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503-986-1417

900 Court St. NE

Salem, OR 97301

rep.sherriesprenger

@state.or.us

Sherrie's Calendar

12/27: Thanksgiving

12/9: Oregon Business Plan Leadership Summit

12/25: Christmas

1/15-1/17: January Legislative Days

2/3: February Session begins

Holiday Events

There are lots of holiday activities getting underway in communities throughout my District.

I hope you and your family can participate in some of these truly wonderful events and maybe even create a new family tradition or two.

Lebanon

11/21-12/31 - Cascade Christmas Lights

Stayton

11/27 - Covered Bridge Cafe Thanksgiving Dinner

12/7 - Christmas Kids & Caroling

Sweet Home

12/3-12/5 - Singing Christmas Tree

Detroit

11/24-12/31 - Christmas Lights Tour

Thanksgiving

As I write this newsletter, legislators, staff and lobby are once again crowding the halls and hearing rooms of the Capitol. We have just finished the second of three legislative days planned for November.

I've been keeping busy with lots of meetings and participating in hours of hearings for the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education, the House Education Committee and the Joint Special Committee on Public Education Appropriation. And tomorrow, the Joint Interim Task Force on High School and Transition Success for Students with Disabilities (say that five times fast) meets for a couple of hours.

Despite all this activity, I'm very much aware that Thanksgiving is next week. This is such an important time for us, both individually and as a country. A time to stop and take stock for that with which we have been blessed. A reminder that our relationships with family and friends is a currency without which we cannot fully live.

I wish you and your loved ones a Thanksgiving that is full of the joy of family and an awareness of how God has blessed us all.

Economic Forecast - mixed news

The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis delivered yet another revenue forecast to the Legislature today.

Bottom line is that anticipated revenues are slightly up from the last forecast - $114.6 million up, to be exact. While that is a lot of money, it's important to remember that the total state budget is $58.841 billion.

In any case, it's great news that the forecast is slightly up. I'll be much happier when we start to see more significant downward pressure on unemployment and under-employment rates in rural Oregon.

Release of jobs numbers recently revealed that Oregon's labor participation rate is an abysmal 61%. Think about it - among you and 9 of your friends, 4 are likely to have been unemployed so long that they have lost access to benefits and have stopped looking for work altogether.

Let's hope that the upward economic forecast trend continues so that more folks can get back to work.

Cover Oregon - Important Update

As you've likely read in the newspaper, Oregon is having difficulty getting the Cover Oregon website to function properly. As a result, folks who need to purchase insurance through this state exchange will need to complete a paper application fairly quickly in order to get coverage in place by January 1, 2014.

Cover Oregon has begun to host application fairs around the state as one option of getting through the application process, including one at the State Fairgrounds in Salem on November 25th.

For those who can't get to an application fair, you'll need to go to the Cover Oregon website and fill out an application online. Print and send the completed application to Cover Oregon, postmarked by no later than December 4, 2013.

After your application is received, you'll get an enrollment packet and information about any subsidies you qualify for in the mail. Complete the enrollment packet and send it back to Cover Oregon, postmarked no later than December 15, 2013.

Officials from the Oregon Health Authority hope that the Cover Oregon website will be up and running by mid-December. It is not expected to be running in time to get coverage in place by January 1, 2014; so application fairs or the paper enrollment process are the only ways to arrange for coverage through the exchange.