Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello Oregonians and welcome to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you've ever wanted to get to know your politicians personally or understand what it is they are actually doing, then you're in the right place. I'm your podcast host, Jessica Campbell.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: I'm your state representative for House District 24, Lucetta Elmer.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: This podcast is a place for you to get to know Representative Elmer both personally and professionally.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: We want Oregonians to feel connected with and educated politics. So we're so glad you've joined us on a fresh new podcast adventure as we cover all things about life and legislation.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Hi Oregonians and welcome back to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you're new here, welcome. We're so glad you found us. And if you've been following for a while, you know that in our last episode we gave you a very, very short one with just a little teaser with some information about all that's been going on in our state and a change of leadership. So now we get come back and give you a little bit more detail finally. So thank you, Representative Elmer, for being here and getting to go through all the changes in your life. Now, for anybody who's new to this, this is Life and Legislation with Lucetta. So we do cover both topics. We've talked about your grandkids, we've talked about you sleep training, we've talked about how you met your husband and all these fun things. And of course we talk about your role as a state representative and what's going on in the state.
This particular episode will be a little heavy on the legislation stuff. So before we dive into all these big topics, let's get a quick life update. So tell me something about your life this week.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Yes, thank you, Jessica. Well, my second born daughter, Lily, I celebrated her 27th birthday so that was fun. And we like to do birthdays big in the family.
You know, we start out with birthday breakfast and I decorate and it's a theme and it's all the things and it doesn't matter if it's a Monday or a Friday. So that was super fun. And you know, I am really trying to hold on to those precious moments where I get to be a Gigi and I have my granddaughter and my grandson a little bit of time. Yesterday happened to be Tatum's day and so he and I were hanging out and it was beautiful. My favorite October weather where it's so sunny but kind of crisp. And so we were out walking in the stroller and and you know, I got a text that Katu wanted a Comment. They wanted to do a quick video interview. And it's like, well, Tatum, you know, Gigi might have to pull the stroller over and hop on a quick interview for ktu. But that's life and legislation, right?
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: So it all worked out. But yeah, I just never know what the day holds. No.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: And we've done episodes where you are in Gigi role.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yes. I've had Tatum sitting. I need to bring Lottie. Yes.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Lottie needs to make an appearance.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Yes. Okay. Well, I'll try to factor that in.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: We'll plan for that. I love it. Well, as we mentioned, we left listeners off talking about your new role, the ODOT bill and some other things. So let's start with your new role, because it's still pretty new. I mean, this is just a couple of weeks now where you have moved into a different leadership position. So I wanted to give you some time to explain that further.
And with that, I think the question always comes whenever there's a change in leadership on anything, whether it's politics or something else, people want to know, okay, well, what's going to change and what's going to stay the same?
So Christine Drazen has moved out of the current role and now you have this role. So let's explain what it is and what your vision is for the party in the future.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Yes. So I'm House minority leader, and it basically, obviously, I'm still a state representative. I'm still the state representative for House District 24 with all the duties that that encompasses. But then in addition to that, I am the voice of our Republican caucus of the minority right now. And so I'm the key spokesperson, hence the interview yesterday.
There's a lot of media inquiries about whatever the relevant topics are facing our state. They want to know our party is weighing in. And that's such a crucial part of my job because the minority voice is absolutely relevant to all of these issues. And so I take that very seriously. Like, we have to continue to elevate our voice. We don't have enough representatives to ever win a vote based on the balance in the legislature. We're in the super minority. We will never win the vote that way.
So elevating that minority voice to represent all of Oregon is.
And when you think of Oregon and you think of all the rural parts of Oregon, which primarily is represented by Republicans, it's the largest part of Oregon. And so it's just so important, again, that, you know, we bring our voice to the table. So that that is definitely something that I value in addition, you know, this is finishing my third year in the legislature, and I'm the fourth leader of my party.
So that says that doesn't necessarily scream positivity. Right. I just applaud the leaders, every single one of them. It is a lot of work. It is a lot of extra work, and I don't step into it lightly. But I do think that our caucus, we need to heal, we need to have more coming together. And I hope that we are in a time where we can give some longevity to this role and give us a chance to really unite and move forward as one, as close to that one as we can. So that is something that I'm working on as well.
Also, this role would be leading campaigns. And in 2026, we will. All representatives will be up for reelection again. Or if they're going to run for office, they'll be facing another election. So recruiting candidates, maybe in open seats or candidates that want to run and talking to them, sure, they have the tools they need so that they feel supported in their races. And watching those races and strategizing on those races will also be a big portion of this role. And working with stakeholders, lobbyists on policy and moving forward again in making sure that our voice is as strong as it can be. And I have found that I value the lobby. I value their support and I value their expertise.
But again, when they're looking at the fourth leader in three years, I understand that they probably are a little gun shy and they're wondering, you know, are you going to be around long enough for us to build a relationship? We need to have to actually be fruitful in what we do.
So I really want to. I want to work on those things. I want us to just be able to sort of bridge that gap that's there and have that trust and that foundation so that we can be solid and move forward with some power.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: You mentioned the turnover. Is that just because the job is so hard, you just kind of get beat up and chewed up and spit out, or would there be other reasons for the turnover?
[00:07:34] Speaker B: I think there's a lot. I mean, it is a tough job and you do get beat up and spit out. I hope it's gentle as I move into it. But, you know, being in the minority isn't easy.
You know, we're frustrated. You know, we never get to bring forth our ideas with welcome arms.
So we're constantly in this state of agitation and we're constantly fighting for ground to say we have a good idea. Listen to this idea. We could solve this problem that's affecting our whole entire state. And we feel so passionately that we could do it effectively and efficiently and with less tax dollars.
But we're in the minority. We are hushed. So there's frustration and that's to be expected. Right. And when you're in that constant state, I think that it's just natural that things happen and there's a little bit of that happening.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: And with you moving into this new role and taking on. You listed so many new duties because it's not like you left behind your current duties and moved into new duties.
You just added.
Right. And so with that, you would think that, I mean, does that come with a pay raise? I mean, you have a new job.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Huge, huge. No. Zero.
Zero pay raise, Jessica.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Just a lot of extra hours.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: But, you know, it's the fight in us. Right. It's believing in the bigger goal.
And I'm happy to do it. I am. I'm happy to serve my caucus and I'm happy to serve and strive for what I believe in. I think it's a wonderful opportunity, but it is a tough one, too.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Right. And as we've talked about in previous episodes, your role and all of the other representatives roles, they are technically part time and they are not high paying jobs. I mean, things that maybe not everybody understands that that's the case. And you have always considered this to be something that matters to you, that it's not just, oh, I'm going to do the bare minimum hours and then clock out. And like, you seem, you're pushing a stroller and you're taking calls. I mean, you're always doing that. And we've talked about how you balance life and legislation and all of those things. And now you're adding even more onto your plate.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Which is a lot. And thank you for your service.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Thank you for that.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: We were hoping to get a little update on kind of the big current topic of conversation, which was this ODOT bill and the tax package and that it passed. But then you had mentioned that the Republican Party was putting together and remind me of the term because. Referendum, our new words here, Right?
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Yes, referendum.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: And for anybody who doesn't know what that means. Quick reminder. And then how does that work? And when can people start signing?
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Yes, yes. So part of our beautiful democracy is that we have the option to always challenge something that the legislature passes. We passed. Well, we, the majority party, passed this tax bill for odot and it was the governor's bill. So that happened in the special session. It was a very Partisan vote. Not one Republican supported it, but it passed. And so like that, like any other bill that passes, there's a 90 day period afterwards that we could try to collect enough signatures to put it on the ballot.
So the ballot would be next November and all of Oregon would be able to vote on this. It wouldn't be left up to the legislature to decide. All of Oregon would get to weigh in. And this one was so controversial that Oregon wants to weigh in.
So it passed as soon as it passed that day. A couple weeks ago when we had our ledge days, it had this. We had already passed it in the House earlier, but it passed through the Senate. So done as soon as that happened, the 90 day ticker starts and does.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: That take us trying to do the math kind of through the end of December?
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Correct. The governor also has 30 days to sign.
So her 30 days also started. I believe it's working days. So it's a little more than just calendar days.
She has the 30 days to sign, however, that's part of the 90 days we have to collect signatures, but we can't start collecting until she signs.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Okay, so if she waits until the 30th day, then you really only have 60 days or however it mathematically it.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Actually comes out to probably in the 40s somewhere days that we would actually have because then you also have to submit to the secretary of state's office and that's going to take a few days to get all of the paperwork back, then we can go out and start. But what I think is she declared this an emergency. She, the governor, she brought us back into a special session because this was needed so badly to protect jobs and make sure that we weren't going to have all these cuts in ODOT and that we were going to be able to maintain our roads and to do all of the things.
So if it's that much of an emergency, then one would think she would sign the bill right away.
I have to wonder, is she slow walking it? Because obviously she knows that there are a lot of Oregonians upset and they are just waiting to. They keep asking every single day. We get emails, you know, when can we sign? Where can we sign? So. So I do have to wonder, are you slow walking it, Governor Kotech, on purpose so that we have less days? And I just think as a leader, if you are confident that your bill, the plan that you put forward is the best for Oregon, stand with it, sign the bill, let the voters weigh in. Let Oregonians weigh in.
If we can collect enough signatures, great. Then Let them vote on it, because that's democracy. Right.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: And so if she, let's say she signed it today, then would the taxes change today or does it still wait another year? Like, would it start where we'd have this new bill happening in place, the taxes and everything, for the next 10, 12 months, but then people can vote on it maybe next year to change it?
[00:13:47] Speaker B: So if we collect enough signatures, it would be frozen. Okay. And the taxes would not go into place until the vote the tax increase.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: And if there aren't enough signatures, then yes, then go into effect at the end of the 90 days.
Got it.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: So, yeah, I just really think that we should just move on with the process. That's why we have it.
People can find out. I did want to say, so notaxor.com is the website that has all the information, and that's where you would find information on where to sign and if you wanted to help collect signatures, if you want to be part of the process as a, as a person who signs or as a person who's out helping collect signatures, either way, notaxor.com okay.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: And then that's where we may or may not see people, I don't know, out at like farmers markets or other community events saying, hey, do you want to sign here? And then you needed 70. Is it 78,000?
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Right. We have a goal to get 100,000 just because there will be some that, you know, or we need a margin of error.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: And so for people who want to sign this, I mean, there has to be some level of checking, right? I mean, otherwise you can just sign a whole bunch of random names and who knows if they're real? So what, you need to sign your name on this? What else do people need to put right?
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Your signature, your name, your date, your address.
And it needs to match your voter's registration card. So if you sign with your middle name or your middle initial, it should match if you've moved addresses, it needs the date that you sign needs to match the address that is affiliated with your voter registration. So if you've moved to a new address but you haven't updated your registration card, when you sign, you will date and put the address that's the same as your voter's registration.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: And then somebody has the fun job of checking all of those to make sure they're legitimate signatures. Thank you.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: That's why we have that margin of.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: Error, to make sure that everything is done correctly.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: And honestly, wouldn't it be horrible to get like 77,000, 952, like, I don't know, like.
So we're going to get more than enough. More than enough.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And the goal is by the end of this calendar year about. And. But nobody can start that process yet. Now, for anybody who is curious, you gave the website and then you said it'll be blasted all over social media. We talked about that in the last episode. So for people who are waiting to sign, information is coming. Hard for them to miss it.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Okay.
Now, so many other things are going on, but as I understand you were kind of on the same topic of money and budgeting.
You put out a press release that got a little bit of attention.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Yes, yes. That one just went out recently. And it was around the numbers. It was around factual numbers of money that tax dollars that have been spent on, on health care for noncitizens in Oregon versus our tax dollars that were spent on Oregon State Police.
And for the health care number, it was 1.3 billion for Oregon State, State Police budget, I believe just over 700 million be 717 million of our tax dollars. And so lots of Oregonians are asking about that. Well, you know, this, this seems a little unsettling. Why in today's world, which I know last time we spoke about the, not the violence and the protest that is happening up in Portland and mostly that's being monitored by Portland Police Bureau, but the governor did have Oregon State Police go up to help.
But just in general, why is our Oregon State Police budget so much less than money than our tax dollars that we're spending for non citizens for their health care?
And I have a lot of constituents that are frustrated with the health care system. It's expensive.
Even those that pay insurance are still facing high bills, medical bills. And then you have someone who isn't a citizen and they are getting everything covered.
Now I want to break it down a little bit, if that's okay.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: So why am I saying non citizens? What does that mean? Am I, why aren't I saying illegals?
It can be both. But it's a program called Healthy Oregon. And Healthy Oregon was created through a bill that passed in 2021 in the legislature. And it was to help people, non citizens who have the same parameters in their finances, so low income, that if they were citizens, they would qualify for Medicaid. But because they're not citizens, they don't qualify for Medicaid. So Healthy Oregon was established to give them essentially the same as Medicaid.
So non citizens, people that are here, maybe they have their green card, they're Working, visa seeking asylum, but it also does include illegals.
So it is people who are not citizens. And one might say, we want to help. Okay. But I think it's fair to say we have a lot of Oregonians who are legally citizens, and they're here and they're working and they're paying for their health care, or maybe they're not, but they're still struggling with these high medical bills, and they're not able to receive this sort of a benefit.
And this benefit through Healthy Oregon is everything's covered. I'm talking your medical bills, your dental bills, you know, psychiatric bills.
And it even goes further because we've passed more recently in the legislature that things like your rent can qualify under this. Maybe you need an air conditioner in the summer because it's too hot. That qualifies under this program.
So it is a lot of benefit going out of our tax dollars that have some people asking questions and wondering if that is fair.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: And so this was part of the press release that you put out. Correct. Kind of just breaking down the numbers, looking at a budget.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: I mean, we do this in our own personal homes. Right. Okay. If I bring in this much money and I have this much to spend, where do I put my money in? Which gets the most and which gets less and so forth. And so you're just sort of putting this out on the table, saying, here's where the money is. Does it need to shift at all? Let's just pull back the curtain.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: And then you get to do kind of an interview. Right. Because of this.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Yeah, there's lots of interviews. So. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I. I did have Fox Nation reach out and. And they want some comments on this as well.
I just think that leads to the magnitude of this topic. I mean, it has a lot of people frustrated, and it also, I think, is what plays into the general public not feeling like they can trust government.
So I see my job is to even more than weighing in on what our party feels is right or wrong, I first and foremost, want to be transparent. I want to put the numbers out there and break it down, because I have had a lot of people tell me, well, you know, this is really helpful because if we didn't have this, then people would be just going to our emergency rooms and flooding our emergency rooms. And in Oregon, you know, you can't turn away someone no matter what you need to give them care. So that's more expensive. Obviously, it's more expensive to go to the emergency room than to do preventative care.
True, true.
However, you're not going to go to the emergency room for the dentist. You're not going to go to the emergency room for a whole host of these medical procedures that are covered. You're definitely not going to go to the emergency room to get rent assistance or a new air conditioner.
So that's where I want to cast some light on what this really means. It's not as simple as, well, mathematically, this is saving money and helping hospitals because we're not flooding the ER room. There's a lot more going on here than that.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and it sounds like before you do anything, you're just gathering all of the details and not just one way of looking at a number, because you really have to look at numbers in several ways. I'll never. This has nothing to do with politics, but I'll never forget talking to a doctor one time years ago, and there was some. It was a question about a medication and somebody had, you know, the statistics said, oh, this will double your chance of blah, blah, blah, which was true. But then he said, but it doubles it from 2% to 4%.
And so it's like knowing both sides of a number puts it all in perspective. Because you can say something is doubled. And that is true. That was factual. Two to four is doubled. But when you're thinking in percentages, well, 2% to 4% really isn't that. We're still talking about very, very little, but now you have all of the information and it sounds like that's kind of what you want to do. Give me all of the numbers. I want to see percentages and the hard numbers, the raw numbers. Where does it go? What does that look like? If they changed, then what would happen? How would the number shift? Maybe in order to kind of look at all of this? Because it does seem like money is one of the biggest topics for everybody right now. Of course, the economy, the budget. How do we help everybody? How do we serve all their needs?
Within the budget that we have.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Yes, within the budget that we have.
Yes, that's a great point.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: And knowing what do we actually have.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: Right. Because I mean, to that point, the reason why the governor brought this transportation package was because she wasn't able to do what she wanted to do within the budget that we have.
So this package that passed raises our taxes so that then there is more.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: Money to do these things. Right.
And then, of course, the challenge for anyone working at the capitalist at, well, how do you meet these needs with the money that we have, which the.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: Republicans had A response to that all year long. We had that way back during this last long session.
It's not a money problem, it's a priority problem.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: And so as the leader now, that's probably one of your big focuses.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Right.
To continue to say that on every news media outlet I can.
Right.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Amazing. And so now as we're kind of starting to wrap up here, are there any big things coming in the next week or so that we can be looking forward to talking about in future episodes?
[00:24:48] Speaker B: Every day presents something for sure. I think that we're still there's, you know, I think this transportation package is definitely top of mind. Just waiting on her to sign and then it's going to be this mad fury of hustle to try to get all of the signatures. So that's definitely a big item right now. I think that there's still obviously a lot of news around Portland and ICE and the little war happening between our president and our governor, I think that will continue.
The big beautiful bill that Trump passed, that is something that affects Oregon and how we respond to that and how we handle that is something that definitely will be a big topic that we will, I'm sure, I'm sure we'll have.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: A whole episode on that. Yes.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: And then, you know, this, this example about non citizen health care and our state police, you know, there was also the some comments that I made on TriMet and their, and their budget. So the whole thing about agencies being transparent with where the dollars go and how they're handled is something that's always going to be there. And we are committed, we, meaning the House Republicans, we are committed to continue to shed light on that. We want to work with our agencies. We want them to be working for all Oregonians. But we need to trust, we need transparency.
We need to know that, you know, the goals are being met in the most efficient way possible.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: Right.
As we get prepared for another episode coming up next week or so, I was thinking even locally, you know, we've kind of talked statewide and even nationwide, but locally there's a ballot, a measure that we get to vote on in November and we can talk about that and whether or not that's a bond that's going to pass for McMinnville Recreation center and Aquatics and some of those things. So we will get to cover some more local things and just hear what, what that is like. And then as we move into your short session, which will be here before we know it, finding out what kind of bills are going to be put forth during that time what does that look like? And then before you know it, it'll be a campaign season again and there'll be all kinds of things to talk about within a voter's pamphlet, right?
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: So many things.
[00:27:13] Speaker B: So many things to cover. Yes.
Yeah. This job definitely doesn't run out of things.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: No, no. You will not be bored.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: And I do think, you know, our hope with this and with your newsletter and everything else is just that people are getting information and hopefully most people want to read information from both sides to say, hey, what are you saying? What are you saying?
What's your solution? What's your solution? And make educated decisions.
And as we've said before, we'll have in the episode notes all of the links. So if anyone wants to get connected with you on social media or follow your newsletter and so forth, that they can stay up to date that way as well.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Yes. And that is important. I mean, you're going to see the most up to date things on my social medias. And I do have both Instagram and Facebook that have my personal and they have my political and I try to steer people to the political and I do try to keep them pretty separate. But that's where you would see all of my press releases. And also Oregon House Republicans you can follow on both platforms. And then there's X newsletters. So, yeah, trying to just get the word out and keep people educated. Right.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Especially if all you hear is one clip. If you hear just one clip from, from any site, any news, whatever, it's, it's so worth digging and getting more information and finding the full context, finding the whole conversation, finding the whole press release, whatever it may be.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: Well, thank you for your time and this update. I know, I feel like we could go on for so much longer on so many topics. But we'll come back next week for our next time listeners. Oregonians, thank you for joining us for this episode of Life and Legislation with Lucetta and we hope you come back and join us next week.
