Central Oregon lawmakers ready for business

In November, voters will choose who will hold the governor’s office. Central Oregon Rep. Knute Buehler is vying for the post, and he’s not staying quiet about what he thinks his opponent is doing wrong.

Buehler had strong words for the governor Monday following her State of the State address, especially with regard to Oregon’s foster care system.

“I thought the governor missed the mark. We have a devastating audit of our foster care system, where kids are being serially abused, sexually abused, even murdered within our foster care system and not one word, not one message, not one mention,” Buehler said.

Buehler stands by his fellow Republicans, who say the Democrats are trying to cram too much into a session intended for minor budget fixes and policy tweaks.

Brown and the Democratic leadership have a proud and aggressive agenda that Buehler says is way to broad for just 35 days.

Several hundred bills will be reviewed over the next few weeks, and the short session must wrap up in early March.

The short session was intended to be for minor budget fixes and policy adjustments, but Democrats have several contentious bills they hope to pass. And Republicans aren’t without proposals of their own,
including from Central Oregon lawmakers.

Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver, who has long focused on bipartisan proposals, has announced he is retiring from the Legislature this year. He plans to adjust a previous bill that gave college professors permission to have other work.

“Four-year school, OHSU and community college professors that have outside work that that will not be used to impact their retirement pay. So we don’t have a situation where the athletic director from Oregon is making $500,000 a year in retirement because they used his TV money and Nike contract money to do that,” Whisnant said.

And Rep. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, is working to pass a bill that would give members of the Oregon National Guard free college tuition. Currently, Oregon is the only state in the U.S. that doesn’t provide this benefit.

“So that if you’re in the Guard today, you don’t have to go in debt to get a college degree,” McLane said. “Or if you’re a college student, the Guard becomes an option for you to be able to pay for college. Perhaps Oregon hasn’t done it before because we haven’t needed to — we’re always had great recruitment. But it’s 2018 ,and our recruiters need some totals, and we should provide this one.”

State Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, is working on a bill to bar the state from taking children from their parents solely because of a parental disability, legislation prompted by a Redmond couple’s lengthy court fight to regain custody of their children.

Knopp is also working on a bill that would allow the transfer of stored water among reservoirs, a situation currently facing the Tumalo Irrigation District. The senator also discussed Bend’s newest university and the impact having a Central Oregon candidate in the governor’s race.

“The No. 1 priority for me is bonds for OSU-Cascades,” he said. “Beyond that, PERS reform is really important, so we’re going to pursue that. It is certainly possible that politics could come in to play during this short session. It has in the past, and we’re hopeful that it doesn’t override good things that could get done this session.”