Feeling overwhelmed with a horde of difficult decisions? The Oregon Legislature has you beat. With 3,000 bills proposed in its 74th regular session, there are a lot of laws that may potentially affect students, faculty and staff in the University community.
Here are some brief summaries of active bills:
House Bill 3308
Allows members of Oregon National Guard to enroll in specified classes at the University at no cost. For example, if the University offers a limited enrollment class and the specified number of students has not enrolled in the class by the enrollment deadline, the remaining unfilled spaces in the class will be offered at no cost to members of the Oregon National Guard.
Senate Bill 951
The University would adopt plans to encourage students to register to vote and vote in elections. Registration cards would be required to be available in residence halls, campus bookstores, places where students register for classes, financial aid offices and student adviser offices.
House Bill 3253
Requires health benefit plans to provide coverage of human papillomavirus – commonly known as HPV – vaccine for female beneficiaries who are 11 years of age or older.
Senate Bill 9
Allows state employees to donate accrued vacation, holiday and sick leave to another state employee who is serving on active duty in the Armed Forces, or on active duty in a reserve component of the Armed Forces.
House Bill 2535
Imposes a malt beverage recovery fee of $32 per barrel of 31 gallons of malt beverage. The tax will fund drug and alcohol abuse prevention, early intervention and treatment services along with other various prevention services and programs. Currently Oregon collects only $1 of alcohol tax for every estimated $39 of alcohol related health care costs.
Underage drinking cost the citizens of Oregon an estimated $724 million in 2005 and alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost each Oregonian an estimated $683 annually. Oregon eighth graders’ use of alcohol is an estimated 80.5 percent higher than the national average. In creating many of the programs and polices to help curb alcoholism, especially in underage drinking, the legislature hopes to reduce many of these statistics.
House Bill 2578
Each academic department at the University that has at least eight full-time faculty positions shall have at least 75 percent of the undergraduate courses offered within the department taught by full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty. Higher education nationally has reached the point where more than 70 percent of all college and university instructors are part-time or temporary. The national workforce average is less than half that number at only 30 percent.
Senate Joint Memorial 10
Urges President George W. Bush not to increase the number of troops in Iraq. This memorial calls on Congress to pass legislation barring Bush from increasing numbers of troops, and calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Senate Bill 434
Establishes the Multicultural Student to Teacher Loan Program, a forgivable loan program for students studying to become teachers. The student may be awarded $2,500 a year, an award that can be renewed twice after the initial loan. One-fourth of the principal loan and one-fourth of the accrued interest will be forgiven for each academic year of full-time employment within six years of receiving a degree.
House Bill 3543
Establishes greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals as follows:
? By 2010, halt the growth and begin reduction of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions.
? By 2020, achieve greenhouse gas levels that are 10 percent lower than 1990 levels.
? By 2050, achieve greenhouse gas levels that are 75 percent lower than 1990 levels.
The bill also appropriates money from the General Fund to the Department of Higher Education to fund Oregon Climate Change Research Institute.
House Joint Measure 7
Urges Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act that allows workers the freedom to form a union if they please and to avoid being forced to form a union if they feel one is not needed.
House Bill 3325
Enacts “Interstate Compact for Agreement Among the States” to elect the president and vice president by a national popular vote. States may become a member of this agreement, and each member state shall conduct a statewide popular election for president and vice president of the United States.
Senate Bill 1029
Prohibits the State Board of Higher Education from increasing or adopting new programmatic fees. Programmatic fees are fees assessed to students enrolled in specific programs such as graduate programs, the law school, undeclared humanity and arts majors and the honors college.
Senate Bill 365
In an effort to create an overall affordability of textbooks for students, SB 365 has a three-pronged attack on the “artificially inflated prices” of textbooks. Publishers must disclose the prices of their textbooks and the estimated time that the publisher intends to keep each product on the market. Publishers offering textbook bundles must offer each item of that bundle separately. Publishers must also offer individual textbook prices instead of only wholesale prices.
Contact the city, state politics reporter at [email protected]
Want to speak out?
Contact your representative in Salem:
Local State Senator
Sen. Vicki L. Walker (DEM)
District: 7
900 Court St. NE
Suite S-210
Salem, OR