After over eight years of elected service the people of southwest Oregon, Senator Dallas Heard (R-Roseburg) announced he will be stepping down and retiring from his seat in the Oregon Senate effective January 1st, 2023. In a letter addressed "To the community I love" Senator Heard said,

After 8 years of serving as your voice and advocate in the State Legislature I have decided that I need to retire for now from this level of public service, until my children are at an age where they are more ready to face the world on their own.

This has proven to be the most difficult decision I have had to make. Ever since I was a child, I always dreamed of being your servant champion. Being a native son of the “Timber Capitol of the World” has always instilled tremendous pride in my soul for our community. You are a good, hard-working, and noble people. A people that I have always found easy to love with all my heart.

The past few years have been very hard on everyone. Thank you for being the kind of people who made it easy to stand up in Salem for the freedom and rights of all citizens during the COVID era. I never had to question if the overwhelming majority in my district was with me in standing up for the few, the weak, the poor, and the oppressed. I have wrestled with this decision for the past several months. In the end I decided that until my sons are several years older, they must be my full focus and priority. My family must have my undivided attention. I want to thank my bride Hannah for always being a true rock of love and support to our children and to me throughout the entirety of my time in Salem.

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The country as a whole has seen an ever-growing movement of evil rising that is determined to take our children’s hearts and minds away from their parents. I hope to see in the near future a new generation of freedom loving men and women rise and run for elected positions such as school boards and the legislature. If you can’t run for a position, please look for and support those who can. We have so many opportunities to do great acts of service for our children and neighbors, but it is going to take all of us doing our part to bring good things into reality. We have been losing this state and nation because collectively we are doing almost nothing to fight the good fight. Roughly 50% of conservative registered voters chose not to vote in this year’s Oregon General Election. We must do better than this if we hope to stand a chance. We can turn this culture around for the cause of freedom and what is good and right before God, but we must choose to care.”

Representative Brock Smith (R-Port Orford) has announced his plans to succeed Senator Heard after his retirement from the Oregon Legislature.

“It has been a privilege and honor to serve the people of House District 01 in the Oregon Legislature with Senator Heard,” said Rep. Brock Smith. “Our collaboration has stopped and/or modified bills that would have negatively impacted our district and has moved others forward that benefit the people of District 01 and Oregon as a whole.

Additionally, we have worked together to secure millions in resources for our District. This includes securing millions to Curry Health Network to help them open their life saving Emergency Department, millions to treat and stop the spread of Sudden Oak Death, that if left untreated, would be another huge blow to our timber industries.

Representative David Brock Smith has served in the Oregon House of Representatives since 2017 and is an Assistant Leader of the House Republican Caucus. He is a former County Commissioner, School Board Member, City Council President, Chamber President-Director and has held many other elected and appointed positions in his nearly twenty years of public service.

“I am honored to have the support of Senator Heard and look forward to continuing to forge a solid team with Representative Osborne, Representative Goodwin, Representative Wright, Senator Anderson and my successor, to bring the voices and values of the people of Curry, Coos and Douglas Counties to Salem,” said Rep. Brock Smith.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-12-16 23:16:37

Last Update: 2022-12-17 11:54:31

Oregon Youth Challenge Program (OYCP) is The Oregon National Guard's alternative high school, located in Bend, Oregon; it gives at-risk students a second chance to catch up on credits. In addition, the program allows attendees to re-enter high school, graduate on time with their peers, or graduate from OYCP with a state-accredited high school diploma. OYCP graduated 131 cadets from their 22-week program at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

Oregon has 4.7 percent of students enrolled in alternative programs with a 19 percent dropout rate according to a 2017 audit. In 2016 voters passed Measure 98, which helped to implement the High School Success Program that focuses on improving graduation rates. The Oregon Department of Education High School Success Program website still uses the 2017 report for graduation rate data. The 2022 audit not only evaluates Measure 98 and the five funding programs implemented, but five additional related programs. The dropout prevention strategy for these programs is based on activities to reduce chronic absenteeism for students at risk of dropping out and giving them academic and social support and providing them with early exposure to employment opportunities and options for post-secondary education.

In 1999, the Oregon National Guard established the OYCP in Bend as the only accredited statewide alternative high school as an intervention program to reclaim the lives of Oregon teens who had dropped out of high school or were not on track to graduate. To help at-risk students, the Department of Defense invested in the OYCP style challenge model for youth development and community outreach.

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OYCP graduation guest speaker, Oregon National Guard Assistant Adjutant General Brig, General Eric J. Riley said, "You are the future leaders of our communities...we believe there is no better program or alternative school to meet the needs of our students who might otherwise drop through the cracks."

The stated mission of OYCP is: To provide opportunities for personal growth, self-improvement, and academic achievement among Oregon high school dropouts, teens no longer attending, and those failing in school through a highly structured non-traditional environment, integrating training, mentoring, and diverse educational activities.

OYCP Director Mr. Daniel Radabaug said, "We want to help students get back on track to be productive citizens for the State of Oregon. OYCP is free to attend for any Oregonian that qualifies; cadets live here at no cost during the 22 weeks while they catch up and learn valuable life skills."

OYCP attendees must be 15 to 18 years old, a legal United States and Oregon resident, and academically deficient (behind in high school credits) or in danger of not graduating high school. The next class begins January 11, 2023. OYCP can be contacted through their website, or by calling 541-317-9623.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-12-16 20:00:39

Last Update: 2022-12-17 14:06:58

Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan certified the 2022 General Election today. Official elections results are available on our website.

According to a press release from Secretary Fagan, "Since the 2020 election, proponents of the Big Lie -- the false belief that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump -- have eroded public trust, increased violence and threats of violence related to election administration and put core American values of democratic self-governance at risk of erosion. In the face of these challenges, the 2022 midterm election went off without any major issues."

“This election was smooth and secure,” said Secretary Fagan. “It’s a testament to the resiliency of Oregon’s vote-by-mail system and the importance of democracy to Oregonians.”

Today the Oregon Elections Division released its official statistics for the November election, which show voter turnout at 66.9% of registered voters. This places Oregon among the top states in the country for voter turnout according the U.S. Elections Project, although not all states data are final.

In the run-up to the November Election, Secretary Fagan visited all 36 county elections offices to hear from county clerks and staff about the challenges they face and the status of vote by mail in each county.

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“In every corner of Oregon, the state of our vote-by-mail system is strong,” Secretary Fagan said. “I want to thank the elections workers around Oregon whose integrity and hard work makes our democracy work.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-12-15 13:29:02

Last Update: 2022-12-15 14:06:25

Just 27 days before the end of her term as Oregon Governor, Kate Brown announced that she is using her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences of the 17 individuals on Oregon’s death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

“I have long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people—even if a terrible crime placed them in prison. Since taking office in 2015, I have continued Oregon’s moratorium on executions because the death penalty is both dysfunctional and immoral.”

The Governor uses “dysfunctional and immoral” very loosely according to some. In her interview of her life’s story to New York reporter Mattie Kahn, she was distraught over the number of single-parent women in Oregon. She believes that “access to reproductive health care [abortions] is critical to providing [women] the opportunity to achieve their full potential and live productive lives.” On twitter she posted, “Abortion is health care, and no matter who you are or where you come from, Oregon doesn’t turn away anyone seeking health care.”

The Governor explains, “Unlike previous commutations [1,204] I’ve granted to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation, this commutation is not based on any rehabilitative efforts by the individuals on death row. Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral. It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably. My action today is consistent with the near abolition of the death penalty that has been achieved through SB 1013.”

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SB 1013 was carried by Floyd Prozanski (D-Portland) in 2019 as a roundabout to avoid voters that leaves the little-used death penalty in the Oregon Constitution, but sharply narrows the definition of aggravated murder, the only crime punishable by death in Oregon. The new definition applies to acts of terrorism in which two or more people are killed. The remaining crimes that were classified as aggravated murder are now under murder in the first degree that includes murders of multiple people, torture, and killing a child or law enforcement officer. It removed future dangerousness as a factor for the jury to determine when deciding whether to sentence a defendant convicted of aggravated murder to death and requires the state to prove that the defendant should receive the death penalty beyond a reasonable doubt. The new law didn’t apply to the 30 inmates on death row at the time.

The Governor continues, “I also recognize the pain and uncertainty victims experience as they wait for decades while individuals sit on death row—especially in states with moratoriums on executions—without resolution. My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases.”

Republican Leaders reacted. “Governor Brown has once again taken executive action with zero input from Oregonians and the legislature. Oregon has not executed an individual since 1997 and has only executed two criminals since voters adopted the death penalty in 1984,” said House Republican Leader Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville). “Her decisions do not consider the impact the victims and families will suffer in the months and years to come. Democrats have consistently chosen criminals over victims.”

“Did the people of Oregon vote to end the death penalty? I don’t recall that happening. This is another example of the Governor and the Democrats not abiding by the wishes of Oregonians. Even in the final days of her term, Brown continues to disrespect victims of the most violent crimes,” said Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend).

Brown has used her executive authority to pardon or commute more sentences than any other governor in the state’s history and more than all of Oregon’s governors from the last 50 years combined. The Governor’s order takes effect December 14, 2022.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-12-14 06:24:49

Last Update: 2022-12-14 13:29:02

Just as Legislative Days are addressing trends in health care costs, the Oregon Health Authority is pursuing supplemental nurse staffing contracts of up to $25 million to help address critical workforce shortages.

Governor Kate Brown is declaring a surge of adult and pediatric cases and hospitalizations of respiratory viruses and issues an emergency order. This isn’t a health emergency for one particular disease or virus or even a combination, but it’s the age-old saga of a lack of staff and beds for treatment. In August 2021, Oregon hospitals sent patients to Boise and Reno for lack of beds and canceled elective surgeries, and Governor Brown deployed Oregon National Guard to make up for the health care workers she fired for lack of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Governor Brown is using three conditions, including Respiratory Syncytial Virus, influenza, and COVID-19 to justify Executive Order 22-24 to ensure Oregon hospitals have flexibility to hire enough health care workers to meet current needs, and take other steps to provide care to patients. But, she has not addressed allowing unvaccinated health care workers to return to work. Even the New York Supreme Court has ruled that unvaccinated should be given back their jobs as well as retroactive pay.

This executive order replaces and expands on Executive Order 22-24 issued November 14 when Governor Brown granted hospitals flexibility to address the rise in pediatric hospitalizations related to respiratory viruses. Since then, pediatric hospitalizations for RSV and Influenza hospitalizations have continued to climb and are expected to continue to increase as we are in the flu season.

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"Our health care workers––our nurses, doctors, and hospital staff -- are being pushed to their limits by this year’s combination of flu, RSV, and COVID-19 hospitalizations,” said Governor Brown. “I am asking Oregonians to come together to help our health care heroes this holiday season. Stay home if you are sick, stay up to date on your vaccinations, and consider wearing a mask in crowded indoor situations -- especially if you are at higher risk for severe illness from RSV, the flu, or COVID-19.”

State health experts at the Oregon Health Authority encourage all individuals, particularly those at increased risk of severe disease (and their caregivers), to take steps to prevent RSV and other respiratory infections this flu season.

• Stay up to date on flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. There is not currently a vaccine for RSV.
• Stay home and avoid holiday gatherings and events when sick, and keep your child home when your child is sick, if possible.
• Cover coughs and sneezes, clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces, and regularly wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water or use hand sanitizer.
• Consider wearing a mask indoors, especially during crowded indoor gatherings and events, particularly if you or a friend or family member are at risk for getting severely ill from RSV and other respiratory infections.

The Oregon Health Authority held a media briefing to provide its monthly update on COVID-19, as well as RSV and influenza activity, December 8, at noon with Dr. Dean Sidelinger and clinicians. RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, such as runny nose, coughing and sneezing. Most infections go away on their own in a week or two. At this time, hospital emergency departments are strained, and suggest parents and guardians utilize urgent care centers. Parents and guardians should immediately seek health care if their child is experiencing more severe symptoms of RSV, such as trouble breathing, dehydration, gray or blue color to the tongue, lips or skin, or significantly decreased activity and alertness.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-12-10 17:26:43

Last Update: 2022-12-09 16:52:54

The Joint Legislative Emergency Board has approved $10 million in emergency funding to support defendants across the state who are currently unrepresented amid what some are calling "the ongoing public defense crisis."

“We have to make the public defense system work for Oregonians,” House Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) said. “It remains unacceptable that any Oregonian lacks legal representation and that we have a system without effective legislative oversight. The Emergency Board acted thoughtfully and deliberately today in focusing on immediate crises. Now, we’ll move into the legislative session focused on making government work for all of Oregon.”

This action was taken in the midst of a crime wave sweeping Oregon and reflects what some are calling Democrats' focus on criminals instead of victims. Additionally, spending was increased to help enforce so-called "red-flag" laws where guns are taken from law-abiding citizens.

This comes after the Emergency Board in June approved an additional $100 million to help the agency address current public defender caseloads, while still pushing the Office of Public Defense Services to modernize its operations. Legislative leaders previously allocated $12.8 million to OPDS to increase hiring of criminal defense attorneys to address what they say are the the growing number of criminal defendants without legal counsel.

Additionally, Speaker Rayfield and President Courtney formed the Three Branch Workgroup with the executive and judicial branches in April to develop short-term and long-term solutions to reform the state’s public defense and public safety systems.

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The Emergency Board also approved applications for grants related to major statewide needs, including wildfire preparedness and relief, supports for youth experiencing homelessness, energy planning, community safety efforts and behavioral health intervention.

“I’m proud of the work we did today,” Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) said. “We made investments to help Oregonians. That’s what we are here to do.” In addition to the Public Defender spending, the Legislature

• Approved a $17.4 million grant application for community wildfire defense and a $6 million grant application for disaster relief from the US Forest Service.
• Increased the Other Funds expenditure limitation by $9 million for the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) to spend funding related to the Interagency Agreement with Oregon Housing and Community Services for the Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program.
• Approved a $5.5 million grant application for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) from the U.S. Department of Energy for energy planning, policy and program development work.
• Approved a federal grant application for $3.1 million through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act for a State Crisis Intervention program to be used possibly for red flag law training, education, and public awareness initiatives, state crisis intervention specialized court-based programs, behavioral health deflection for at risk individuals and law enforcement for safe security, storage, tracking and returning of relinquished firearms.
• Approved a $250,000 grant application for the Oregon Health Authority from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to enhance training for behavioral health mobile crisis teams.

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-12-10 11:13:11

Last Update: 2022-12-10 12:04:43

Senate Republicans have unanimously elected the remaining positions in their leadership team ahead of the 82nd Legislative Assembly. Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend) was elected to continue his service as Republican Leader at their caucus retreat last month. The Senate Republican leadership team now includes:

• Deputy Leader: Senator Dick Anderson (R-Lincoln City)
• Deputy Leader: Senator Lynn Findley (R-Vale)
• Deputy Leader: Senator Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer)
• Whip: Senator Dennis Linthicum (R-Klamath Falls)

Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) released the following statement:

“With the legislative session approaching, I am proud to say that our leadership team is made up of high-quality individuals representing many parts of Oregon. This is a strong team and I look forward to working together to serve our caucus through this next session as we seek to provide Oregonians with bipartisan solutions to the chronic problems exacerbated by years of one-party rule. I am confident we can do that this session.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-12-09 16:52:54

Last Update: 2022-12-09 17:09:25

In a letter addressed to Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, Oregon Elections Director Deborah Scroggin has submitted her letter of resignation. She is the second Elections director on a row to resign shortly after a general election. In 2020, almost exactly two years ago, Election Director Steve Trout resigned.

“Deborah has a lot to offer elections administration at a time when this work is so critical for our country,” said Secretary of State Shemia Fagan. “I thank Deborah for her service to Oregon and wish her the best of luck in the future.”

Scroggin‘s resignation will be effective January 20th, 2023. Molly Woon, Strategic Projects Director and Senior Advisor to Secretary Fagan, will take over as Interim Director until a permanent replacement is hired.

Ms. Woon has over 15 years’ experience in public service, working in the state legislature, in city and county government, and in the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office for Secretary Fagan and former Secretary Jeanne Atkins. In her current role, she serves as the primary liaison between the Secretary and the Oregon Association of County Clerks and accompanied Secretary Fagan on the vast majority of her 36 county elections office meetings in the past year. Among her recent projects, she led the work to disperse $2 million in election modernization funds, she is leading several innovation projects focused on election modernization, and she was responsible for day-to-day coordination between the Elections Division and the Secretary of State’s Executive Team during the November 2022 election.

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“Molly Woon is the perfect fit to provide stability in the Elections Division during this transition,” said Secretary Fagan.

In her letter to Secretary Fagan, Scroggin said,

I am writing to inform you that I am tendering my resignation as Director of the Oregon Elections Division effective January 20, 2023 I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve Oregonians in this position. After careful consideration, I have decided to seek other opportunities outside the Secretary of State’s office.

We are at an extraordinarily challenging time for elections officials. Mis and disinformation have made the work of administering elections extremely challenging. Increasing complexity and funding uncertainty has stretched the state and counties thin. These challenges make the work we do all the more important.

We have made progress by building strong systems at the state level that will protect democracy in Oregon, and I want to thank everyone on the team for their hard work these past two years.

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-12-09 16:30:31

Last Update: 2022-12-09 16:49:22

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has used her professional position to advocate for online censorship of alternate points of view about COVID-19. She has also used her position as attorney general to support emergency actions that essentially prohibit personal gatherings and in-person political discourse, making online forums the only possible place to discuss these matters. Now AG Rosenblum has joined Democrats in censoring crisis pregnancy centers in an effort to expand abortion access.

AG Rosenblum is vocally supporting the Democrat 2023 legislative agenda to authorize adults not be held accountable for the life of viable unborn humans. She testified before the House Interim Committee on Health Care.

“For generations, Americans relied on the constitutional right to abortion to make deeply personal decisions about their lives. But last June, our highest court declared that right out of existence. While Oregon still has some of the strongest protections in the country, we also border a state—Idaho—with a near total abortion ban. As your attorney general, my promise to Oregonians is simple: the Department of Justice will never stop defending your reproductive rights,” said AG Rosenblum. “I want to thank the Speaker’s Office for bringing these stakeholders together, including from my office, to ensure that Oregon continues to be a leader in protecting full access to reproductive healthcare for all who need it.”

House Speaker Dan Rayfield formed a work group in May in response to the impending Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision from the United States Supreme Court, which later overturned 50 years of precedent and the constitutional right to an abortion returning the decision to the states. In the time since that decision, he claims that many Americans face jail time for seeking an abortion, along with the doctors, nurses and other providers who provide that care. However, Oregon law prohibits such action, so is he wanting to save the nation?

It isn’t just an agenda to protect the right of choice, which is already in Oregon law, they want to silence opposition. From any reasonable standpoint how can Ms. Rosenblum’s actions NOT be deemed government-sponsored censorship. Collectively they stand as clear efforts to violate Oregonians’ First Amendment right to free speech.

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What is misleading public opinion is the Reproductive Health and Access to Care Work Group report. When you are promoting one side of an issue, it is also government responsibility to protect all sides. This report identifies Crisis Pregnancy Centers as an opponent and dangerous to their cause vilifying them providing services beyond pure medical services. They propose to silencing Crisis Pregnancy Centers by including services beyond medical as a violation of Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.

The report further proposes to take sexual education out of the hands of parents and local school boards and makes Division 22 standards mandated. The report is completely out of touch with the backlash from parents around the state over the sexual identity curriculum being pushed by the state.

While all the proposals in the report are geared at protecting reproductive and gender-affirming care, the reproductive care only addresses terminating reproduction. It explicitly prohibits harassment and persecution related to the termination of pregnancy, which it claims is occurring. However, it offers no like protection for centers offering genuine reproductive care, which is also occurring.

The report states, “While our work in this state must be applauded, legislative leadership cannot become complacent. Existing gaps in access to care require immediate remedy and the threat of criminalizing health care choices only grows.” It implies that a God structured family and saving the innocent unborn is a threat. Legislation has already villainized parents if seeking psychological care for children thinking they want to change identity.

One can only wonder where in their minds the line gets drawn for what speech is allowed and what is prohibited. Is censorship the 2023 target? What might AG Rosenblum choose to censor next after COVID and vaccine “disinformation?” Now it’s close down criticism of abortion because it threatens women’s freedom to control their bodies. Will they go so far as to cancel pro-life organizations such as Americans United for Life because it is spreading abortion “disinformation?”

AG Rosenblum seems to be contradicting much of her father’s life’s work. Victor Rosenblum was a life-long opponent of abortion and a strong supporter of Americans United for Life. Would Victor have been censored by his daughter?

In 2006, Victor Rosenblum’s colleague Edward Grant quotes him in a National Review article, “Victor Rosenblum was a giant in many fields–political science, administrative and constitutional law, and legal education–but a prophet in one: defending the human rights of the unborn, the handicapped infant, and the infirm aged at risk of medical neglect–and worse.”

Victor Rosenblum strongly disapproved of censorship in the middle of a war, and surely would have disapproved of his daughter’s effort to censor alternative viewpoints defending the unborn.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-12-09 04:37:38

Last Update: 2022-12-10 16:10:32

By its own admission, the Oregon Education Association -- the state’s largest teachers’ union -- finds itself in the throes of a membership “crisis.” According to the union’s most recent documents, OEA reported an active membership of 41,784 out of 48,774 represented educators during the 2019-20 school year. By 2020-21, however, that number had shrunk to 41,127.

During the most recent 2021-22 school year, OEA membership continued to decline to just 40,634 dues-paying members, even though the total number of OEA-represented teachers topped 50,000 for the first time. Nearly one in five teachers have now broken ranks with OEA. In just three years, OEA’s membership rate has dropped from 85.6 percent to 81.2.

These numbers do not reflect the additional 600 Oregon teachers the Freedom Foundation has directly helped leave the OEA since April, when the union’s numbers were reported. All told, the union’s active membership has dropped below 80 percent.

“If OEA wants to blame someone for those defections, its leaders need only look in the mirror,” said Freedom Foundation Oregon Director Jason Dudash. “Our teacher outreach has been increasingly successful, but the arrogance of the unions themselves was a big help.”

Until 2018, Oregon was one of 23 states without right-to-work protections for government workers, meaning teachers and thousands of other public employees were required to financially support union activities.

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That changed when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Janus v. AFSCME, affirmed that mandatory union payments violate public employees’ First Amendment rights.

“Teachers want to teach,” said Dudash. “They’re embarrassed that their students are falling further and further behind every year in the educational basics they need because unions and the politicians they’ve corrupted want to turn our classrooms into indoctrination centers.

“Teachers are realizing their unions support policies that are actively harming the students and profession they love,” Dudash continued. “In Oregon and across the country, thousands of teachers are telling their union, ’We’re sick of this, and we’re done with you.’ That may seem like a crisis for the unions, but it’s great news for the rest of us.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-12-08 11:34:44

Last Update: 2022-12-07 11:53:56

The Oregon Health Authority's Quality Incentive Program has published a new CCO performance metric dashboard so people can quickly find their metric of interest, see individual Coordinated Care Organization trends over time and explore demographic breakouts at the CCO level. The Oregon Health Authority is directed by Pat Allen.

The dashboard is OHA's first presentation of quality measures broken out by Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Disability (REALD) compliant data. REALD is a set of standards that offers more detailed demographic data.

Creation of the CCO performance metric dashboard follows OHA's publication, in August 2022, of the CCO Metrics 2021 Final Report, a summary of performance by Oregon's CCOs in 2021, which showed the results of Oregon's Quality Incentive Program. The program provides financial rewards to CCOs for improving the quality of care provided to Oregon Health Plan members; the report highlighted statewide performance for 14 incentivized measures.

The report showed that although the COVID-19 public health emergency continued and the Delta variant drove a surge in hospitalizations and deaths, performance on CCO incentive metrics began to rebound in 2021 after sharp declines in 2020. However, the report showed only statewide averages for all CCO members, which can disguise inequities.

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The REALD data included in the CCO performance metric dashboard includes data broken out by up to 42 race and ethnicity groups that were determined by the most affected communities. The metrics data is also broken out by up to 58 languages, including sign language and other less-commonly spoken languages. OHA will continue to refine how REALD data is used and reported in this dashboard and elsewhere.

Benefits of REALD data:

Identifying and addressing inequities by REALD categories is essential to OHA's strategic goal of eliminating health inequities by 2030. For example, Oregon is one of the first states in the United States to collect and publish health data on Pacific Islanders from countries affected by the Compact of Free Association treaty. The treaty is the result of U.S. military occupation, atomic nuclear testing and ballistic military exercises that contaminated much of the environment and impacted the health of generations. There is very little health data on COFA citizens in Oregon and the collection of REALD data will allow the agency to understand how they have been affected by health inequities and state policies, and ensure that CCOs work toward improving access and quality of services for this community.

The CCO metric performance dashboard shows trends and disparities, but not why they are happening.

"The dashboard is a starting point, laying the groundwork to engage communities in the future direction of the CCO Quality Incentive Program. Relying on quantitative data alone can have negative impacts," said Stacey Schubert, director of Health Analytics at OHA. "Context and community input and engagement are needed to understand the meaning of the quantitative data in the dashboard."


--Ritch Hanneman

Post Date: 2022-12-08 06:05:41

Last Update: 2022-12-07 11:34:44

Governor Kate Brown today ordered all flags at Oregon public institutions to be flown at half-staff in honor of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

"We benefit every day from the bravery and sacrifice of our U.S. service members, and especially owe a debt of gratitude to the people who served and gave their lives in Pearl Harbor and World War II," said Governor Brown.

"I encourage all Oregonians to take a moment to reflect on that sacrifice and express gratitude for the freedoms our fellow Americans have ensured through their service."


--Ritch Hanneman

Post Date: 2022-12-07 09:03:45

Last Update: 2022-12-07 10:37:57