Telfer, Conger Review Ups, Downs of 2012 Session

The new, shorter Oregon Legislature session left problems that will have to be addressed in the future, two Central Oregon lawmakers told a Bend Chamber town hall Friday morning.

State Rep. Jason Conger and Sen. Chris Telfer, both R-Bend, spoke at a Bend Chamber of Commerce town hall of the successes and challenges in the recent first-ever annual session, which met for just 34 days.

Conger said, “We didn’t have enough time to be thoughtful. We will have a bunch of stuff, foreclosure bills I think might be one of them, but some others that we will be fixing mistakes.”

Despite those concerns, Conger expressed a positive stone, even for his School Savings Act, a state retirement fund reform measure that never made it to a vote.

“I have more time to work on it, more time to explain it to people, more time to make it, you know, to expand the coalition of people that are supporting it,” he said. “That is happening. That’s in progress right now.”

Also in progress: a long-time wish list item for many in Central Oregon, including Mike Hollern of Brooks Resources, who asked the two legislators about what steps in Salem could “speed the arrival of a full fledged, four-year university in Central Oregon.”

Telfer said, “The biggest, I think, obstacle is the politics of having another four-year university.”

Telfer said she’s working with the Oregon University System to overcome those hurdles.

Supply and demand may be working in Central Oregon’s advantage.

Conger said, “The demand for classroom space, the demand for programs — those things are things we can use to pull and accelerate the process.”

No one questions the importance of education, but one audience member, Jack Holt, said “the goal throughout the year was jobs, jobs, jobs — and all the activity was in education and health.”

Looking back, it seems some agree.

“I think jobs should have been the focus of the Legislature,” Telfer said.

Two items praised by both lawmakers: reforms to the tax code related to data centers like Facebook, and a change in the law to protect doctors and nurses from lawsuits when they volunteer to help the homeless.