By David Wieland,
Policy & Advocacy Director at Our Children Oregon
Every year, The Children’s Agenda forms with a grounding that brings us back to our vision: that every child in Oregon deserves the chance to succeed. Our state investments are some of the most powerful ways we can intervene, collectively, to ensure that reality. Whether it’s ensuring that every child has the support they need to make grade-level reading comprehension goals or that children early in life receive quality child care and nutrition, these state investments are critical.
That’s why this particular legislative short session, though only six weeks long, is so important. Legislators are reckoning with the impacts of HR 1, federal legislation that fundamentally undermines our nation’s basic needs programs and shifts enormous and unexpected costs onto state and local governments. The state is facing a large deficit that will only grow every year as the impacts of federal legislation grow deeper. We need to hear from advocates and youth more than ever about what it will take from the state to ensure that our basic needs are met and that the investments that will allow for every child in Oregon to succeed are present.
The Defining Issue: A Question of Tax and Priorities
In this difficult context, one of the most looked-at policies in Oregon’s upcoming legislative session is what’s called the tax disconnect. HR 1, the federal legislation that undermines SNAP and The Oregon Health Plan, also extends and expands tax cuts for some of the wealthiest Americans. Oregon has historically tied our state tax code to the federal tax code. So not only are the wealthiest in our country receiving massive tax cuts, but the state of Oregon is currently planning on passing those along as state tax cuts as well.
This presents Oregon with an unavoidable choice. We have the largest wealth inequality we have ever seen at the same time that families and children across the state are struggling to afford groceries, putting off trips to the doctor, and making even more difficult choices. If we want to have the resources as a state to ensure that children’s basic needs are met and that all children can thrive, state legislators need to take a hard look at disconnecting from many of the federal tax codes that were changed this past summer. Legislators must make the choice to disconnect from the federal tax code and ensure that the state can afford to meet its basic commitments to children.
The Road Ahead: A Beginning, Not an End
The mood heading into this session is stark. It’s going to be a difficult session with few people leaving satisfied with the answers. But we see this as the beginning of a longer conversation about how our state evaluates, prioritizes, and invests in the long term for the health and wellbeing of families and children.
The cuts made last session in preparation for federal uncertainty—like those to the Department of Early Learning and Care that mean less access to childcare and less economic participation from parents—show that the old playbook is inadequate. In a difficult budget environment, legislators will have to come back with creative answers to ensure that the lowest-income Oregonians have the ability to go to work, put their kids in quality child care, and have the dignity of earning an income.
We’re looking forward to working with our partners across issue areas to bring a powerful and coordinated movement for the coming years that will result in real positive outcomes for children in Oregon. This session is about making the fundamental choice to protect our state’s ability to care for its own. The public should pay attention to whether our leaders choose to preserve revenue for our children’s basic needs or automatically pass along tax cuts to the wealthy while programs are cut. The answer will define our priorities for a generation.
What You Can Do:
A public hearing on the state budget is on Tuesday, February 3, from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. and legislators need to hear from you!
Legislators are reckoning with the impacts of HR 1, federal legislation that fundamentally undermines our nation’s basic needs programs and shifts enormous and unexpected costs onto state and local governments. The state is facing a large deficit that will only grow every year as the impacts of federal legislation grow deeper. We need to hear from advocates and youth more than ever about what it will take from the state to ensure that our basic needs are met and that the investments that will allow for every child in Oregon to succeed are present.
- Testifying in person (Salem) or virtually, click “Register to Testify”
- Select the subcommittee that best aligns with your focus (likely education or human services)
- Submitting written testimony – scroll to the bottom, find “Click to Submit Testimony”
Questions: email David Wieland, david@ourchildrenoregon.org
My name is [ ] and I am a [parent, child, worker, etc.] in [where do you live?]
- My top priority is investing in Oregon’s children, and holding harmless the programs that support their wellbeing.
- That’s not possible without disconnecting from the federal tax code and using a mix of revenue and reserves
- Oregon’s budget situation is a direct result of a federal agenda that undermines our country’s basic needs programs.
- This is not the values of Oregonians, who overwhelmingly support efforts to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed.
Without these revenues and reserves, we cannot support investments that meet the basic needs of all of Oregon’s children, including:
- [What programs and supports are you seeing as most important? Mention them here]
- Stop midyear cuts to classrooms and education
- Protect classrooms by using existing reserve funds such as the Education Stability Fund and Corporate Activity Tax to cover the midyear shortfall. More cuts would mean fewer school days, fewer educators, and less support for students.
- Working towards eliminating food insecurity for children in Oregon by ensuring as many families as possible have access to SNAP, no child in Oregon goes hungry during the school day, and that immigrant children and families have access to food.
- If you want to mention specifics: ODHS HR one SNAP implementation funding, State reimbursements for stolen benefits until we have chip cards for SNAP, School meals for all legislation, Support for Oregon’s food banks’
- Continuing Oregon’s commitment that every child in the state has access to quality health care and is set up for success and a long healthy life.
- Ensuring that OHP remains accessible to every child in Oregon, regardless of immigration status.
Thank you for your time – [reiterate your call to action]
