SALEM – Senate Democrats released summaries of their accomplishments for the February 2012 Legislative Session online today. The issue areas emphasize their strong commitment to helping middle class families, supporting small businesses, and cutting waste in order to protect critical services.

“This historic session is noteworthy for the abundance of significant legislation that addresses the real concerns of Oregonians,” said Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland). “We made major breakthroughs in education and health care reform, passed sweeping improvements to the state’s economic development strategy, and avoided devastating cuts by balancing the budget to protect critical services.”

Senate Democrats released a 2012 “Check List” this morning, illustrating their agenda at the beginning of session and the bills passed that demonstrate their success. In particular, Rosenbaum pointed to the Senate Democrats’ major priority of helping Oregonians who are struggling to keep their homes.

“The Legislature’s agreement to help struggling homeowners is a major victory for Senate Democrats and all Oregonians,” said Rosenbaum. “The foreclosure prevention bill we passed will require banks to sit down with homeowners to see if there’s a way for families to keep their homes and will end the process of simultaneous negotiation and foreclosure, known as ‘dual track.’ If not for Senate Bill 1552, homeowners would continue to be at the mercy of big banks, many of whom are not acting in good faith with homeowners who have lost jobs, become ill, or are otherwise unable to keep up on payments through no fault of their own.”

The customary “end-of-session binder” created by the Senate Majority Office at the completion of each session can be found at this link or this address:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/senatedemocrats/docs/2012binder.pdf

SALEM – Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum released the following statement this evening following the adjournment sine die of the 2012 Short Session:

“During this short session, Democrats came to Salem focused on prioritizing critical state services, protecting the most vulnerable, and standing up for middle class families and small businesses. We were successful on all fronts.

“Our budget rebalance approved this evening reflects our commitment to protect schools from further reductions and to cut waste to make sure the state lives within its means. This budget takes care of our most vulnerable, makes strategic investments in our safety net and economic development programs, keeps prisons open, and leaves money in reserves to cover potential shortfalls in the future.

“Senate Democrats stood up for middle class families this session by passing meaningful foreclosure reform. Even in the waning hours of session, we did not lose sight of the importance of helping struggling homeowners by requiring banks to sit down and talk to borrowers about a path to avoid mutually detrimental loss. This is a major step toward fairness for homeowners who deserve to be treated with respect and who deserve good-faith mediation with banks.

“For Oregon’s small businesses, we approved several bills to help them access capital to grow and expand. The most significant, the Oregon Investment Act, will substantially improve the state’s economic development strategy, streamlining and prioritizing how we use our economic development resources to better serve our homegrown business community.

“This short session has included a remarkable number of landmark legislative victories, including major breakthroughs in education and health care reform. On top of these policy priorities are several common sense legislative victories, including laws to increase transparency in government contracts to make sure taxpayers are getting the greatest value out of every dollar. We also made history, passing the Fair Employment Opportunity Act and making Oregon the second state in the nation to ban employment ads that discriminate against unemployed applicants.

“This session was historic. Our first annual session was not short on important work or legislative accomplishments. We did what we set out to do: fight for the middle class, champion the needs of our small businesses, and prioritize critical services in rebalancing the state budget.”

Statement from Senate Co-Chair of Ways and Means Richard Devlin
on Passage of Budget Rebalance Bills:

SALEM – Senate Co-Chair of Ways and Means Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin) released the following statement this evening following the passage of SB 5701 and SB 1579, two major budget bills of the 2012 short session:

“Just two years ago when voters were asked to approve annual sessions for the Legislature, one of the most significant justifications was to allow the full Legislature, representative of all of Oregon, to make budget adjustments in these modern times. This short February session, the first such annual session, served as an excellent example of this reasoning put to work. With a decline of over $300 million since the close of the 2011 Session, lawmakers needed this opportunity to make necessary adjustments to protect essential services. The series of bills passed this evening rebalances our 2011-2013 biennium budget in a thoughtful and prudent way and with the up or down vote of all members of this Legislature.”

“The Co-Chair’s rebalance agreement takes into account the greatest needs of Oregonians and our responsibility to keep our fiscal house in order. Most significantly, we protected the State School Fund, preventing our already tapped schools from further cuts. We prioritized our seniors and most vulnerable by protecting programs like Oregon Project Independence. Struggling families will not see their safety net disappear with the restorations made to Employment Related Day Care and Temporary Aid for Needy Families. We did all of this without closing a prison or releasing any inmates.”

“Looking ahead, we know in these uncertain times that we must keep a vigilant eye on our budget. While I am hopeful for growth in our economy, the economic volatility we’ve seen in the last several biennia is almost unmatched. This is why we have left sizable reserves for potential downfalls in the future. We must continue to manage through the aftermath of the Great Recession with an eye on protecting critical services for middle class families and our most vulnerable. Our current budget rebalance puts us in a good position to do so.”

Health care exchange & Early Learning Council head to Governor’s desk

SALEM – The Oregon Senate took action today on two major policy initiatives of the 2012 Session. House Bill 4165 implements the Early Learning Council, which will help coordinate resources and programs that serve Oregon’s youngest learners, ages 0-6. House Bill 4164 approves the business plan of the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange, an important step toward increasing access to quality, affordable health insurance for small businesses and individuals.

“Both the Early Learning Council and the Health Insurance Exchange are two landmark accomplishments of the 2012 short session,” said Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland). “The Early Learning Council will help ensure that kids are ready to learn when they start school while making sure resources to serve them are coordinated and delivered efficiently. Implementation of the Health Insurance Exchange is a major step for Oregon as we continue to serve as a national model for health care reform that will provide better care at more affordable cost for Oregon small businesses and individuals. Both bills have the enthusiastic support of advocates, stakeholders, and the business community because they will help us reach the goals of better health for Oregonians and better prepared students.”

HB 4165 will eliminate the State Commission on Children and Families and replace it with the more focused Early Learning Council (ELC). The ELC will reorganize policies, administration, and planning for the various commissions and agencies governing early childhood programs, placing them under a central council. This council will work to improve accountability and coordination to guarantee our children enter school ready to read and learn.

“As a lifetime educator and advocate for our kids, I know these are meaningful reforms that will help the state deliver better results for students,” said Senator Rod Monroe (D-Portland), co-chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education. “Investments made in our youngest learners have many benefits down the line for our students’ graduation rates, our crime rate, and our ability to educate the workforce of the future.”

The other major initiative approved today takes the next step in implementing Oregon’s Health Insurance Exchange, as required by the federal Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act of 2010. HB 4165 will help improve access to and bring down costs of health coverage by providing a central marketplace where individuals and small businesses can shop for health insurance plans. Oregonians will be able to easily compare plans, find out if they are eligible for tax credits and other financial assistance, and enroll in coverage through the Exchange website.

“The Exchange will empower Oregonians by giving them the information they need to make health insurance choices that meet their needs and values,” said Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham), chair of the Senate Health Care, Human Services, and Rural Health Policy Committee. “By building our own exchange, Oregon can ensure that this tool meets the state’s unique needs and insurance market.”

Both bills are major policy priorities for Governor John Kitzhaber. They now go to his desk for approval.

Senate approves significant economic development bill on 23-4 vote

SALEM – Major legislation to improve the effectiveness of the state’s economic development strategy was approved in the Senate this morning. The Oregon Investment Act, HB 4040, now heads to the Governor for his signature.

“There are substantial economic resources available in the state of Oregon, but they are currently fragmented across different agencies,” said Senator Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), chief sponsor of the bill in the Senate. “Reforming the way that these resources are managed will improve the way Oregon handles economic development, helping Oregon businesses prosper and create jobs.”

Currently, Oregon’s economic development resources are spread throughout multiple agencies and lack a coordinated strategic framework to prioritize investments where they are most needed. HB 4040 sets such a framework, outlining a streamlined, coordinated approach to the state’s economic development strategy.

“The Oregon Investment Act is a comprehensive strategy to support Oregon business and create quality jobs for Oregonians,” said Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland). “House Bill 4040 adjusts our economic development approach to allow us to increase capital for Oregon businesses, create more jobs, and foster greater public-private partnerships.”

Specifically, HB 4040 addresses coordination, flexibility, and leverage in Oregon’s economic development strategy. Under HB 4040:
• Economic development resources will be coordinated under an Oregon Growth Board, which will establish a unified strategic framework for all economic development resources. Businesses looking to grow jobs in Oregon will be able to find a full menu of assistance options in one place.

• The Oregon Growth Board will have broad authority over the Oregon Growth Fund, and be able to re-allocate resources where they will be most efficiently put to use. In this way, Oregon’s job-creation tools will be more nimble and more responsive to changing economic opportunities while still accountable to statutory goals and benchmarks.
• The Oregon Investment Act leverages in-state investments with out-of-state dollars and makes it incumbent for every portfolio to seek out private sector leverage – so that the State is not a lone investor and so that our resources and efforts are multiplied.

According to a recent study about access to capital in Oregon, the state’s businesses face multiple gaps in their ability to access the financial resources they need to grow and expand. While there are a number of providers of early stage venture capital in Oregon, emerging and growing businesses face significant challenges in accessing seed capital and growth capital. Over the last decade, Oregon companies have received $2.1 billion in private capital investment, but investment in Oregon has lagged Washington State on a per capita basis – particularly in the earliest seed capital investment stages.