Oregon Student Association

You can view OSA’s report from the end of the 2019 long legislative session here.

You can view OSA’s end of session report for the 2020 short session here.

The Oregon Student Association had a successful short session passing 10 of 12 priority issues.

PASSED

Senate Bill 1563 – Tuition Equity 3.0

Removes requirement that students who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents apply for official federal identification document to be eligible for exemption from paying nonresident tuition at public universities.

Senate Bill 1557 – Military Student Support Reform

Requires community colleges, public universities and Oregon Health and Science University to provide certain rights to students ordered to federal or state active duty for 30 or fewer consecutive days.

House Bill 4141 – Student Voice and Transparency Act

Requires each public university to establish advisory body to advise university president on recommendations to governing board regarding resident tuition and mandatory enrollment fees.

Senate Bill 1528 – HECC Tax Credit Auction

Creates tax credit for contributions to Opportunity Grant Fund.

House Bill 4043 – Community College Financial Aid Advising

Requires community colleges to jointly conduct study to determine best methods for helping community college students learn about and apply for benefits.

House Bill 4150 – K12 Sexual Harassment Reform

Requires specified information to be shared with student, staff member or certain person following conclusion of investigation related to sexual harassment.

House Bill 4053 – K12 Accelerated Credit Transfer

Requires Chief Education Office to prepare annual report on accelerated college credit programs.

Senate Bill 5702 – Capital Investments

Increases amounts authorized for issuance of revenue bonds for biennium.

House Bill 4155 – Net Neutrality

Prohibits public bodies from contracting with broadband Internet access service providers that engage in certain network management activities based on paid prioritization, content blocking or other discrimination.

House Bill 4028 – Student Parent Childcare Tax Credit

Limits expenses for which dependent care income tax credit may be claimed to combination of earned income taxable by Oregon and imputed income, using lesser amount attributable to either spouse on joint return.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

$32M Community College Funding

Obtaining $32 million for community colleges to mitigate tuition increases and expand advising services.

This was one of the hardest tasks on our agenda. Although the Oregon Community College Association was taking lead on this funding request, our organization played a huge role on moving this issue forward. The coalition requested a meeting on the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education for Tuesday, February 27^th. Nearly all members of the subcommittee were on board, including the co-chairs, and we were able to get the House Higher Education leaders to sign a letter of support. However, when requesting funds without a bill aligned, the subcommittee must get the approval of all four co-chairs (subcommittee and full committee).

This made the task difficult for us to advance. We were able to secure 3 out of 4 co-chairs. President Courtney was the missing link. A day before our planned meeting, we were informed that the President decided to not have the meeting on the 27^th. This essentially eliminated the possibility of a funding ask. Legislators in support suggested using whatever political capital they had left to get a smaller amount, but the coalition decided to save that political capital for the long session and make Community College Funding the primary goal for higher education funding allocation.

Paid Postage

Permits county, city or district to choose to permit electors to return ballot by business reply mail, with county, city or district paying cost for ballot return.

The bill was ineffective after the Sine Die. We expect this bill to be a big push during the long session.

This is a sad day for Oregon, especially the many undocumented students OSA works for. Today, the Trump administration announced the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. The DACA program has served as a critical lifeline for nearly 11,000 immigrants in the state of Oregon.

Thousands of young people in Oregon came out of the shadows and accepted the government’s offer in good faith and worked hard to build their lives here. Today, the government went back on their word, and threatened the lives and futures of 11,000 Oregon Dreamers.

The fate of 800,000 DACA recipients nationwide, who call this country their home, depend on the decisions of Congress. You have an opportunity to reach out to congressional representatives, such as Representative Greg Walden who holds a leadership position in the House of Representatives, and encourage them to fight for undocumented Oregonians.

This is a heartbreaking day for the immigrant community. We encourage students who are impacted to practice self care and reach out to mental health resources on their campus. The Oregon Student Association will continue to organize and fight for undocumented Oregonians.