This time of year usually signifies the end of the legislative session, but the Oregon State Legislature won’t be wrapping up anytime soon.
“The speaker of the House sent out a letter that adjournment will be June 8. No one believes that,” Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, said. “The bets I’ve heard around here are for the last day in June.”
The legislative session convened in January and normally concludes its business in June. This year, however, the Legislature still has to approve a budget for the state.
“We’ve not passed all of the major budgets,” said Sen. Susan Castillo, D-Eugene. “If discussion drags out we’ll be here until the Fourth of July.”
Legislators foresee that many departments across Oregon will face shortages in their budgets, including the Oregon University System.
“OUS has asked for $96 million; fiscal says they’ll give them $35 million,” Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, said. “There is a long way to go between those two numbers.”
Underfunding is predicted to affect other state operations, especially the court system. Barnhart said the justice system budget will be $69 million short, and that department heads are getting worried about the situation — enough so that some are lobbying representatives directly.
“The chief justice of the state of Oregon does not come to the junior legislator from the party out of power unless he’s desperate,” said Barnhart. “And we are nearing desperate.”
In addition to the budgets, legislators are also working on what Castillo refers to as go-home bills. These are the last bills legislators have on their schedule before closing the session and heading home.
“There is an Oregon child plan the governor wants passed. It will help families with newborns,” she said. “We are going to have a bill on doing some transportation funding. We were hoping to do some things on initiative reform, but that has failed in committee.”
Two bills affecting higher education students, Senate Bill 325 and Senate Bill 332, have passed both the House and the Senate and are awaiting the governor’s signature. Sponsored by Kitzhaber, SB 325, if signed, will give students liability insurance coverage for off-campus activities. SB 332 will authorize the Oregon Student Assistance Commission to seek payments from any person who lies about having an academic degree.
Most of the legislative committees have closed for the session and can only be reopened by the speaker of the House or the Senate president. Legislators consider any bills that fail to make it out of committee dead.
“An example is campus police carrying guns,” Walker said. “It has not come out of committee onto the floor, so it looks like we won’t see that one at this point.”