Ways and Means Budget Road Show Town Hall Meetings

START TODAY IN PORTLAND

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means have announced a series of Town Hall Meetings across the state to hear from Oregonians about the state budget for 2023-25. This is a great opportunity to ask for their support of Developmental Disabilities Services!

What to expect if you go? Be prepared for large crowds so plan to arrive at least two hours, especially if you want to sign up to give testimony in-person. The sign-up sheet for testimony fills up quickly. The committee will not have enough time to hear from everyone but please come prepared with one to two minutes of remarks about the importance of DD Services funding.

Introduce yourself, the city you are from, why DD Services is important to in your life and/or your community and ask that they support DD Services as they make their funding decisions. 

Even if you don’t plan to give testimony, your presence at these events, wearing and/or waving something yellow in support of the DD Community will send the message to legislators that the DD Community is unified in its support of DD programs and services.

Use the links to access the event agendas where you will find links to register to testify:

• Saturday, April 8 (10am-12pm) Portland Community College, PAC Auditorium, Sylvania Campus 12000 SW 49th Avenue
• Friday, April 14 (5-7pm) Newport Performing Arts Center 777 W Olive Street
• Friday, April 21 (5-7pm) Umpqua Community College 1140 Umpqua College Road, Roseburg
• Friday, April 28 (5-7pm Mountain Time Zone) Four Rivers Cultural Center 676 SW 5th Avenue, Ontario, Oregon
• Wednesday, May 3 (5-7pm) Oregon State Capitol, Salem

Oregon's Legislative Session Week 12

There has been a flurry of activity this past week, when policy bills had to move out of their originating chamber to continue forward this session. The deadline does not apply to Ways & Means, Revenue, Rules, and other joint committees.

Have you noticed legislators giving "courtesy" votes recently, and wondered what it means? We learned that when a legislator makes a courtesy yes vote they are agreeing to send the bill out of the committee but reserves the right to change their vote later in the legislative process.

Policy Bill Updates

SB 104 relates to Agency with Choice services. In the 2022 Legislative Session, the legislature passed SB 1548, a bill that introduced the definition and development of Agency with Choice services to Oregon’s DD service array. The Office of Developmental Disabilities has been working on developing and implementing these services since this bill was signed into law nearly one year ago. Several bills relating to Agency with Choice services in the DD service system have been introduced this session, including SB 104. SB 104 had a hearing on 3/29, and a work session on 4/3. This bill experienced what is sometimes called a “gut and stuff.” The content of the bill as originally introduced was removed (gutted) through amendment and replaced (stuffed) with all new policy. The -3 amendment includes changes to the definition of Agency with Choice services and to the actions required of ODDS. The -3 amendment was moved out of Senate Human Services with a do-pass recommendation before the deadline. The bill has a referral to Ways and Means.

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SB 528 is another bill that experienced a gut-and-stuff. The original bill as introduced aimed to improve rights and protections for protected people undergoing a legal petition to appoint a guardian or conservator. With the introduction of the SB 528-2 amendment, the previous language was removed and replaced with new content that allows Oregon’s Protection and Advocacy organization, Disability Rights Oregon, to provide legal services to people in protective proceedings and provide education to courts and visitors about the rights of people subject to protective proceedings, including the right to counsel. The bill also requires Disability Rights Oregon to create a notice in plain language regarding the right to court-appointed counsel. SB 528-2 had a hearing on 3/29, and a work session on 4/3. SB 528-2 was passed out of the Senate Committee on Judiciary with a do-pass recommendation, and referral to Ways and Means.

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For information on bills that we our monitoring, look for our weekly bill tracking report on our website as well as Facebook where we are also posting Spotlights on bills of interest to the DD Community.

If you are interested in specific legislative topics, this video goes through each step to help you find where bills are in the legislative process and how to sign up for email alerts to get updates directly.

• Establish DSP Wage Standards
• Fully Fund DD Case Management
• Support Regional Family to Family Networks  
• Support Healthier Oregon

Register at https://creatingops.typeform.com/2023DDadvocacy

Visit the GO Project's You Tube Channel legislative advocacy videos created by our GO! Advocacy Team.