2007 Legislative Victories
The 2007 legislative session brought many important wins for Oregon’s most vulnerable children and families. There were a few disappointments, but overall the 2007 Legislature did a commendable job of putting children, not politics, first. We are proud of the many legislative wins we’ve had over the past six months, and look forward to working with our supporters for even bigger wins in the next session.
Here is a summary of the issues on which Children First for Oregon worked on this session:
Legislative Victories for Children’s Health
Affordable, Comprehensive Health Care for All Children on the November Ballot: Sadly, the Healthy Kids Plan, funded by an 84 ½ cent cigarette tax, was not passed by the 2007 Legislature; however, Democratic lawmakers succeeded in to referring the bill out to the people. It will appear as a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, and we are confident that Oregonians will make the right choice.
Expand School-Based Health Centers: Secured a $2 million investment to bring school-based health centers to 6 new counties. School-based health centers are a cost-effective way to deliver quality, comprehensive primary and preventive care to children and youth.
Junk Food Out of Schools: School districts will phase out high-sugar, high-fat junk food and soda in favor of healthier snacks.
Legislative Victories for Low-Income Families
Improved Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program: $28.5 million in new revenue for stronger up-front assessments to ensure families with multiple barriers get the help they need to be successful, as well as increased access to higher education, more supports to help them transition into the workforce (like child care and health care assistance). Children will now also be able to receive some of the child support payments they are owed.
Child Care More Affordable for Low-Income Families: $39.9 million investment to strengthen the Employment Related Day Care Program (ERDC) by restoring income eligibility levels to 185 percent of the federal poverty level and increasing provider reimbursements to 75 percent of market rate.
Legislative Victories for Child Welfare and Foster Care
Support for Relative Caregivers: Secured $4.8 million to provide financial support to relative foster parents so more children can be placed with relatives, rather than with strangers.
Improved Stability and Accountability in the Foster Care System: Passed a bill that requires greater efforts be made to place siblings together whenever possible and caseworkers to document face-to-face visits with children in foster care, as well as track their educational outcomes.
Increased Substance Abuse Treatment: Dedicated $10 million in new revenue to mental health and substance abuse treatment for parents of children in the child welfare system, so that more foster children can return home safely.
Decreased Child Welfare Caseload Ratios: Added $3.4 million in funding for child welfare services to restructure staffing in order to improve workload efficiency and child safety. The package does not resolve workload problems for the agency, but is a low-cost approach to improve staffing ratios to at least meet national standards. A work load study in this area will also be completed, and is expected to make further recommendations for staffing or operational improvements.
Other Legislative Victories we Supported
Expansion of Head Start: $39 million in new revenue will mean 3,000 more children around the state will have access to the highly successful Head Start program.
Child Care Collective Bargaining: Passed legislation that allows child care providers to collectively bargain with the state of Oregon, which will improve child care by stabilizing the underpaid day-care labor force.
Challenges Remaining
Paid Family Leave: We fought a good fight, but unfortunately, the family leave benefits insurance program (HB 2575,) which would have provided benefits to employees taking family leave to care for critically ill family members or new children, did not make it pass the Senate, although it was passed in the House. The importance of paid family leave was brought to the forefront of lawmakers’ attention, and we are confident that we can help this program succeed in the future.
Water Fluoridation: A measure that would have ensured all Oregon water systems serving 10,000 or more would provide recommended levels of fluoride in their drinking water, remains among the Oregon legislature’s unfinished business. This means Oregon will remain 48th among the 50 states in protecting its citizens – especially children and seniors – from dental disease and decay.
