inform the work of OSBA’s Legislative Policy Committee on this issue.
In addition, attending a Legislative Roadshow in your area will provide the opportunity to:
- Ask questions and share how OSBA can better serve you;
- Share best practices and concerns with other board members;
- Meet your region’s Board and Legislative Policy Committee representatives.
OSBA will be coming to Eastern Oregon University, Enterprise High School, and the Pendleton Convention Center in late October. Visit their website to learn specific dates, where the meetings will take place and how to RSVP.
Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board wants to hear from you regarding CenturyLink service
The Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board wants to hear from CenturyLink customers who may be experiencing reliability issues.There is a link on their website asking customers to share service quality issues that are not being resolved in a timely manner.
There is an online form to submit comments with your experience and issues with landline phone service, including any issues with Lumen/CenturyLink/Quest’s customer service such as quality of service, delays in customer service responses, etc.
Make sure to include details on if you have had issues with:
- outages or service issues for more than 48 hours
- reoccurring or frequent outages
- not hearing from the company after a complaint is filed
Submit your comments securely using this online form provided by CUB.
Oregon Board of Forestry Survey
The Oregon Department of Forestry and the Board of Forestry are in charge of managing Oregon forests. Now they are updating their plan for the forests. They want to hear from you to make sure that the plan covers what matters most to people about forests. Your input will also help the state make other decisions about Oregon forests.
The Oregon Department of Forestry and the Board of Forestry are working with Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a program of Portland State University.
Please fill out this survey if you live in Oregon. You can fill it out through October 9, 2023. Take the survey here.
Senator Bill Hansell Honored By Umatilla Tribe
From Senator Hansell: “Today something pretty special happened to me. I was honored by Tribal leadership both past and present for my working with Tribal and none tribal governments. I was given a Pendleton Blanket, and the three leaders in the picture shared some very kind words about me, at a luncheon meeting.
L to R are Antone Minthorn former Chair of the Tribal Board of Trustees, Kat Brigham the current Chair, and Leo Stewart former Vice Chair.
“I’ve been told that the working relationship we created between the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Umatilla County became a model across the United States. What we accomplished together is truly amazing.
“Thank you for the honor today.”
For House District 58 Residents
For questions, comments, and concerns about state affairs, please call 503-986-1458 or email rep.bobbylevy@oregonlegislature.gov.
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