Gov. Brown signed the 'Right to Try' bill into law on August 12th

The argument was, "Terminal patients shouldn't have to ask government for permission to try to save their own lives." At the end of the legislative session, Oregon’s Right to Try bill, HB 2300 B, passed 29-0 in the Senate and was re-passed with some restrictive amendments in the House by 60-0. Now, with Governor Brown's signature, the law goes into effect on January 1, 2016 and will give some terminally ill Oregonians the Right to Try experimental drugs and devices not yet approved by the FDA. --Cascade Policy Institute founder Steve Buckstein noted, “The final bill is more restrictive than similar statutes in 21 other states (with its 18-year-old minimum age limit and its six-months to expected death definition of terminal illness), but it’s a good start and hopefully can be expanded in the future to cover children and people who have terminal illnesses such as ALS where patients may live for a number of years.”

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Oregon: The Bipartisan Education Package

From Rep. Shawn Lindsay (R-HD 30) via email (Hat tip: D'Ann Mathews) - Reforming Education in Oregon - Managing the K-12 education system is one of the most important jobs we have as legislators. It’s a role I take very seriously. As a father of three young girls, I work closely with our public school system to prepare my daughters to be tomorrow's leaders. The bipartisan votes taken yesterday in the House of Representatives are a signal that the legislature, for the first time in decades, is serious about education reform. Together, these reforms help promote choice, accountability, and innovation in our educational system.

The list below includes some of the education bills voted on yesterday that take these necessary steps forward:

• HB 3681: Allows students to enroll in the school district of their choice, so long as the receiving district grants permission.
• HB 2301:  Raises the current enrollment caps on statewide virtual charter schools and replacing them with a limit of no more than three percent of students from any single district.
• HB 3645: Allows a charter school applicant to seek sponsorship from the Board of Education, a local community college, or a public university that chooses to participate, if the applicant was initially rejected by a school district.

The package also gives us the opportunity to direct more funding to education using existing resources. Elements include:

• $25 million to the State School Fund (from the Education Stability Fund).
• $14 million to the State School Fund from savings due to Education Service District (ESD) reform.
• $8.66 million to help rural school districts address unintended cuts from school consolidation.
• $5 million to establish the School District Collaboration Grant Program that providesincentives for teachers to improve student achievement through innovative means.
• $2.9 million to fund statewide Agriculture Extension programs.

Additional bills in the package include:

• SB 248: Allows districts to offer full day kindergarten and provides Average Daily Membership (ADM) funding if they choose to do so.
• SB 250: Allows school districts in four Education Service Districts (ESDs) (Baker, WESD, Multnomah and NWESD) to opt out and receive 90 percent of the funding allotted to the ESD for the share of the children serviced by the ESD.
• SB 253: Establishes new goals on higher education, specifically that at least 40 percent of adult Oregonians have earned a bachelor’s degree, 40 percent have earned an associate’s degree, and that the remaining 20 percent or less of all adult Oregonians have earned a high school diploma by 2025.
• SB 552: Makes the Governor the state's chief school official and allows the Governor to appoint a Deputy Superintendent.
• SB 909A: Establishes the Oregon Education Investment Board that will oversee the process of recommending strategic outcome-based budgets for public education. Subject to ratification by the Legislature in 2012, the board will oversee all of public education in Oregon from preschool to higher education. The Board will appoint a Chief Education Officer to assist in carrying out the functions of the Board. Authority for the Board sunsets on March 15, 2016.
• HB 3362: Allows districts to join together to form Career and Technical Education charter schools.
• HB 3417: Aligns the budget and accounting system of a school district with their sponsored charter schools.
• HB 3474: Creates a uniform set of performance evaluation measures for teachers.

As a candidate, I campaigned on education reform. I am proud that we forged ahead to break the status quo, and we will continue to do so.

If you have further questions regarding these or other education-related bills, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Shawn Lindsay
Representative, Oregon State House District 30 Read More......

Congress Passes Sweeping Tax Bill

FOX NEWS, 12/17/2010 - Despite delays and a contentious floor debate, the tax compromise legislation developed by the White House and GOP leaders is headed to the president's desk after the House passed the bill 277 to 148.

WASHINGTON -- A massive bipartisan tax package preventing a big New Year's Day tax hike for millions of Americans is on its way to President Barack Obama for his signature. ∴ The measure would extend tax cuts for families at every income level, renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and enact a new one-year cut in Social Security taxes that would benefit nearly every worker who earns a wage. ∴ In a remarkable show of bipartisanship, the House gave final approval to the measure just before midnight Thursday, overcoming an attempt by rebellious Democrats who wanted to impose a higher estate tax than the one Obama agreed to. Read more at Fox News...

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