The Oregon Legislature nearly passed SB 1702 through a joint committee hearing on the first day of the second special session of the year, a session which is meant to focus on fixing a broken state budget.

The bill would have prioritized the processing of claims in Oregon’s plagued unemployment claim system, but for one group of people only, that being “teachers”. Certainly, countless other Oregonians who continue to struggle without help do not get the special treatment that the teachers’ union is requesting through their lobbying of the legislature. This bill would have been passed with the severely overused “emergency clause” attached to it as well if it had not been halted in committee. Senator Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) voted no on the legislation to halt it in committee.

Governor Brown issued a press release lamenting the death of the bill. “It’s appalling that Senate Republicans today voted down a common sense fix to the unemployment process that would put money in people’s pockets faster. The bill would have eliminated red tape for education employees, freeing up staff to process other claims more quickly,” she said.

From the Senate floor, Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod (R-Stayton) responded, “My conclusion is the number of Republicans equals the IQ of the governor.”


Girod later said in a press release, “A bill that would have prioritized public employees to receive unemployment benefits over Oregonians who have been waiting without help for months, had bipartisan opposition and died in the Joint Committee on the Second Special Session of 2020.”

“Governor Brown, this is your mess,” continued Girod. “Your commitment to pandering to special interests knows no bounds. You wanted your special interests to jump the line and receive unemployment benefits ahead of Oregonians that have been waiting for assistance and haven’t been getting it for months.”

“I am trying to protect the tens of thousands of unemployed Oregonians, through no fault of their own,” said Senator Lynn Findley (R-Vale). “Oregonians are begging for help, some filing for bankruptcy, and the governor is blind to those pleas, and instead prioritizes public employees.”


--Ben Fisher

Post Date: 2020-08-11 09:10:07

Last Update: 2020-08-11 10:34:27