STATE
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
A9
How can ordinary Oregonians impact the Legislature?
process, so you will know what
committee is considering a bill,
when it has been voted on by the
committee or a full chamber and its
next step.
You can sign up to get email
notice about any particular piece
of legislation so you can be aware
of hearings and when to provide
testimony.
And try tapping your local net-
work for insights, including people
who have served in office before or
in another level of government.
City councilors, county com-
missioners, school board members
and other local officials are easy
to reach and are familiar with the
Legislature.
By Claire Withycombe
Oregon Capital Bureau
When Oregon legislators con-
vene on Tuesday, they could raise
or lower your taxes, cut or boost
government services and decide
how much your landlord can hike
the rent.
Interest groups, from the phar-
maceutical industry to labor unions,
spend millions of dollars lobbying
legislators and contributing to their
campaigns.
We asked former lawmakers
and citizen advocates: How can
an ordinary constituent, without
the same cash or cachet, have an
impact? Here’s their advice to help
you influence what happens at the
Capitol.
Be mindful of political
realities
Get a group
Oregon Capital Bureau/
The old adage holds: There is
strength in numbers.
“Bills that get passed are the
bills that the hearing room is full,”
said Bobbie Jager, school choice
outreach coordinator at the Cas-
cade Policy Institute. “They’re bills
that make senators take notice that
it isn’t just their opinion, it’s their
people and their constituents that
want something, and things move
usually that way.”
Jager isn’t a hardened political
operative. She got her start in poli-
tics after she was named 2012 Ore-
gon Mother of the Year.
After the honor brought her to
the Capitol to address legislators,
she was asked to lead a group of
parents advocating for education
reform.
If you’re passionate about an
issue — affordable housing, for
example, or criminal justice reform
— find a group that shares your
interests and point of view. They
will track proposals that could
become law.
Julie Parrish represented Tuala-
tin and West Linn in the House for
eight years until she was defeated
for re-election in November.
“We’re all a special interest at
The 2019 Legislative Session began Tuesday at the Oregon Capitol.
the end of the day,” Parrish said. “If
you’re a veteran, if you’re a senior,
if you’re a mom with kids in school,
(you) have an interest in what hap-
pens in our government. And there’s
some group out there that is speak-
ing with your voice, and so go find
them, and get involved with them,
and they will help mentor you as
well.”
Parents and families of people
with disabilities have proven some
of the most successful lobbyists,
Parrish said.
“We worked on things that mat-
tered to families because families
showed up,” Parrish said.
hold town hall meetings in their dis-
tricts where constituents can share
their ideas or concerns.
To find your representative and
senator, visit the legislature’s home
page at oregonlegislature.gov.
Beware of emails from advocacy
groups asking you to click a link to
send a form letter to legislators.
It may be convenient, but doing
that can result in thousands of iden-
tical messages that pile up in law-
makers’ inboxes.
“Most of those aren’t read,” said
former state Sen. Alan DeBoer,
a Republican from Ashland who
didn’t seek another term last year.
Write to your legislators — in
your own words
Testify before the Legislature
Whether you have your own
idea for a change to state law or
want to share your opinion about an
existing proposal, lawmakers rec-
ommend writing a letter or email
yourself and including your address
so that they know you live in their
district.
Most legislators want to stay in
office, so they pay attention to what
their constituents want. Many also
If you have the means and time,
testifying in person can be an effec-
tive way to influence lawmakers. If
you let your legislator know you’ll
be in town with a few days’ notice,
many will meet with you.
“I believe that at any level of
government, direct interaction is
probably the best way to go,” said
JoAnn Herrigel, deputy director of
Elders in Action, a Portland group
that advocates for older adults and
educates citizens on the state and
local political process.
Committee hearings, floor ses-
sions and the whole building are
open to the public.
If you’re keeping track of a bill
and see that it has a public hearing
in a committee, you can testify.
You don’t need permission to
appear as a witness, which means
you sit before a committee and
share your thoughts about the issue
it is considering. You also can sub-
mit your opinion in writing to be
considered by committee members.
For the most impact, tell law-
makers how a proposal will directly
affect you.
“I think personal stories go a
long way,” Herrigel said.
Do your research
Knowing your subject will make
your comments more compelling.
A wealth of information on
many topics is on the Legislature’s
website, and with a little practice, it
can be a helpful guide.
The legislative website provides
direct access to each piece of leg-
islation and its journey through the
How much influence you have
can come down to politics, said
Rich Vial, a Republican who served
in the House for two years.
“Right now, partisanship decides
what issues are going to get hear-
ings, what issues are going to get
leverage, what issues are going to
get any kind of traction and what
issues aren’t,” Vial said. “If it’s not
one that the majority party is inter-
ested in having go anywhere, for-
get it.”
Democrat Courtney Neron beat
Vial in November. That ouster
was part of a wave election that
replaced several Republicans with
Democrats in both the House and
Senate.
Frustrated by the power that the
majority party holds, Vial wants to
make the Legislature nonpartisan.
Many lawmakers fill their days
with 15-minute “speed dates” with
lobbyists, Vial said. Those lobby-
ists have influence over what law-
makers do because they hold the
purse strings for campaign dona-
tions, which can be critical to get-
ting reelected.
But, as a citizen, you have one
other powerful tool at your dis-
posal if you don’t like what your
lawmaker is doing: your ballot.
Unions look to take advantage of Democratic leadership and strong economy in 2019
In November, educators
and school children got a
champion. The homeless
got an advocate, and envi-
ronmentalists got a stew-
ard. But perhaps the people
most happy with Gov. Kate
Brown’s re-election reside
in Oregon’s union shops.
Brown has long been pro
union. She has publicly sup-
ported them and even had
the president of a national
teachers union stump for her
during her campaign.
Unions have backed
Brown as well. Her six big-
gest union donors gave
nearly $1 million combined
in 2018. Now, with Dem-
ocrats having a stronger
majority in the House and
Senate, union leaders say
it’s time to push their pro-
worker agenda.
“It’s time to do some-
thing bold,” said Melissa
Unger, executive direc-
tor for Service Employees
International Union Local
503, which represents about
70,000 state workers and
caregivers.
Unions have weakened
through the country com-
pared to their power in
decades past but remain
strong and active in Oregon.
In the 2018 election, SEIU
49 gave House Speaker Tina
Kotek $50,000, though she
had no serious challenger.
SEIU 503 provided $42,000
in in-kind contributions to
Future PAC, which covered
wages, general expenses
and surveys. Future PAC is
the House Democrats’ cam-
paign fundraising arm.
The Oregon Educa-
tion Association gave Sen.
Shemia Fagan’s campaign
$15,000, and she received
$20,000 from the Oregon
chapter of the American
Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees,
despite hav-
ing a large
lead in her
primary
contest.
Unions
also
gave
Gov. Kate
to the Sen-
Brown
ate Demo-
crat Lead-
ership Fund, which then
spread money around to var-
ious caucus leaders. SEIU
gave $15,000 to the PAC in
2018 in the form of travel
expenses and wages. The
national AFL-CIO gave
$10,000.
House Majority Leader
Jennifer Williamson also got
$10,000 from AFL-CIO, as
well as $13,500 from Local
48 Electricians. United Food
& Commercial Workers
Union Local 555 gave Sen.
Rob Wagner, chair of the
Senate Education Commit-
tee, $5,000 in 2018, as did
the Oregon School Employ-
ees Association.
With the Legislature con-
vening, union lobbyists will
be a significant presence.
Unger said her union sup-
ports higher taxes for busi-
nesses and wealthy indi-
viduals and legislation to
improve the cost of housing
and to help education.
Her primary focus during
the session, though, will
be the 30,000 caregivers
SEIU represents. She said
their work, often underpaid,
underappreciated and done
by women, can be vital to
rural economies.
“How do we create sys-
tems to really lift up this
work?” she said. “It’s often
low-wage work, but it is
at the core of how fami-
lies succeed, and something
we should really value as a
society.”
The union wants a
smoother regulatory way
for home workers to move
to jobs in other places, such
as a nursing home. She also
wants a central background
check system. Unger said,
under the current system,
she has seen website adver-
tisements for jobs such as
coming into a home to bathe
an adult. That’s unregulated,
she said, and isn’t safe for
workers or clients.
The union also wants
to help renters, support-
ing limits on rent increases.
Unger was pleased with the
election of Fagan and her
appointment to chair the
Senate housing committee.
“There needs to be a bold
action plan,” Unger said.
“How do we ensure people
do not lose their homes?”
SEIU 503’s labor contract
with the state runs through
the year. Ben Morris, union
spokesman, said the union
would soon release details
of pay increases it will seek
when bargaining on a new
contract begins this spring.
SEIU is also pushing for
increased funding for educa-
tion, something at the top of
Oregon Education Associa-
tion’s agenda.
Over the past 30 years,
Oregon has cut programs
such as career education,
art and physical educa-
tion while class sizes bal-
looned and graduation rates
fell, according to an emailed
statement from John Lar-
son, president of the Oregon
Education Association.
The union represents
45,000 workers, many of
whom have felt the impacts
of decades of education
spending cuts.
“Students deserve better,
and significantly increasing
school funding from pre-K
to higher education will
make a huge difference,” he
said.
Larson also rejected the
idea of cutting into retire-
ment funds as a way of fix-
ing the state’s public pension
deficit.
“Current employees are
not the cause of the state’s
financial woes, and further
reductions to their bene-
fits will not solve the prob-
lem,” Larson said. “We
must ensure all educators
have access to healthcare
benefits.”
Brown has proposed a $2
billion increase in education
funding, which Larson said
is a good start, but doesn’t
go far enough.
“The Joint Committee on
Student Success has made
it clear that far more invest-
ment is needed, and as edu-
cators we know that our stu-
dents need even more,” he
said.
Unions as a whole could
receive some relief from a
recent U.S. Supreme Court
ruling finding employers
cannot demand dues from
public employees on behalf
of their unions. The deci-
sion found employees had
the right to opt out of pay-
ing dues that went to fund
initiatives of the work-
force at large, such as wage
negotiations.
Draft legislation intro-
duced by Rep. Paul Holvey,
D-Eugene, would attempt
to fill the funding gap cre-
ated by the high court’s rul-
ing. Rather than have money
come directly from employ-
ees’ checks, it would come
from the employer. The
money would be used to
fund collective bargain-
ing, not for political pur-
poses, such as campaign
contributions.
Mike Tedesco, gen-
eral counsel for the Oregon
School Employees Associa-
tion, drafted the legislation.
“Under the law of the
state of Oregon, it’s an unfair
labor practice for a union not
to represent everyone in the
union, whether they are a
member or not,” he said.
The Oregon Freedom
Foundation,
supporters
of the high court’s ruling
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Katee
Hoffman
workers.
“We did a lot of work to
make sure Gov. Brown got
re-elected,” Giannettino Vil-
latoro said. “I am definitely
hopeful.”
She said the federation
would push for expanded
paid family medical leave,
revenue reform, public
defense reform and tenant
protection.
Giannettino Villatoro said
the union wants to increase
workplace protection for
employees and extend the
time to file a state complaint
or sue over harassment.
“It would give folks more
time to come out of the tail-
spin you’re in when you’re
subjected to sexual harass-
ment,” she said.
Currently, employers can
seek a nondisclosure agree-
ment and a no-rehire pro-
vision as part of severance
or a settlement regarding a
harassment claim. Giannet-
tino Villatoro said employ-
ers should be banned from
seeking such limitations.
She also said the federa-
tion has noticed workers are
increasingly being classified
as independent contractors,
and the federation plans to
push to modernize the test
for this.
The union, she said,
wants to be sure Oregon’s
positive economic fortunes
are shared.
“Most of Oregon’s work-
ing families are not feel-
ing the booming economy,”
Giannettino Villatoro said.
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against unions, quickly came
out against the proposal.
“The bill — a wolf in
sheep’s clothing — first rec-
ognizes the newly affirmed
rights given to workers in
the (supreme court) deci-
sion,” Aaron Withe, the
chapter’s director, said in a
press release. “Later, how-
ever, it creates a slush fund
from which the state would
pay the unions directly
rather than deducting dues
from workers’ paychecks.”
Greg Stiles, spokesman
for House Republicans, said
overall his caucus hasn’t
paid much attention to the
unions’ priorities going
into the session except for
Holvey’s bill.
“Instead of collecting
money from employees, the
unions will get the money
directly from the public
agencies or the state,” Stiles
said in an emailed statement.
“Taxpayers should see this
bill for what it is, an attempt
to re-funnel money desig-
nated for classroom teachers
and other public employees
that will inevitably be used
to keep government unions
dictating what Democrats do
in the Capitol.”
While some unions spe-
cialize in a specific area,
Oregon AFL-CIO takes a
broader approach, advo-
cating for workers at large,
Political
Director
Jess
Giannettino Villatoro said.
The Oregon chapter rep-
resents 46 affiliated unions
and a total of 300,000
100903
By Aubrey Wieber
Oregon Capital Bureau
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