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The time is now.
Urge your lawmaker to support the Oregon Healthy Kids Plan.
Contact your lawmaker
Take a step.
Stand up for
Oregon's kids.
Make your voice heard.
Click here
to contact your lawmaker today.
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Our Oregonians,
The biggest news of the week from state
lawmakers is the Healthy Kids Plan. We've got all the details for
you. Also, predatory check cashers are under scrutiny and there
are new reports of more bad behavior from the
Oregon GOP leaders. Also, an Our Oregon exclusive: which big
developers and timber interests are cashing in big on their
Measure 37 donations? It's all here and it's all for you. Every
week!
Contents
1.
Healthy Kids Plan roll out
2.
Bright lights, big check cashers
3.
What? He did WHAT?
4.
BREAKING NEWS: Give a little, get a lot. Measure 37 exclusive
5.
Correction. Hey, it happens.
Healthy Kids Plan roll
out
Health care advocates and parents are
eagerly anticipating Monday's roll out of the Healthy Kids Plan by
the legislature. The plan, more than a year in the making, offers
a long-awaited solution to help Oregon's uninsured children. And
now, the legislative leadership is bringing a welcome urgency to
this legislation that will give peace of mind to families across
Oregon.
"I have a job. I earn a salary. I pay my rent, I buy my family's
food. But health care is out of my reach," said one mother who
responded to our survey last week.
She's not alone. Here are the facts from Oregonians for Health
Security and Children First for Oregon:
- 12% of Oregon's kids don't have health
care;
- 91% of those kids have at least one
working parent;
- Parents who earn more than minimal
poverty wages are trapped. They earn too much to submit their
children for Oregon Health Plan coverage but not enough to pay
for insurance themselves. OHP is available only to families
earning less than 185% of the federally designated poverty
level. That's only $37,000 per year;
- The average annual health care premium
is more than $11,000 per year
We can do better in Oregon. We
WILL do better in Oregon.
"The Healthy Kids Plan is the single most important thing we can
do right now to protect all of Oregon's children," says Kelly Rae
Taylor, RN, of St. Vincents Hospital, Portland.
Contact your
lawmaker today.
Urge them to support the Oregon Healthy Kids Plan.
Click here to send an email to your
lawmaker.
Under the Healthy Kids Plan, all Oregon kids
are guaranteed health care. It lifts some current eligibility
requirements and creates a new, private coverage option for
children whose parents earn too much for OHP. Working parents will
pay an affordable premium, based on their ability to pay. The plan
will also expand health care services in schools, bringing care to
where the kids are.
It's simple. We must start investing in our children
today. Children without health care coverage lack
access to doctors, medicine, eyeglasses, asthma inhalers, and the
other health care services people with insurance take for granted.
If we don’t care for them today, we will all end up
paying more tomorrow. Emergency room care costs more than
preventative care and Healthy Kids is a smart step we can take
today that will save personal pain for Oregon’s families, social
cost for our communities, and budget strain for the state. It’s
true what they say: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.
Tell your lawmaker: Support the Healthy
Kids Plan.
Bright Lights, Big
Check Cashers
This August, military families in Oregon
and across the country, will have important protection from
predatory lenders because of the legislation Congress passed last
year to cap all interest rates to these families at 36 percent.
That's 36 percent for payday loans, 36 percent for car title
loans, 36 percent for all financial services. The move came after
the Department of Defense called on Congress to take action
against predatory lenders who were clustering near military bases
and preying on families. And, the DoD testified, the only real
solution is an across-the-board cap because the predatory lenders
are so swift to shape-shift out of any other kind of limits.
Last Wednesday, the House of
Representatives opened hearings that take a closer look at the
unregulated check cashing industry and the bounty they charge
customers. Our Oregon's Angela Martin was there, testifying about
how these businesses take advantage of consumers who are just
trying to cash their paychecks.
Angela told one story of a woman who explained in detail the
lengthy process she goes through to simply cash her paycheck.
"She has no bank or convenient electronic deposit as many of us
do. Instead, she takes her paycheck to one of the check-cashing
stores in her neighborhood where she pays around $32 every two
weeks. This adds up to more than $800 a year. When asked what she
would do if she had a few hundred dollars added to her budget she
runs through a long list: pay down the utility bill that goes up
during the winter, replace the near bald tires on her car, or
treat her daughter to a new outfit for school."
It's great to see the Democratic-led House dig in to the important
issue of predatory lending. Let's face facts: under Republican
rule these issues would never have gotten a hearing, let alone
support from leading lawmakers. In future issues we'll have more
about the proposals on the table to rein in check cashers and
other predatory lenders. You can also learn more
here.
What? He did WHAT?
Looks like Republican House Minority Leader
is trying to hold on to power as only a bully can: by flat out
meanness. Here's what's reported in the Willamette Week:
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Jan. 17th - Bad
enough that Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland), hospitalized
for knee surgery, paid $500 for an ambulance to take
him to the Legislature's Jan. 8 opening. Greenlick hoped to
vote for House speaker, then return to a Portland hospital.
But as
ouroregon.org first reported, House minority
leader Wayne Scott (R-Canby) thwarted the 71-year-old
Greenlick's request to leave by refusing to withhold one of
his party's votes that afternoon on an ethics package .
The result: Greenlick spent more than four hours in an
ill-fitting wheelchair, waiting to vote. But the
unkindest cut came the following day when a Salem hotel
owned by Scott reneged on a handicap-access room Greenlick
had been discussing with the hotel for several days. "It's
hard not to draw the conclusion that the owner had something
to do with it," Greenlick told Murmurs. Scott's spokesman
didn't return a call seeking comment. Here's the link:
Willamette Week. |
Our
Oregon Exclusive: Measure 37: Give a little, get a lot
As the Oregonian reported yesterday, homeowners across
the state are growing increasingly concerned about claims made in
their neighborhoods for big developments.
"This is not what I voted for. . . . I did not vote for
mega-projects that will produce millionaires at the expense of
their neighbors," says Mr. Ted Schroeder of Grande Ronde
Valley. His community is worried about a Measure 37 claim to
subdivide 1,400 acres of farmland into 335 home sites.
What's going on here? How did Measure 37 turn out so badly for
small homeowners - who are either facing big claims in their
neighborhood or are having their own claims delayed by big
corporate land speculators?
In addition to the thousands of claims filed by land speculators,
it turns out Measure 37 is becoming a cash cow for the well-heeled
donors who contributed to the 2004 ballot measure.
It's been widely reported that Measure 37 was funded by the timber
industry and that the timber industry has filed numerous Measure
37 claims seeking big developments on forest land. But what's the
rest of the story? The Register-Guard put two and two
together last year and found that Measure 37 contributors in Lane
County were cashing in. (We'd link to the story but it's not
available online anymore.)
We dug further, which isn't easy. We compared all the contributors
with the claims filed. The Department of Administrative Services
makes the Measure 37 claims public, but there was such a big rush
before the filing deadline, that many claims are not posted
yet. Also, sometimes following the money leads to complications:
we found that some claimants are related to donors or work at the
same company that made the donation. We suspect some of the claims
not listed on our report have similar connections, but we don't
want to include them until we have confirmed the connection.
So this is a work in progress. Even this preliminary report
shows the timber industry and other big companies knew what they
were doing when they invested in Measure 37. There were only 51
donors to Measure 37. Out of that 51, so far, there have
been at least 10 claims filed by a donor, a family member, or a
company member for a total of $156,263,386. The political
contributions for those claims? $177,650. The facts are clear: a
little money up front to change state law could result in a large
windfall for a few savvy investors.
Here are some highlights:
- SDS Lumber Company: Turned $7,500 in contributions
into a total of $120 million in claims.
- Davidson Industries, Inc.: Turned a $5,000
contribution into at least $7.6 million in claims.
- Greg Demers, who owns ATR Services, Inc. and
Frontier Industries, Inc.: Turned $52,000 of Measure 37
contributions into at least $2.4 million in claims.
- Horning's Hideout: Turned a $500 contribution into a
$1.94 million claim.
Click
here to learn more.
An additional 10 claims were filed in the last minute land
rush, but the claim amounts are not available yet. We'll post
those as soon as we get them.
In a related story, the McMinnville
News-Register is
reporting that Senator Gary George and his wife, Yamhill County
Commissioner Kathy George, have filed a Measure 37 claim to
develop 320 acres. Seems to us this raises a conflict of interest
question, given that their son, Senator Larry George (R-Sherwood),
serves on the Senate Land Use Fairness Committee.
Activism
Issues
