The 74th legislative session will end June 29, 2007, and the deadline for proposed bills to move out of committees for a vote is May 31. A closely approaching deadline has committee agendas crammed as the potential future laws are either amended and passed on, or ignored and left to die. Here is a round-up of a few bills affecting student and faculty life here at the University.
Senate Bill 329
Uninsured and underinsured citizens would be provided with at least primary health care that includes a certain floor of benefits. No other state in the U.S. provides universal health care coverage for its residents, and Oregon would lead the way in providing essential health coverage.
“This is a pretty radical departure from how medical care exists today,” said Manager for Committee Services Rick Berkobien. “The only way insurance works effectively is if everyone pays into the pool.”
Funding would come from money pooled by employers and all citizens of Oregon who are not already covered under an alternative insurance plan.
House Bill 3318
Allows the State Board of Higher Education to re-designate special campus security officers within the Oregon University System as public safety officers. Includes public safety officers employed by Oregon University System in statutes relating to police officers.
House Resolution 3
Urges Oregon universities, community colleges and secondary schools to encourage students to learn Mandarin Chinese, the official language of China, and explore opportunities to study in China.
China is the number one exporter of goods to the United States. Twenty-four percent of the world’s population speaks Chinese, and economists say China will become the world’s wealthiest nation by the year 2012, according to the bill.
Senate Bill 261
Requires a publisher of instructional materials for post-secondary students to provide materials in electronic format for students with print disabilities for educational purposes.
Print disabilities include blindness, other serious visual impairments, specific learning disabilities or the inability to hold a book.
Schools must request that the publisher produce the instructional material in an alternative format such as Braille, audio recording, or digital talking books, among other alternatives.
Senate Bill 198
Excludes degree mills and diploma mills from the definition of ‘school’ for purposes of schools authorized to award academic degrees. Allows Oregon Student Assistance Commission to terminate post-secondary accrediting bodies not recognized by U.S. Department of Education.
Diploma mills, or degree mills, are substandard or fraudulent “colleges” that offer potential students degrees with little or no serious work, according to Oregon Student Assistance Commission.
St. Regis University, closed in 2005, operated out of Spokane, Wash. and was a degree mill indicted on charges of conspiring to commit wire and mail fraud and money laundering.
A public hearing and work session will be held in Hearing Room F at the State Capitol Building at 1 p.m. on May 11. The Hearing will be open to anyone that wants to provide public testimony.
Senate Bill 928
Establishes the Oregon Public Interest Professional Loan Repayment Program that allows individuals employed in specific areas for repayment of educational loans. These specific areas include a public defender’s office, a human rights organization, a social worker and a teacher, among other professions. The individual must not have an annual income more than $45,000 and must be a graduate of a post-secondary institution in Oregon who will serve for at least three years in his/her profession in Oregon.
150 eligible individuals will qualify, and the number is divided into three groups: Up to 50 public interest attorneys, up to 50 teachers and up to 50 social workers.
House Bill 2577
Allows students who participate in Oregon Troops to Teachers program to receive funds for cost of tuition at qualified independent institutions. As long as the student agrees to teach in Oregon, the Oregon Student Assistance Commission will pay for all resident tuition charges of a veteran imposed by a public post-secondary institution.
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