Chris Garrett on the Issues
Oregon has almost 4 million residents. They don't agree on everything, so it's no surprise that their elected representatives don't either.
But Oregonians are tired of politicians who see everything through a partisan filter. We all know that no person, group, or political party has a monopoly on the truth. Oregonians have a right to expect their elected officials to work together, even when they disagree, to achieve meaningful results.
As your State Representative, I respect those with opposing views and actively seek out common ground wherever I can find it. During the 2009 legislative session, I used this collaborative approach to tackle the biggest challenges confronting our state.
Health Care
Everyone should have access to affordable health care. But out-of-control costs have made health insurance unaffordable to hundreds of thousands of Oregonians.
Delivering meaningful health care reform was one of my top priorities for the 2009 session. As a member of the Health Care Committee, I played an active role in crafting two bills that will change the landscape of health care in Oregon.
House Bill 2116 provides the largest expansion of health coverage since creation of the Oregon Health Plan two decades ago. The bill will extend coverage to 80,000 uninsured children, ensuring that 95% of all children in Oregon will have health coverage by 2011 -- the highest rate in the United States. The bill brings an additional 35,000 low-income adults into the Oregon Health Plan, where they will receive not only medical care, but mental health care and addiction treatment services. The bill also creates 3,600 jobs and helps Oregon take advantage of up to $1 billion in federal money.
The Legislature also recognized that expanding coverage is not enough. The spiraling costs of health care must be controlled. House Bill 2009, a companion bill to HB 2116, will make health care more efficient and less costly by streamlining functions and taking advantage of technological advances that can improve care while reducing the price of care both in the short term and long term. These cost-saving measures are expected to save billions of dollars over time.
While the 2009 legislature took meaningful strides towards reforming our health care system, there remains a great deal of work to be done. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make further progress in this area.
Education
During both my campaign and my service in the House, my constituents have repeatedly identified maintaining stable funding for K-12 education as a key priority.
Legislators entered the 2009 session facing rising unemployment, declining revenues, and the threat of cuts to many state services because of the global economic crisis. Throughout my first six months in Salem, I worked especially hard to make sure our schools would not bear the brunt of those cuts. While the final 2009-2011 K-12 budget of $6 billion does not meet every need, it will be enough to keep the school year intact around the state.
While the economic climate legislators faced in 2009 made it a struggle to merely provide adequate funding for our schools, I remain committed to ensuring that Oregon aspires to excellence in its system of K-12 education. My top education priorities for future sessions include providing the stable funding necessary to ensure a full school year and smaller class sizes in every district around the state and restoring the music, PE, and art classes lost during a decade of devastating cuts. I firmly believe that Oregon students deserve the opportunities a well-rounded education provides.
Environment
We have a solemn responsibility to protect the remarkable place in which we are privileged to live. During my first term as your State Representative, I have worked hard to protect and preserve Oregon's unique environment.
As Vice Chair of the House Land Use Committee, I crafted legislation to implement recommendations of the "Big Look" task force on the Oregon land-use system. House Bill 2229 will give local governments more flexibility to solve land-use problems while preserving our core goals of protecting valuable farmland and forestland from sprawl.
I proudly co-sponsored House Bill 3298, which designates the Metolius River Basin for special protection under state land-use laws. During lengthy deliberations in the House Land Use Committee, thousands of Oregonians spoke out in favor of this legislation.
I was a lead sponsor of Senate Bill 513, an innovative bill that creates a system by which private money can be used to supplement governmental and philanthropic funding for environmental protection. The bill takes a first step towards authorizing the development of coordinated markets for ecosystem services. In such markets, buyers and sellers exchange money for ecosystem services, which include clean air and water, as well as fish and wildlife habitat. Thus, SB 513 sets the stage for private landowners to receive payments for providing ecosystem services when they make a special effort to do so. Passage of the bill creates green jobs, brings cost savings to industry and local governments, and stimulates the creation of endangered species habitat.
I also supported legislation that authorizes the Environmental Quality Commission to adopt a low carbon fuel standard to reduce carbon emissions from fuel by 10% below 2010 levels by 2020. Adoption of this standard will cut down greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and support local producers of biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol.
In future sessions, I will continue to be a leader in protecting Oregon's open spaces and combating climate change.
Economy
The 2009 Legislature faced the most difficult economic climate in generations. In order to help Oregonians through this crisis, I worked with my colleagues to create thousands of jobs through targeted investments in health care, transportation, and capitol construction.
In addition to delivering health insurance to thousands of Oregon children, the landmark health care reform package I helped design will create 3,600 jobs in the health care sector. Further, the 2009 transportation package will create 4,600 jobs every year for the next ten years, putting Oregonians back to work repairing our roads and bridges, relieving congestion, and enhancing bicycle and pedestrian transit. Finally, early on in my first session I was happy to support two job stimulus and investment packages that will stimulate our economy by creating a combined 15,000 jobs and making long term investments in Oregon's future by supplying funds for much needed upgrades of our state's infrastructure.
There is much work that remains to be done. In future sessions, I will support legislation that will attract companies offering living wage jobs to Oregon and work hard to ensure that both my constituents and all Oregonians have the economic opportunities they deserve.