2013 OEA Legislative Summary

Oregon Education Association

2013 LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY PLUS! 2013 Legislative Report Card

OREGON’S 2013 LEGISLATIVE SESSON The year 2013 not only saw the regularly scheduled Oregon Legislative session, but also a Special Session called by Governor Kitzhaber. Through both sessions, lawmakers saw the economy improve, increased their investment in K-12 schools, reduced retirement benefits for educators and retirees, and approved a number of key policy bills that impact public education and the lives of all Oregonians.

There are many groups and individuals who joined OEA in our advocacy for public education. We are always grateful for the opportunity to join with our education partners and legislators in fine-tuning legislation to ensure it has the smartest and most appropriate impact on students, educators and the education system in our state. The 2013 session presented many opportunities to roll up our sleeves to tackle this work, including: •

HB 3401 - ESD Reform: This bill, originally drafted based on Deputy Superintendent’s taskforce on Education Service Districts, would have made sweeping reforms to Education Service Districts in Oregon. OEA and our allies felt it was crucial to pursue a phase-in process to ensure timely changes, rather than moving too quickly.

Together with the House Democratic Caucus office and Rep. Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene), OEA recommended that the taskforce changes be piloted in three ESD’s – Lane, Columbia Gorge and Northwest Regional. OEA is also committed to continuing the work and plans to participate in an interim workgroup to gain consensus on longer term solutions.

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HB 3075 - Open Enrollment Fix: After it became clear that the original draft of our open enrollment bill did not have support in the House, OEA joined Rep. Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis), the Oregon School Board Association, and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators to draft an amendment to HB 3075 that helps eliminate some of the unintended consequences of the current open enrollment statute. These changes included: ensuring open enrollment policies did not discriminate against students, disallowing the use of state school fund dollars on advertising, and changes to the transportation requirement.

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HB 2692 - Competency Bill: The original bill would have created a complicated and very subjective layoff process. The bill sponsor, Rep. Greenlick (D-Portland) worked with OEA to create a bill that improved the layoff process by requiring school districts to consider education attainment, training and a willingness to seek additional training when laying off or transferring an educator.

The Oregon Education Association supports public policy decisions that protect students and public education. We advocate on major legislation affecting public education, positioning on each bill according to OEA’s four policy areas: •

Ensuring children’s health and safety by support of safe schools and campuses, and healthy learning environments

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Strengthening public education through adequate and stable funding

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Maximizing student learning by providing for professional development, mentoring and support for Oregon’s system of community colleges

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Respecting school employees by preserving their collective bargaining rights, ensuring an adequate retirement system, and including educators in decisionmaking processes.

At times, advancing these ideals means working to stop harmful legislation from moving forward. In 2013 there were a number of attacks on employee rights, benefits and financial security.

Together with our labor allies, OEA helped stop:

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Over 40 bills that would break a promise with public employees by significantly altering the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS), and reducing members’ hard-earned retirement benefits.

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Bills to derail or alter employee collective bargaining rights and rights to participate in a union, including a cost of living cap for all employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

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Attempts to undermine the high quality and conduct standards currently required of teachers and administrators by allowing individuals to teach in Oregon schools without a license.

OEA’s 2013 Legislative Summary is a detailed list of bills and outcomes that help paint a full picture of the policy results for our members and the students they serve. Many of these bills form the basis of OEA’s Legislative Report Card (page 17). The full summary provides members with in-depth information and analysis on a number of pieces of key legislation. This summary is not complete, however. OEA will add additional legislation and scores following the February 2014 legislative session.

A DEEPER LOOK: THE 2013 SPECIAL SESSION

T

he 2013 Legislative Special Session concluded after just three days, but the impact on Oregon educators, seniors and middle class families will be permanent.

Governor Kitzhaber called the Legislature back into session on Sept. 30 to consider a package of five bills, otherwise known as the “Grand Bargain.”

OEA opposed the overall package because it let corporations and the wealthy off the hook without paying their fair share, and placed the burden almost entirely on the backs of educators, seniors and middle class families.

The Legislature approved the entire set of bills proposed during the Special Session. Three of the bills had a direct impact on public education and public educators. They included: • PERS - Senate Bill 861: This bill includes another cut to cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for current and future retirees - including low-wage workers and low-income seniors.

The bill affects all annual COLAS beginning Aug. 1, 2014 for all PERS benefit recipients. The COLA will be

limited to 1.25 percent on the first $60,000 of a yearly benefit payment and 0.15 percent on amounts above $60,000. Additionally, SB 861 provides a supplemental, onetime payment of 0.25 percent of their yearly benefit to all benefit recipients, not to exceed $150 It’s important to remember that Oregon educators, front-line workers and retirees have already been forced to sacrifice $800 million of their hard-earned retirement. The bill, which passed with a one-vote margin in the House, deepens the impact.

• PERS - Senate Bill 862: This bill made modifications to specific PERS statutory provisions. First, for the purpose of “final average salary” for OPSRP members, the measure excludes certain increases in salary during the last 36 months of employment that are made by an employer so an individual employee may pay for insurance coverage previously paid by the employer.

Second, the measure allows for garnishment of PERS benefits

for restitution or compensatory damages if the member has been convicted of a felony.

Third, the measure prohibits most new legislators from becoming members in PERS but allows them to choose to contribute to the Oregon Savings Growth Plan (OSGP). New legislators that already are members of PERS may continue. Also, current legislators may opt out of PERS and elect to make contributions to OSGP prospectively.

• Revenue - House Bill 3601: The bill limits medical deductions for some seniors, raises taxes on cigarettes, personal income, and increases the corporate excise tax rate. While the bill did provide an additional $100 million for K-12 and $15 million for community colleges, the money raised in new revenue is a fraction of what educators, seniors and middle class families have been asked to sacrifice. Additionally, it is likely that a provision of the bill that reduced taxes for small businesses will eventually eat up any revenue available for schools and other vital services in the future.

HERE ARE SOME ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2013 REGULAR SESSION AND SPECIAL SESSION: CHEERS! •

Lawmakers approved a $6.65 billion budget for K-12 schools. This allocation, coupled with $200 million from reductions to retirement benefits for educators and seniors (see Jeers section, right), is an important step in reversing the decade-long disinvestment in our schools.

For most school districts, this budget will stave off more cuts. For a few districts, they’ll be able to add back teachers and valuable programs, but for some districts the budget will still mean layoffs, larger class sizes, and lost programs for kids.

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OEA’s Class Size bill became law. Oregon will now have the real story about our growing class size crisis. OEA’s bill, House Bill 2644, ensures we are able to tell the true class size story by accurately measuring student-to-teacher ratios.

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Retirement within reach for more Oregonians. With the passage of House Bill 3436, a task force will study and recommend a solution that will enable all working Oregonians to save for retirement.

JEERS. •

Retirees, educators, nurses, and other front-line workers shoulder the burden. With the passage of Senate Bill 822, legislators reduced retirement benefits by approximately $800 million for current and future public employee retirees. OEA joined in coalition to ask the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the bill.

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Corporations and the wealthy get off the hook. Senate Republicans dug in their heels and refused to ask profitable corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share to fund our schools and other vital services.

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Community colleges won’t get corporate kicker. A bill that would have redirected a potential corporate kicker this year to the Community College Support Fund died in the Senate. The budget for community colleges will be $465 million for the 2013-15 biennium.

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Missed opportunity to increase voter participation. The State Senate failed - by one vote - to approve House Bill 3521.

The bill that would have removed barriers to voting and helped increase voting participation in Oregon.

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HOUSE BILL SUMMARY

HB 2096 | FDAB Member Expansion OEA Position: support OEA requested this bill to enable retired teachers to serve on the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board and also expand the number of appointees to the board. The association worked in an interim work group to craft this solution to the problem of insufficient numbers of available educators to serve on appeal panels.

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 4/2/13 HB 2098 | Poverty Weight in Funding

Formula OEA Position: neutral HB 2098 will enable the Oregon Department of Education to establish a new means of calculating the poverty weight for State School Fund distributions. The bill was requested by the Department after the census information they had previously used was no longer collected.

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed 27-1 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13 HB 2110 | Career and Technical

Education OEA Position: support This CTE legislation aimed for an appropriation of money to the Department of Education for grants under the Career and Technical Education Revitalization Grant Program. [Also see HB 2912, HB 2913, and SB 498.]

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2128 | Aligning OEBB and the

Exchange 4

OEA Position: support HB 2128 will align how OEBB and the Exchange offer plans to School Districts. The bill will require OEBB and the Exchange board to agree on what plans and carriers will be allowed to offer plans in both the exchange and OEBB. House Action: Passed 31-25 Senate Action: Passed 23-6 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/17/13

HB 2150 | Consensus Charter Update OEA Position: support This bill makes technical updates to Oregon’s charter school application and renewal processes. The new law eliminates de novo review by ODE for charter appeals, in favor of process review – a key provision sought by OEA. House Action: Passed 32-25 Senate Action: Passed 20- 8 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/4/13

HB 2151 | Virtual Charter Fix OEA Position: support A bill that passed in 2011 required that school districts allow up to three percent of students residing in the district to attend online charter schools. No one – including the census bureau – collects such data by school district boundaries, however, making the law unenforceable. HB 2151 would have corrected this flaw by ensuring that the district cap would be limited to 3% of students enrolled in the district.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2152 | Annual review of staffing

to student ratios at post secondary institutions

OEA Position: support Current law requires community colleges and public universities to report annually on ratios of full time to part time faculty. HB 2152 will expand on these reports by requiring them to include administrative or management employees, classified or professional non-faculty employees and faculty employees.

The report must also include the ratio of employees in each employee group to the number of students enrolled in each institution, both fulltime and part-time.

House Action: Passed 36-24 Senate Action: Passed 16-14 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 HB 2153 | Charter School Alignment to

District Goals OEA Position: support This bill would have enabled school districts in certain instances to deny charter proposals that do not conform to the district’s educational plans related to meeting the 40-4020 goal.

House Action: Passed 37-25 Senate Action: Sent back to committee on 7/1/13 Governor’s Action: None HB 2154 | Higher Education

Achievement Compact

Advisory Committees OEA Position: support HB 2154 would have required community colleges and public universities to form achievement compact advisory committees, similar to the committees required of school districts. HB 2154 clarified with whom open communication would be made regarding achievement compacts. Although, HB 2154 did not pass the Senate, components of the bill were included in the final version of HB 3120.

House Action: Passed 35 -25 Senate Action: None Governor Action: None HB 2184 | Retroactivity Provisions for

Sexual Misconduct OEA Position: support with amendments HB 2184 clarifies that current law prohibiting sexual conduct by school employees toward students applies to conduct that occurred before the effective date of the 2009 law.

House Action: Passed 55- 4 Senate Action: Passed unanimously Governor Action: Signed 4/2/13 HB 2192 | Modernizes School

Discipline Policies OEA Position: support with amendments HB 2192 as amended is a consensus bill developed by a legislative workgroup that included OEA. HB 2192 directs school boards to adopt policies that will update Oregon’s student discipline, suspension and expulsion statutes. HB 2192 strikes the important balance of making appropriate changes to Oregon’s discipline statutes to ensure no student group is disproportionately taken out of the classroom while also maintaining local control.

Under this law, school boards will improve school and staff discretion over discipline decisions and most importantly ensure the safety of all students and employees.

House Action: Passed unanimously Senate Action: Passed unanimously Governor Action: Signed 6/4/13 HB 2279 | Local Government

Employees can Access OEBB

and PEBB OEA Position: neutral

HB 2279 will allow employees of local governments to participate in benefit plans provided by Public Employees’ Benefit Board and Oregon Educators Benefit Board.

Local governments across Oregon have seen a dramatic increase in the cost of healthcare benefits in recent years. OEBB and PEBB increases have been below the medical trend for the past three years and Local Governments see this as a cost savings measure.

House Action: Passed 45-14 Senate Action: Passed 16-14 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 HB 2322 | District Reimbursement for

FDAB Subs OEA Position: support OEA worked with a coalition to devise a method of reimbursing school districts when teachers serve on Fair Dismissal Appeals Board cases. $10,000 in funding will be available to districts whose teachers are empanelled to consider teacher or administrator dismissal appeals. This bill instead became the vehicle for the session’s final “program change” legislation, which includes various last-minute policy elements. The $10,000 appropriation became a budget note in SB 5518, the Department of Education’s operations budget.

Specifically, the measure as finalized by the Ways and Means Committee authorizes the Department of Education to make $1.5 million in grants to some federally designated “Priority” elementary schools for hiring new teachers to improve student achievement; it authorizes a transfer of up to $12 million from the State School Fund to the Network of Quality Teaching and Learning Fund established by HB 2506; it provides resources for non-Portland resident students who receive services from the Providence long-term care facility

and services from Portland Schools; and it allows the State Treasurer to establish conditions by which a school district may qualify for state guarantee of school bonds.

House Action: Passed 37-22 Senate Action: Passed 22-7 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 HB 2325 | Measure 85 Implementation OEA Position: support OEA requested this bill to ensure that corporate kicker monies will be distributed through the State School Fund and not used for other General Fund purposes. It also clarifies that the distribution is not to be used to offset General Fund or lottery monies already appropriated to schools, but is to be an additional distribution when a corporate kicker would otherwise kick.

House Action: Passed 49-6 Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 HB 2426 | Personal Electronic Devices

in Schools OEA Position: support with amendment Under HB 2426 school boards are directed to adopt policies to govern the use of personal electronic devices in the classroom. This bill will also require school districts to provide annual professional development to specified employees about the use of online resources for students with print disabilities. This bill was largely motivated by the successful models like the Canby School District, and recognized the importance of technology for students who may not otherwise be able to read or write using traditional classroom tools. An amendment to HB 2426 clarified that the teacher maintains discretion in determining if and when an electronic device can be used.

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HOUSE BILL SUMMARY

House Action: Passed 50-9 Senate Action: Passed 23-4 Governor’s Action: Signed 5/13/13 HB 2444 | Universal Online Access OEA Position: oppose This bill would have required school districts or charter schools to pay online course providers for high school courses, creating an unrestricted right for any student to swap any brick-and-mortar course at his/her school for an online course.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2448 | Expedited Bargaining OEA Position: support HB 2448 would have required issues that are subject to expedited bargaining, not otherwise resolved through negotiation or mediation, be resolved through binding arbitration.

After 90 days of expedited bargaining, districts and employee groups would have been subject to 15 days of mediation, then if no resolution was reached the parties would enter into binding arbitration.

Under current law, if no resolution is reached after 90 days, districts can implement their proposed solution.

House Action: Passed 33 -24 Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2456 | Revenue Package OEA Position: support Originally, the bill was a collection of revenue changes designed to increase overall resources to fund education programs (community colleges, the K-12 PE mandate) as well as other essential services. The legislation required a three-fifths vote for passage. Republicans 6

offered a minority report to the bill that just banned offshoring of corporate revenue in select nations that shelter income. This would have raised about $18 million, which was slated to be spent on mental health care service expansion. Because the leadership of the House lacked 36 votes necessary to move the original bill, the Democrats joined the Republicans to pass the minority report with the offshoring provision only. Once in the Senate, HB 2456 became the vehicle for the socalled “grand bargain” (trading a revenue package for a second round of PERS reforms). That bill, which included changes to the senior medical deduction, an increase in the cigarette tax, and other provisions, died on the Senate floor. The linked PERS bill was subsequently sent back to committee without a floor vote.

The offshoring ban was added to a different revenue bill and passed both chambers.

House Action: Minority report passed unanimously Senate Action: Failed 15-15 Governor’s Action: None HB 2457 | Virtual Formula

Adjustment OEA Position: support HB 2457 would have revised the State School Fund distribution to online schools and programs, which have lower costs but still get the same distribution under current law.

OEA led a work group on this topic at the request of the House Revenue Committee Chair.

This proposal would have used some State School Fund transportation monies to stripe safety crossings and bike lanes. The transportation dollars are currently used exclusively to reimburse districts for busing students to school. OEA suggested ways to fund safe routes to schools that didn’t dip into the school transportation grant.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2501 | Small Schools Money OEA Position: support This legislation extends by two years the grant program that distributes extra resources to small school districts through State School Fund.

The fund was set to expire, and some legislators representing large districts sought to end the grant program entirely, while others sought to end the sunset provision in order to ensure that small districts had more certainty of the extra support.

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 HB 2503 | Allotment Cut Equity in Tax

Breaks OEA Position: support Requested by OEA, HB 2503 would have directed the governor to include Oregon tax breaks when across-theboard “allotment cuts” are ordered during economic down times.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None

HB 2500 | Transportation Costs

Additions

HB 2506 | School Funding Task

Force

OEA Position: opposed as written

OEA Position: neutral with amendment

This bill creates a school-funding formula review task force and also includes distribution of $33 million of State School Fund money to the Oregon Education Investment Board’s HB 3233. OEA championed an amendment to include a representative of teachers on the task force and to require the use of ODE staff instead of OEIB staff. The amendment also deleted language that would have directed the task force to propose only legislative changes that are “aligned” with OEIB policy.

House Action: Passed 41-17 Senate Action: Passed 23-7 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/1/13 HB 2538 | OSBA on the Oregon

Education Investment

Board OEA Position: support This bill, sponsored by the Oregon School Boards Association, was amended into OEA’s HB 2640 and died on Senate side when Governor’s staff opposed the bill. It would have created a slot on the Oregon Education Investment Board for an OSBA representative.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2585 | Seclusion and Restraint OEA Position: support HB 2585 directs State Board of Education to adopt by rule a process to submit complaints about incidents involving use of physical restraint or seclusion in public education programs. It also sets out a process to investigate complaints. It directs the State Board of Education to adopt by rule minimum standards for rooms used for seclusion and requires an annual report detailing the use of physical

restraint and seclusion by districts.

House Action: Passed 44-1 Senate Action: Passed 29-1 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13 HB 2632 | Urban Renewal Local

Option Fix OEA Position: support Portland Public Schools requested this bill relating to consolidated billing tax rate for purposes of urban renewal to boost funding for PPS schools. Under the bill, voterapproved, local-option monies would go to schools in full, instead of having a portion redirected to urban renewal projects. The change could mean $4.5 million per year for schools in the Portland school district.

House Action: Passed 59-0 Senate Action: Passed 29-0 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/1/13 HB 2636 | STEM Council OEA Position: neutral HB 2636 creates the STEM Investment Council charged with advancement of educational initiatives in fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This bill requires the STEM Council to report their progress annually to Legislative Assembly.

House Action: Passed unanimously Senate Action: Passed unanimously Governor Action: Signed 8/14/13 HB 2640 | PTA on the Oregon

Education Investment

Board OEA Position: support OEA’s bill to include a PTA representative on the Oregon Education Investment Board was merged with another that included

a school board member as well, creating two new slots. OEA’s bill died after the Governor’s staff opposed it in the Senate.

House Action: Passed 48-8 Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2644 | Class Size Data Collection OEA Position: support OEA’s bill directs ODE to collect and report actual, not average, class size in Oregon’s public schools. It directs school districts to report data on actual students assigned to teachers of record in each Oregon classroom.

The Department of Education will compile these data into an annual report to the Legislature, which will guide policymakers in policy and school finance decision making in the future. The data provides the ability to demonstrate the effect on academic achievement of greater funding and lower class sizes.

House Action: Passed 42-15 Senate Action: Passed 27-1 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13 HB 2664 | Student Testing Review OEA Position: neutral HB 2664 would have directed the Department of Education to conduct an evaluation of the use of standardized tests in public schools in Oregon. It requires ODE to submit its report to interim legislative committees no later than July 1, 2014.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2665 | Poverty’s Impact on

Education OEA Position: support 7

HOUSE BILL SUMMARY

HB 2665 evaluates the means by which state law addresses poverty impacts on educational attainment.

The new law requires the Department of Education to study this topic and submit its report to interim legislative committees no later than July 1, 2014.

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed 28-2 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/4/13 HB 2666 | Student Records Privacy OEA Position: support HB 2666 would have directed the Department of Education to provide technical expertise to schools, school districts, and education service districts to assist with standards of compliance, adopted by State Board of Education, pertaining to student records. It would have directed ODE to issue a privacy risk assessment of any data system, program, or contract involving student education records. It further would have directed the board to ensure standards pertaining to student education records comply with privacy and disclosure requirements and requires any public body that conducts tests using student information to budget for costs of compliance with board standards.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 2912, HB 2913 & SB 498 | Career Technical Education OEA Position: support HB 2912 requires the Department of Education, Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development, and the Bureau of Labor and Industries to develop and implement long-term goals that encourage establishment of joint advisory committees related to 8

career and technical education and that address barriers inhibiting student movement from high schools to post-secondary school programs and to the work force. It also establishes the Career and Technical Student Organization Grant Program within Department of Education to award grants to school districts and nonprofit entities for support of career and technical student organizations.

HB 2913 directs ODE to award grants each biennium to school districts, education service districts, public schools or public charter schools for CTE programs. ODE and BOLI must jointly establish a committee to set goals for the program, develop grant criteria, review all grant applications, and make recommendations related to the awarding of grants. The committee must represent business, industry, labor, and education providers.

SB 498 appropriates $7.5 million to ODE for CTE and STEM grants to school districts. This represents a near-quadrupling of the appropriation for CTE won in 2011.

House Action: Passed all three bills unanimously Senate Action: Passed all three bills unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed all three bills

HB 2787 | Tuition Equity OEA Position: support Grants in-state tuition to students entering the Oregon university system if they attended elementary or secondary schools in the United States for at least five years immediately prior to receiving a high school diploma, graduated from an Oregon high school, and are actively working toward U.S. citizenship.

House Action: Passed 38- 18

Senate Action: Passed 19 -11 Governor Action: Signed 4/2/13 SB 600 & HB 2898 | School District

Boundary Issues OEA Position: opposed as written SB 600 gave municipalities the power to override the statutory boundary process. The bill was stopped in the House, but the Senate Education Committee amended a different bill, HB 2898, with the SB 600 language. The House did not concur in Senate amendments and sent HB 2898 to a conference committee. Meanwhile, the House amended the original boundary bill, SB 600, to reflect a compromise supported by OEA and allies. The HB 2898 vote on the version OEA opposed, which was taken in the Senate, and the SB 600 vote that OEA supported, taken in the House, are recorded here.

House Action (SB 600): Passed 54-4 Senate Action (SB 600): Passed 27-1 House Action (HB 2898): Passed 42-17 (conference committee) Senate Action (HB 2898): Passed 29-1 (conference committee) Governor’s Action (SB 600): Signed 8/14/13 HB 3000 | Student Vision

Health OEA Position: support This bill requires public school students, age seven years or younger, who are beginning their education, to have vision screening or an eye examination. The legislation requires the Department of Education to report to education-related committees about a recommended means for providing adequate resources to administer regular vision screenings in public schools of this

state through grade 8. OEA worked with the bill sponsors and education allies to ensure the workability of the new law.

House Action: Passed 59-0 Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 7/1/13 HB 3008 | Open Enrollment Fix OEA Position: support This bill, requested by OEA, would have sunset open enrollment and made common-sense changes to inter-district transfer law. This version of the fix died but a revised coalition compromise passed as a part of HB 3075.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s action: None HB 3014 | Flag Salute During School

Day OEA Position: neutral Currently, Oregon public schools are required to display United States and Oregon flags near school buildings.

Schools are also required to give students an opportunity to salute the flag once a week. HB 3014 will require school districts to display a flag in each classroom and extends this requirement to public charter schools.

House Action: Passed 42 – 16 Senate Action: Passed 28-2 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/24/13 HB 3056 | Changes Calculation of

Final Average Salary OEA Position: oppose HB 3059 would have modified the way final average salary is calculated by eliminating the use of sick leave and vacation accrual. This proposal was included in many PERS reform

measures introduced this session.

HB 3059 did not receive a public hearing or work session, however, House Republicans used a procedural motion to attempt to remove HB 3484 from committee and bring it to the floor for an immediate vote. This motion failed on a party line vote.

House Action: Failed 25 -34 Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None HB 3075 | Mandate Relief/ Open

Enrollment Fix OEA Position: support This bill was drafted by a 2010 interim education work group that created legislation to rid public schools of time-consuming mandates with little rationale. It was amended to include an extension of the Achievement Compact due date to October 1 and also a coalitionproduced set of improvements to Oregon’s 2011 open enrollment law.

Among these were a ban on the use of taxpayer resources for advertising to out-of-district students, a requirement that districts not “cherry-pick” students by individual attributes or geographic region, and other changes designed to promote equity and discourage student “poaching”. OEA worked as part of the education coalition that drafted and sought passage of HB 3075.

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 7/18/13 HB 3093 | Charter School

Accountability OEA Position: support This bill will allow the Oregon Department of Education to withhold State School Funds of charter schools that fail to submit required audits or maintain sound financial systems.

House Action: Passed 38-21 Senate Action: Passed 23-7 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/6/13 HB 3120 | Restructuring the Higher

Education Coordinating

Commission OEA Position: support with amendments HB 3120 represents the largest change in post-secondary governance and structures in recent history. HB 3120 will reestablish the structure and purpose of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC), originally adopted in 2011.

The HECC will be composed of nine voting members representing all five congressional district, as well as five “advisory” members, including, two faculty, two students and one nonfaculty staff member. These advisory members will not have voting power on the HECC. Effective July 1, 2014 the HECC will take over the duty of overseeing Oregon’s 17 Community Colleges, a role previously held by the State Board of Education.

Additionally, the HECC is charged with creating a strategic plan, overseeing data systems, producing reports and recommending policy ideas, and recommending budgets and distributing funds to community colleges.

An amendment to HB 3120 will also require each community college and public university to form achievement compact advisory committees that include educators and students beginning in 20132014 fiscal year. This was originally included in HB 2154 which died in the Senate.

House Action: Passed 54-3 Senate Action: Passed 25-5 Governor Action: Awaiting Signature HB 3232 | Oregon Education Board

Strategic Initiatives 9

HOUSE BILL SUMMARY OEA Position: oppose funding source This bill, created by the Oregon Education Investment Board, directs $27 million in “targeted investments” to municipalities, nonprofits, school districts, and others. OEA objected to the use of a huge sum of public resources to these efforts, preferring a direct appropriation to school districts or funding for these priorities from private sources.

House Action: Passed 49-9 Senate Action: Passed 25-5 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13 HB 3233 | Network for Quality Teaching and Learning OEA Position: support policy; oppose funding source This $33 million program, establishing a Network of Quality Teaching and Learning, prescribes purposes for the network and methods for accomplishing its purposes. The bill adjusts method for calculating amount of grants awarded under School District Collaboration Grant Program established in 2011 and directs the Oregon Education Investment Board to submit to interim legislative committees a report related to teachers. Money for this program was taken off the top of the State School Fund appropriation.

House Action: Passed 53-5 Senate Action: Passed 26-4 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13 HB 3243 | Vesting in PERS OEA Position: neutral HB 3243 will allow police officers who are members of the Public Employee Retirement System to be considered vested in the Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP) if the member was killed in the line of duty on or after July 1, 2011, and before December 31, 2011, 10

before they were otherwise vested in the pension program.

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 6/13/13 HB 3254 | Teacher Leader License OEA Position: support with amendments HB 3254 will create an optional professional teacher leader license through the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) and renames the continuing teacher license to professional teaching license. HB 3254 also directs the Oregon Education Investment Board to determine a career pathway structure for educational assistants to become licensed teachers. The new license and career pathway must be completed by July 1, 2014, giving the current license redesign team time to complete a comprehensive overhaul of the licensure process in Oregon.

House Action: Passed unanimously Senate Action: Passed unanimously Governor Action: Signed 6/4/13 HB 3341 | Eliminating Adverse Impact OEA Position: support Current law allows for-profit career colleges to prevent community colleges from offering a course that they view as potentially duplicative by proving an “adverse impact.” HB 3341 will eliminate this law, allowing community colleges to offer courses, often a much more affordable option for students, without having to coordinate with a for profit career college.

Due to a drafting error, HB 3079 was amended to clarify that adverse impact will not apply for new publicly funded post-secondary programs or locations.

House Action: Passed 36-24 Senate Action: Passed 21 – 7 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/4/13 HB 3342 | Eliminating Barriers to Union Organizing OEA Position: support HB 3342 will prohibit public employers from engaging in or using public funds to deter or support union organizing. The bill will also prohibit employers from using public property to hold meetings with employees or supervisors if the purpose of the meeting is to deter or support union organizing. The meeting space can be used if the property is available without charge and as meeting space for the general public.

House Action: Passed 34-26 Senate Action: Passed 16-14 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13

HB 3367

| Tax Expenditure Package

OEA Position: support with amendments On the House side, this bill became the omnibus tax-break package that extended the sunsets on some expiring tax breaks and increased the amount of the break for others. To balance most of the tax losses with revenue gains, changes were made to the personal deductions that phased out some write-offs for high-income earners. Once the bill was received on the Senate side, however, changes to the original bill were made in the closing days of the session, and after the “grand bargain” vote to increase taxes overall had failed on the Senate floor. In the end, SB 3367 included only a modest list of tax break extensions.

House Action: Passed 51-6 Senate Action: Passed 22-8 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13

HB 3401 | ESD ‘Portability’ OEA Position: support as amended After the passage of SB 529, which extended the ESD opt-out provisions piloted in 2011 to all education service districts, HB 3401 emerged as a way to allow school districts within ESDs a third option – beyond full membership or full opting out – to blend district, ESD, and other services as desired by component ESDs. Parties to the issue formed an ad hoc work group with the bill’s sponsor that resulted in amendments all could support.

House Action: Passed 53-5 Senate Action: Passed 26-4 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13

HB 3436

| Retirement Security

OEA Position: support HB 3436 will establish the Oregon Retirement Savings Task Force, bringing together seven key players to study the issue of retirement security for private sector employees and develop a responsible solution to the retirement security crisis.

The Oregon Retirement Savings Task Force includes representatives from employers, the financial services industry, the public and Oregon’s chief financial officer, the State Treasurer. The board will study the issue over the next year, and recommend a plan to the 2015 Legislature.

House Action: Passed 33- 25 Senate Action: Passed 16-14 Governor Action: Signed 8/1/13 HB 3484 | Oregon School Board Association PERS Overhaul OEA Position: oppose HB 3484 a duplicate of SB 754 attempted to drastically overhaul the PERS by making significant changes to member benefits, including: the cost of living adjustment;

eliminating the use of sick leave and vacation in the calculation of final average salary; eliminating the tax reimbursements out-of-state retirees currently receive; transferring the 6 percent employee contribution back to the PERS system, and changing the calculation of money match.

HB 3484 never received a hearing or work session, however, House Republicans used a procedural motion to attempt to remove HB 3484 from committee and bring it to the floor for an immediate vote. This motion failed on a party line vote.

House Action: Failed 25-34 Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None

HB 3521

| Voter Modernization

OEA Position: support HB 3521 would have required the DMV to share information digitally with the Secretary of State’s office to register voters who meet voter eligibility requirements. The bill would have registered 500,000 Oregonians for the 2014 election, giving Oregon one of the highest percentage of registered voters in the country. The expansion of these voters would have likely led to greater support of school bonds and local levies. Sen. Rosenbaum was an aye vote, but changed her vote to nay for procedural purposes to achieve possible reconsideration.

House Action: Passed 32-28 Senate Action: Failed 14-16 Governor’s Action: None HB 5008 | Final Budget Additions OEA Position: support This end-of-session budget bill includes $4.6 million for student assessments, $1.8 million for youth development program costs, and $1.5 million for student achievement grants for hiring teachers in two priority schools per Congressional

district. The last element was a project led by Sen. Chip Shields.

House Action: Passed 50-9 Senate Action: Passed 26-3 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13

HB 5019

| Community College Support Fund

OEA Position: support After multiple sessions of budget cuts, the Community College Support Fund (CCSF) received a substantial increase in 2013. In the 2013-2015 biennium the CCSF will increase to $450 million, from the disastrous $395 million in 2011. While $510 million was the amount needed to truly put community colleges back on track, $450 million brings stability to the 17 community colleges, and is an increase proportionate to K-12 keeping students moving seamlessly through the education system in Oregon.

House Action: Passed 57 -1 Senate Action: Passed 22 -8 Governor Action: Signed 6/28/13 HB 5030 | Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Educator Benefit Board Budget OEA Position: support The budget includes a requirement that OEBB create a work group to look at cost drivers in OEBB including: 1. Payment and delivery reform options intended to incent the development of systems of care, in contrast to episodes of care.

2. A plan to implement approaches to better inform OEBB members of the benefits of their health care coverage, information to allow more informed choices, and out of pocket cost for care options.

3. Reimbursement and other data 11

HOUSE & SENATE BILL SUMMARY

from health care entities, in a format useful to achieve the goals of transparency and development of a baseline for health care costs.

House Action: Passed 35-24 Senate Action: Passed 18-10 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/25/13 HB 5032 | Oregon Opportunity Grant OEA Position: support The Oregon Opportunity Grant will receive a 14.4 percent increase from 2011-2013, a total allocation of $113.8 million. This important investment will create an affordable path to higher education. 3,000 more opportunity grants will be awarded and allows for a modest increase in the award size, acknowledging increasing educational costs. As in previous sessions there were a number of bills introduced to allow the Oregon Opportunity Grant to help fund private educations, these ideas, once again, did not get much movement in the Legislature.

House Action: Passed unanimously Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 6/28/13 HB 5046 | Teacher Standards and

Practices Budget OEA Position: support The Teacher Standards and Practices Commission ensures that public school students’ education is delivered by qualified professional educators, that accredited universities and colleges are held to high educator preparation standards, and that students are safe and free from misconduct while at school.

The Legislature will fund TSPC at $4,951,411 Other Funds and $35,000 Federal Funds for 2013-15 biennium.

This is 9.8 percent lower than the legislatively approved spending level for the 2011-13 biennium.

12

The TSPC was also directed by budget note to return to the Legislature in 2014 to report on fee related revenue trends and whether any fees should be increased.

House Action: Passed 34-26 Senate Action: Passed 16-14 Governor Action: Governor Signed 6/13/13

Senate Action: Passed 16-14 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 SB 222 | College Credit Mandate

OEA Position: neutral SB 24 specifies that Common School Fund monies determined to be available for distribution to school districts be credited to the Distributable Income Account within the Common School Fund. It also stipulates that all proceeds derived from the investment of the Common School Fund moneys become part of the Common School Fund. This technical change will slightly increase revenues to the Fund as well as to districts.

OEA Position: neutral as amended The original bill would have compelled every high school student to earn six college credits in order to receive a high school diploma.

It was amended to ensure that the Department of Education and Student Access Commission invest in student post-secondary academic skill-building and college credit attainment. The bill also creates an Accelerated Learning Committee to facilitate dual credit attainment strategies. SB 222 also directs the Oregon Education Investment Board to develop timelines, performance measures, and data requirements for its strategic investments. Finally, the bill restricts additional courses that school district or public charter school may require student to complete for high school diploma and directs community colleges to collaborate with interested school districts in the delivery of accelerated college credits.

House Action: Passed 57-0 Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 6/11/13

House Action: Passed Unanimously Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13

SENATE BILL SUMMARY SB 24 | Common School Fund

Distribution Change

SB 154 | Paid Signature Gathering OEA Position: support SB 154 will require paid signature gathering companies to register with the Secretary of State. Additionally, a person representing the company will be required to complete a training established by the Secretary of State’s office. The flood of out of state signature gathering companies has led to an increase in signature gathering irregularities. By requiring this training, registration companies will be held to a higher standard.

House Action: Passed 35-23

SB 223 | Strategic Initiative Program

Funding Mandate OEA Position: oppose This bill would have revised Oregon’s “Gain Share” law of 2007, clarifying that Oregon Department of Administrative Services must transfer moneys from General Fund to Shared Services Fund as part of the strategic investment program.

Extends application of laws requiring payment of moneys from Shared Services Fund to taxing districts in tax years beginning before January 1, 2029.

SENATE BILL SUMMARY

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None SB 271 | Abolish Oregon Educator

Professional Development

Commission OEA Position: neutral SB 271 will abolish the Oregon Educator Professional Development Commission and transfer its duties to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE). The ODE is responsible for administering a program that provides statewide collaboration for the P-20 spectrum that emphasizes school improvement.

The ODE will maintain a website for sharing professional development opportunities, assist in school district planning, develop and share state standards for professional development, and coordinate delivery of professional development across the state.

The funding for this work is a part of the $33 million allocated for the Network for Quality Teaching and Learning (see HB 3233).

House Action: Passed 57 -2 Senate Action: Passed 27- 2 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13 SB 274 | Vision Screening OEA Position: support This bill would require students seven years of age or younger to have a comprehensive eye examination upon entering school. It would have established a Comprehensive Eye Examination Account to fund eye examinations for financial hardship cases, with an appropriation from the General Fund. Due to budget constraints, this bill did not move, but another vision health concept did pass, which OEA also supported (see HB 3000).

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None SB 297 | Achievement Compact

Committee Changes OEA Position: oppose SB 297 would have required that all education entities have achievement compact advisory committees. It established membership requirements for these, including the addition of parents, business representatives, and other organizational members to what is largely a labor-management committee. The bill died in committee after one hearing.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None SB 306 | Carbon Tax Study OEA Position: neutral This senate bill directs the Legislative Revenue Officer to prepare preliminary and final reports on the feasibility of a statewide clean air fee or tax. The preliminary report is due by December 1, 2013, and a final report must be delivered

by November 15, 2014 to interim committees of the Legislative Assembly.

House Action: Passed 31-28 Senate Action Passed 18-12 Governor’s Action: Awaiting Signature SB 347 | Guns in Schools OEA Position: support This bill would have modified the crime of possessing a firearm, or other dangerous weapon while in or on school grounds. The bill would have authorized school officials to adopt a written policy restricting or

prohibiting concealed handguns on school grounds. This bill and several companion gun-safety concepts died in committees of the Senate, despite testimony by teachers, parents, school officials, and community members in support of the bills.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None SB 418 | Virtual Schools Expansion OEA Position: oppose This bill would have increased the percentage of students able to enroll in virtual charter schools without receiving approval for enrollment from the resident school district (currently capped at 3 percent). It also would have removed the sunset on institutions of higher education becoming sponsors of charter schools – a provision passed in 2011.

Finally, the bill would have allowed institution of higher education to sponsor more than one charter school.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None SB 643 | Education Employee

Transfer Protection OEA Position: support Education employees have been excluded from state statutes protecting an employee when their duties are assigned to another public employer. This measure gives education employees protection from losing employment, a reduction in salary, or loss of sick leave when another public employer assumes the duties of another public employer.

House Action: 49-5 Senate Action: 25-2 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/26/13

13

SENATE BILL SUMMARY SB 738 | Modifies PERS OEA Position: oppose SB 738 is one of over 40 bills that would have drastically reformed the Public Employee Retirement System to the detriment of public employees.

Similar to other overhaul bills (see SB 754), this bill would have made changes to the cost of living adjustment (COLA), the calculation of final average salary, eliminate the out of state tax reimbursement, transferred the 6% employee contribution back to the PERS system and changed the calculation of money match.

SB 738 never received a hearing or work session, however, Senate Republicans attempted to use a procedural motion to pull this bill out of committee and bring it straight to the floor for a vote. This motion failed on a party line vote.

House Action: None Senate Action: Failed 13-16 Governor’s Action: None SB 754 | Oregon School Board

Association PERS Overhaul OEA Position: oppose At the beginning of the legislative session an unlikely coalition formed to try to advance an “everything but the kitchen sink” PERS reform legislation. The coalition, including Stand for Children, the Oregon School Board Association, and the Oregon Business Association, attempted to drastically overhaul the PERS by advancing six-piece bill that would have changed the cost of living adjustment; eliminate the use of sick leave and vacation in the calculation of final average salary; eliminated the tax reimbursement out-of-state retirees receive; transferred the 6 percent employee contribution back to the PERS system, and changed the calculation of money match.

While some of these proposals were including in the only PERS bill to 14

pass this session (see: SB 822), SB 754 would have drastically impacted members hard earned benefits and may have caused a mass retirement across the state.

House Action: None Senate Action: None Governor’s Action: None SB 755 | Minority Teacher Act OEA Position: support SB 755 establishes new goals for the Minority Teacher Act originally adopted in 1991. SB 755 requires the state to increase the number of minority teachers and administrators employed by Oregon School districts by 10 percent by July 1, 2012. SB 755 also calls for increasing by 10 percent the number of minority students enrolled in public teacher education program in the state. The Oregon Education Investment Board will report biennially to the Legislative Assembly data related to minority students and teachers. SB 755 extends the definition of minority to include a person whose first language is not English.

House Action: Passed 59 -1 Senate Action: Passed unanimously Governor Action: Signed 8/14/13 SB 789 | Changes to School Districts

out of OEBB OEA Position: support as amended SB 789 removes the requirement that school districts outside of OEBB have to do comparability every two years. However, this bill retains the requirement that school districts and OEBB conduct a comparability analysis if requested by Local Association. This was a compromise between OEA and districts outside of OEBB to reduce the perceived burden on districts and still retain a safety net for members.

House Action: Passed 46-14

Senate Action: Passed 25-4 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13

SB 822 | PERS Reform – Graduated

COLA OEA Position: oppose During the 2013 reular session over 40 bills were introduced by the Legislature related to PERS Reform.

Senate Bill 822 was the only bill to move, and is based on the Co-Chairs of the Joint Ways and Means’ budget proposal released earlier in the session. The bill impacts all public employees – retired and active.

Senate Bill 822 does the following: 1. Creates a Graduated Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

In other words, retirees will receive the normal 2% COLA on the first $20,000 of their retirement benefit, however, as the benefit increases, the COLA percent will decrease. (Ex: for the next $20,001 - $40,000 in benefits members will only received a 1.5% COLA). In order to give the PERS agency enough time to implement this new formula, for the first year of the coming biennium the COLA rate will drop from 2% to 1.5% for all retirement income.

2. Eliminates the tax reimbursement retirees living out of state currently receive.

3. Directs the PERS Board to collar 1.9 percent of employer rate increase.

Collaring is a common practice for pension systems to help smooth out the ups and downs of the investment market The PERS board has implemented the changes outlined in SB 822 and have reduced all employer contribution rates by 4 percent.

House Action: Passed 33-27 Senate Action: Passed 16-13 Governor Action: Signed 5/6/13

SB 861 | PERS Special Session OEA Position: oppose Senate Bill 861 supersedes the 2014 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that was previously approved in Senate Bill 822 (See to left). Senate Bill 822 capped the COLA payable on August 1, 2013 at 1.5 percent for all benefit recipients. Senate Bill 861 does not affect the August 1, 2013 COLA, but modifies the yearly COLAs for all PERS benefit recipients moving forward. Effective August 1, 2014 a COLA will be limited to 1.25 percent on the first $60,000 of a yearly benefit payment and 0.15 percent on amounts above $60,000.

Additionally, SB 861 provides a supplemental, one-time payment of 0.25 percent of their yearly benefit to all benefit recipients, not to exceed $150. Those who have a PERS benefit of less than $20,000 per year will receive a second supplemental, onetime payment of 0.25 percent of their yearly benefit. These supplemental payments will be in effect for six years (first payable after July 1, 2014 and ending after July 1, 2019).

Similar to SB 822, OEA and our PERS Coalition partners believe SB 861 is unconstitutional and violates a promise made to public employees and retirees.

House Action: Passed Senate Action: Passed Governor Action: Signed 10/8/13 SB 5507 | Capital Construction OEA Position: support In the 2013-2015 biennium, community colleges will receive more than $125 million in bonding authority, the equivalent of funding for 16 community college projects and two-year extensions for projects at Clackamas Community College and Umpqua.

SB 5507 will also require a 4 year window before a college can request additional funding for capital construction projects, unless a college withdraws an already funded project.

House Action: Passed 46-12 Senate Action: Passed 25-3 Governor Action: Signed 8/14/13 SB 5518 | Oregon Department of

Education Budget OEA Position: support Included in this budget bill for the Oregon Department of Education is the traditional grant-in-aid and operations funding as well as funding for the Oregon Education Investment Board’s “strategic investments” (see HB 3232). Also includes a $10,000 appropriation for reimbursing school districts for subs when their teachers participate in activities of the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board.

House Action: Passed 53-6 Senate Action: Passed 24-5 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/22/13 SB 5519 | State School Fund Budget OEA Position: support A coalition of public education stakeholders, including OEA, worked to show the legislature what different funding thresholds would provide in terms of stability, reinvestment, or more cuts. As a strategic effort, this work resulted in a “stability budget” for most districts of $6.75 billion total state resources. The legislature passed an appropriation of $6.55 billion in SB 5519. An additional $200 million in “purchasing power” is assumed because of the passage of SB 822 (PERS changes), making the total allocation spend as though it were a $6.75 billion budget. It should be noted, however, that $109 million of carve-outs was taken off the top in HB 2506 and will not be available for distribution to school

districts and ESDs. House Action: Passed 53-5 Senate Action: Passed 22-8 Governor’s Action: Signed 7/22/13 SB 5532 | Education Bonds – Debt

Service Funding OEA Position: support This budget bill would have allocated monies from the Administrative Services Economic Development Fund of the lottery beginning July 1, 2013 and would have established a process for quarterly allocations of money and transfers of interest earnings from Oregon Education Fund to Lottery Bond Fund for payments by Department of Education on education lottery bonds. The bill as written died in committee and was repurposed to serve as the lottery proceeds distribution bill, which includes $327.4 million in lottery proceeds to help fund the State School Fund.

House Action: Passed 55-3 Senate Action: Passed 24-4 Governor’s Action: Signed 8/14/13

SB 5537 | Public Employee Retirement

System Budget OEA Position: support SB 5537 will appropriate $9.4 billion to PERS, of which $9.3 billion is for benefit payments to retirees. The operational portion of the budget is $82.9 million Other Funds, a 2.6 percent increase from the 2011-2013 biennium.

SB 5537 also includes two budget notes that direct PERS to report to the Legislature on the implementation of legislative action and the final 2013-2015 employer contribution rates. A second budget note directs PERS to report on whether retirees within the PERS Health Insurance Program should be combined with other groups 15

SENATE BILL SUMMARY in acquiring health care coverage under CoverOregon plans and the Affordable Care Act.

SJR 34 will put a proposed amendment to Oregon Constitution before voters to permit a serving judge to be employed by Oregon National Guard to perform military service or by State Board of Higher Education to teach. SJR 34 originally allowed serving judges to teach in K-12 schools, creating the unintended consequence of allowing judges to teach without a license. This piece of the legislation was removed. The proposed change will appear on the next general election ballot.

House Action: Passed 55-4 Senate Action: Passed 28-2 Governor Action: Signed 6/26/13 SB 5548 | Oregon Education

Investment Board Budget OEA Position: oppose as written This budget bill appropriates $6.2 million from General Fund to OEIB for biennial expenses. Eleven FTE are funded in this budget, including four research positions.

House Action: Passed 36-23 Senate Action: Passed 26-4 Governor’s Action: Signed 6/28/13 SJR 1 | Opportunity Grant Initiative OEA Position: support as amended SJR 1 proposes an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to create a permanent and dedicated fund to finance additional aid to future Oregon students seeking a postsecondary education. If approved by voters, the Oregon Student Opportunity Fund would provide funding to greatly expand Oregon Opportunity Grant awards, which gives tuition assistance to students attending an Oregon community college, university or private institution House Action: Passed 34-25 Senate Action: Passed 20-10 Governor’s Action: Sent to Secretary of State; will appear on the next general election ballot.

SJR 34 | Allows serving judges to be

employed by State Board of

Higher Education and Oregon

National Guard OEA Position: neutral with amendments 16

House Action: Passed 36-23 Senate Action: Passed Unanimously Governor’s Action: Sent to Secretary of State; will appear on the next general election ballot.

REVENUE BILLS: More than 148 bills pertaining to revenue were introduced in 2013, down from 400+ in prior biennia.

Of these, nine related to reserving more money in “rainy-day” funds, 60 would grant new or expanded tax breaks, several ensured greater tax compliance – especially by corporate entities that hide profits offshore – and several would have increased revenues to the state or local governments. Still more would lift bans on local pre-emptions for such taxes as those on alcohol and tobacco sales.

Most bills did not pass. An omnibus tax break extension bill, HB 3367, received the most work in 2013, and an attempt to pair increased revenue by cutting tax expenditures and rate increases with PERS changes also made it to both chambers of the legislature, though with different language on each side (see HB 2456). OEA worked to stop unnecessary tax cuts and expand revenue in 2013, and led the Oregon Revenue Coalition in that effort for the tenth year.

2013 LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD

SPECIAL SECTION

WHO MEASURED UP IN 2013?

T

his scorecard documents the performance of Oregon’s 90 legislators, reflecting each lawmaker’s record in advocating for and advancing Oregon’s public schools. We have developed a chart to reflect the votes of each House and Senate member on key legislation that directly impacts our members, their students and represents our union’s values.

Voting record data must be considered carefully among the many factors that guide decision-making in determining any individual legislator’s overall performance. As OEA members seek clarity in determining who, among public officials, may be said to be “proeducation” it is important to remember that a straight up-or-down vote on the House or Senate floor is an incomplete indicator and does not always tell the full story of a person’s dedication to or adversarial role against issues important to OEA.

OEA’S VISION The vision of the Oregon Education Association is to improve the future of all Oregonians through quality public education.

SENATE LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD

Senator (Party)

HB 2153

HB 2154

HB 2448

HB 2640

HB 2644

HB 2787

HB 3341

Description

Charter

Comm Coll

Bargaining

PTA on OEIB

Class Size

Tuition

Comm Coll

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Herman Baertschiger (R)

Yes

No

No

Alan Bates (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Lee Beyer (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Brian Boquist (R)

No

No

EX

Ginny Burdick (D)

EX

Yes

Yes

Betsy Close (R)

Yes

No

Yes

Peter Courtney (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Richard Devlin (D)

EX

Yes

Yes

Jackie Dingfelder (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Chris Edwards (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ted Ferrioli (R)

Yes

No

No

Larry George (R)

Yes

No

No

Fred Girod (R)

Yes

No

Yes

Bill Hansell (R)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Mark Hass (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Betsy Johnson (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Tim Knopp (R)

Yes

No

No

Jeff Kruse (R)

Yes

No

Yes

Laurie Monnes Anderson (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Rod Monroe (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Alan Olsen (R)

Yes

No

No

Floyd Prozanski (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Arnie Roblan (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Diane Rosenbaum (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Chip Shields (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Bruce Starr (R)

Yes

Yes

EX

Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Chuck Thomsen (R)

Yes

Yes

No

Doug Whitsett (R)

Yes

No

No

Jackie Winters (R)

Yes

No

Yes

OEA Position

Gray/Blank Columns on this page: These priority bills all passed the House of Representatives but were not given a vote in the Senate. Many of these bills received a public hearing, but did not garner support among committee members to make it to the Senate floor for an up or down vote.

18

HB 3436

HB 3484*

HB 3521

SB 154

SB 738

SB822

SB 822*

SB 861

Ret. Sec

PERS

Vote

Signature

PERS

PERS

PERS

PERS Special Session

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Pro-Public Education Votes

Total Votes

Grade

Yes

2

10

20%

No

Yes

8

10

80%

Yes

No

No

9

10

90%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

1

9

11.11%

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

7

9

77.78%

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

4

10

40%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

7

9

77.78%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

9

10

90%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

2

10

20%

No

No

No

EX

EX

EX

Yes

1

7

14.29%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

3

10

30%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

4

10

40%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

7

10

70%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

3

10

30%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

4

10

40%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

2

10

20%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

EX

8

10

80%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

Yes

No**

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

8

10

80%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

9

10

90%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

3

10

33.33%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

8

10

80%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

3

10

30%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

2

10

20%

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

3

10

30%

* HB 3484 is intentionally left blank. This bill was a procedural motion on the House floor and the Senate did not have an opportunity to vote on this bill. ** Sen. Rosenbaum was an aye vote on HB 3521, but changed her vote to a nay for procedural purposes to achieve possible reconsideration of the bill.

19

HOUSE LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD

House (Party)

HB 2154

HB 2448

HB 2640

HB 2644

HB 2787

HB 3056* C

HB 3093 C

HB 3341

Comm Coll

Bargaining

PTA on OEIB

Class Size

Tuition

PERS

Charter

Comm Coll

OEA Position

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Jules Bailey (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Jeff Barker (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

EX

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Phil Barnhart (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Brent Barton (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Cliff Bentz (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Vicki Berger (R)

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Deborah Boone (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Peter Buckley (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Kevin Cameron (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Brian Clem (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Jason Conger (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

John Davis (R)

No

No

EX

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Michael Dembrow (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Margaret Doherty (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Sal Esquivel (R)

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

No

Shemia Fagan (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Lew Frederick (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Tim Freeman (R)

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

Joe Gallegos (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Chris Garrett (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Sara Gelser (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

EX

Yes

Vic Gilliam (R)

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

David Gomberg (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Chris Gorsek (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Mitch Greenlick (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Bruce Hanna (R)

No

EX

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

Chris Harker (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Wally Hicks (R)

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Paul Holvey (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Val Hoyle (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

John Huffman (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Bob Jenson (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

EX

Yes

Yes

No

Mark Johnson (R)

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Bill Kennemer (R)

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Alissa Keny-Guyer (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Description

* procedural vote 20

HB 3436

HB 3484*

HB 3521

SB 154

SB 738*

SB822

SB 822*

SB 861

Ret. Sec

PERS

Vote

Signature

PERS

PERS

PERS

PERS Special Session

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

Pro-Public Education Votes

Total Votes

Grade

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

12

13

92.3%

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

4

14

28.6%

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

6

14

42.9%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

11

13

84.6%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

12

14

85.7%

No

Yes

No

No

No

N/A

4

13

30.8%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

N/A

13

13

100.0%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

14

21.4%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

2

13

15.4%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

12

14

85.7%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

2

14

14.3%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

2

14

14.3%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

11

14

78.6%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

12

13

92.3%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

1

14

7.1%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

2

13

15.4%

EX

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

12

14

85.7%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

14

21.4%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

N/A

12

13

92.3%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

12

14

85.7%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

6

14

42.9%

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

7

13

53.8%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

4

14

28.6%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

14

21.4%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

12

14

85.7%

SB 738* and SB 822* are intentionally left blank. These bills were procedural motions in the Senate and the House did not have the opportunity to vote on these bills.

21

HOUSE LEGISLATIVE REPORT CARD, cont.

House (Party)

HB 2154

HB 2448

HB 2640

HB 2644

HB 2787

HB 3056* C

HB 3093 C

HB 3341

Comm Coll

Bargaining

PTA on OEIB

Class Size

Tuition

PERS

Charter

Comm Coll

OEA Position

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Betty Komp (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Tina Kotek (D)

Yes

Yes

EX

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Wayne Krieger (R)

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

John Lively (D)

Yes

Yes

EX

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Greg Matthews (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Caddy McKeown (D)

Yes

EX

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Mike McLane (R)

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

Nancy Nathanson (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Andy Olson (R)

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Julie Parrish (R)

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Tobias Read (D)

Yes

Yes

EX

EX

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Jeff Reardon (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Dennis Richardson (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Greg Smith (R)

Yes

No

Yes

EX

EX

EX

Yes

No

Sherrie Sprenger (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Kim Thatcher (R)

No

No

No

No

EX

Yes

No

No

Jim Thompson (R)

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Carolyn Tomei (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

EX

No

Yes

Yes

Ben Unger (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Jessica Vega Pederson (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Jim Weidner (R)

No

EX

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Gene Whisnant (R)

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Gail Whitsett (R)

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

Jennifer Williamson (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Brad Witt (D)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Description

* procedural vote

22

HB 3436

HB 3484*

HB 3521

SB 154

SB 738*

SB822

SB 822*

SB 861

Ret. Sec

PERS

Vote

Signature

PERS

PERS

PERS

PERS Special Session

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Pro-Public Education Votes

Total Votes

Grade

Yes

12

14

85.7%

Yes

Yes

11

13

84.6%

No

No

No

4

14

28.6%

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

10

13

76.9%

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

10

13

76.9%

No

Yes

No

EX

No

Yes

1

13

7.7%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

4

14

28.6%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

14

21.4%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

10

12

83.3%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

12

14

85.7%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

14

21.4%

No

AB

No

No

No

No

5

10

50%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

14

21.4%

No

Yes

No

EX

No

N/A

1

11

9.1%

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

4

14

28.6%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

11

13

84.6%

EX

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

N/A

12

13

92.3%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

3

13

23.1%

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

4

14

28.6%

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

1

14

7.1%

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

13

14

92.9%

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

11

14

98.6%

SB 738* and SB 822* are intentionally left blank. These bills were procedural motions in the Senate and the House did not have the opportunity to vote on these bills.

23

A publication of the Oregon Education Association Public Affairs Department 6900 SW Atlanta St. Portland, OR 97223 503-684-3300 oea-gr@oregoned.org