We continue to watch the devastation in Hawaii. We have been in touch with service providers and rabbis in Maui and already forwarded funds to assist. Please support our Hawaii Fires Relief Fund where 100% of donations go to those in need.

I am sharing with you the annual “End of the Legislative Session Report” from of the Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). I hope you find it of interest.

June 25 marked the conclusion to the Oregon Legislative Session. For the first time in the past three years, the session initially seemed back to normal with committee meetings in person and lobbyists/the public walking the Capitol halls. Unfortunately, this changed after the House passed legislation on reproductive health/gender affirming care and gun limits. Both measures were opposed by Senate Republicans, and they refused to show up for floor sessions, preventing a quorum and shutting down the process. After the longest legislative walkout in Oregon’s history, Senate Republicans returned in exchange for significant amendments to the aforementioned bills. With just eight days left in session (Oregon’s Constitution required adjournment by June 25), legislators worked frantically to pass state agency budgets and additional legislation. While they were ultimately successful in getting the budgets completed, the shortened timeline left many bi-partisan bills on the table for 2024.

The JCRC, made up of representatives from all local synagogues and multiple Jewish agencies, only takes positions on legislation based on consensus support from the members. A special thank you goes out to members of the JCRC’s Legislative Advocacy Committee, chaired by Bill Kwitman. Over the course of the 2023 legislative session, volunteers testified in front of committees, met with and wrote legislators, and lobbied vigorously on behalf of our Jewish community.

Here is an abbreviated version of what happened:

Protecting Services for Seniors and People with Disabilities

The JCRC supported fully funding Medicaid to ensure access to the Oregon Health Plan (OHP). This includes maintaining Governor’s Kotek’s recommended funding for the OHP. The 2023 budget funds significant expansion of eligibility without reducing benefits or payments to providers (SB 5525). That money also includes full funding for the Healthier Oregon program, which ensures that people of any age or immigration status may qualify for full OHP benefits if they meet income requirements.

Homelessness and Housing

The JCRC believes there is an immediate need to exponentially increase the number of safe transitional shelters with wrap-around behavioral health and substance abuse services to accommodate the high number of people currently living on the streets. The JCRC supported Governor Kotek’s agenda this session to advance this goal.

HB 2001 allocated $155 million to support the homelessness state of emergency and meet the goal of reducing unsheltered homelessness over the course of 2023. Over the next two years, more funding will rehouse an additional 750 households, maintain shelter operations, create new permanent supportive housing, and provide ongoing support for 700 newly added shelter beds. The bill was signed into law by Governor Kotek on March 29.

Additional legislation added $200 million to expand capacity for detox and substance abuse residential treatment facilities, provide incentives to stabilize and support a behavioral health workforce, and increase community services for individuals who are likely to end up in the state hospital.

Holocaust Education Funding and Ethnic Studies

In 2019, the JCRC helped pass legislation requiring the Oregon Department of Education to include Holocaust and genocide education in public schools. However, there was no money attached to this legislation for developing resources and providing teacher training (led by the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education). The JCRC supported Senate Bill 1050, which appropriates $240,000 to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to provide professional development to teachers and administrators relating to Holocaust and genocide studies and ethnic studies content. The bill passed both the Senate and House unanimously and now awaits Governor Kotek’s signature.

The JCRC also supports statewide ethnic studies standards for public kindergarten through grade 12. These standards should include the history and contributions of the American Jewish community, along with the other historically marginalized communities (Black, Latino, Asian, Native American). The JCRC worked with Rep. David Gomberg (D-Lincoln City) to introduce House Bill 2905. This legislation adds, “Jewish” to the list of groups whose histories, contributions, and perspectives are required to be included in social studies academic standards and instructional materials. The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously and was signed by Governor Kotek.

Preventing Gun Violence

The JCRC supported and testified on legislation this session to increase the age of purchase and ownership of most guns from 18 to 21, allow cities to ban concealed weapons in public buildings and ban “ghost guns” (3-D printed firearms without serial numbers that are assembled at home and can be easily purchased online).

With the Senate Republican walkout, Democrats were forced to remove from the bill both the purchase of guns by minors and allowing more local control by cities. Only the “ghost gun” component remained and passed both chambers before going to the Governor for signature. 

Supporting Reproductive Choice

The JCRC believes every single person must be allowed to make their own moral and faith-informed decisions about their body and health. The JCRC supported and advocated for HB 2002, legislation that ensures Oregonians have access to the full scope of reproductive health services, gender affirming care and protection for those individuals who provide it. The measure passed the House on a bipartisan vote after 10 hours of debate, but ultimately became a focus of the Republican walkout.

The chief concern of the Senate Republicans centered around parental rights. As drafted, the measure would have given all minors the right to receive an abortion without parental notification. Additionally, minors would have access to gender affirming care medications/procedures, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries (often without parental consent).

As part of the deal to bring the Republicans back to the Capitol, Democrats agreed to modify the bill. Parental permission for an abortion would still be required for a child under 15 (unless overridden by a health care provider when information provided to the parent could provide harm), abortion access would be limited on university campuses, and parts of the bill creating pilot projects for mobile abortion clinics for rural parts of the state would be eliminated. The amended bill passed the Legislature and is headed to the Governor’s desk for signature.

Climate Change

The JCRC’s Climate Action Committee supported legislation to promote renewable energy and other clean-energy innovations. The “Climate Resilience Package” (HB 3409 and HB 3630) invests nearly $100 million, leveraging ten times that amount in federal funding, to align energy efficient programs with Oregon’s climate goals, accelerate heat pump deployment, strengthen efforts to weatherize and retrofit existing homes, update state building codes, and improve the efficiency of large commercial buildings. The legislation passed and now goes to Governor Kotek for her signature.

The JCRC also advocated on behalf of House Bill 2601 requiring the state treasurer to exit from carbon-intensive investments and develop a plan to protect state investments from risks related to climate change. Despite a public hearing, the bill was never voted on.

Protecting Workers Against Wage Theft

This year, the Northwest Carpenter’s Union brought forward HB 2057, addressing wage theft in construction. HB 2057 would have placed the burden on companies in charge of construction projects to ensure their subcontractor employees are paid on time. Unfortunately, despite strong advocacy until the very end, HB 2057 did not receive the necessary votes to move forward.

It was an interesting (to say the least) and busy session. Thank you to everyone in our Jewish community – legislators, volunteers, and professionals--for your efforts on these critical issues.

A few important notes:

Yesterday, Israel rescued 204 Ethiopian Jews from the war-torn Amhara region and brought them to Addis Ababa, the country's capital. They will eventually resettle in Israel. It was an emergency operation between our partner, the Jewish Agency for Israel (with financial support from our Jewish Federation), and the Israeli government. The operation comes as violent clashes arose between the Ethiopian Army and the FANO militia in the Amhara province. You can learn more here.

On a sad note. This past week we lost a legend “known” to anyone attending a bat/bar mitzvah or wedding. This person’s legendary status may be second only to Romanian Jewish dancer, Baruch Agadati, the originator of the hora (did you know that?). DJ Casper, the person behind the dance floor staple, “Cha Cha Slide,” died on Tuesday. May his memory be for a blessing and his dance steps live on forever.

We need one more volunteer for our Hood to Coast Team. It is on August 25 at the starting line from 4:45 - 8:30 a.m. Please click here if available and thank you to all the volunteers who have signed up. 

Shabbat shalom.