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.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Hi, Oregonians. Welcome back to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you've been following us for a while, immediately you recognize that this looks a little bit different, probably sounds a little different also. But we are about to start the short session, and that's going to start on Monday, which means it's hard to find time to go over to the studio and record. So I got to come over to the Capitol building and join Representative Elmer in her new office.
Right. How long have you been in this room?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Since November.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Well, we're gonna dive right in. We left our listeners off with a report card for Oregon.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: And saying, hey, it's the start of a new year. It's 2026 now. And with that report card, there were things that needed some attention.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: That you wanted to take from maybe a grade C up to a B, maybe even an A. And part of how you do that is through these sessions. So real quick review, what is a short session?
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Yes. So a short session is only 35 days. And the technical, true, authentic reason why a short session was created in Oregon Legislature was to fix anything that needed a little tweak or didn't quite have enough time during long session.
So because way back when there was no short session, we just, the legislature met every other year.
And so now we do have these five weeks, these 35 days that we can come in and we can do something as a legislative body, but it's really not meant for that whole new concept and a big new bill. So unfortunately, a lot of those things that we talked about with the report card, those will take a little more time. But there's a lot of stuff that you do. There's a lot of work that's done in between your long session years. You have work groups, you have studies, you. You get your stakeholders in the room. You know, let's say you want to redo something in education. You know, you would want A legislator would want to make sure that they're not only talking to their colleagues, but and the agency, but also superintendents, principals, teachers, educators, you know, to, to. To get a broad vision, a broad scope of what they're going to do and how that will truly, you know, meet the goal that they want. So lots of work to do.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: And if somebody listening was just going, what, I'm a teacher, I'm a fill in the blank and I care about whatever you're talking about, Is this a time period where they can come or testify or send in a letter or come to the Capitol? How does that work?
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, anytime a constituent, an Oronian, a voter has an idea that they think, gosh, this would make life better, easier, simpler, or whatever, you know, contact your legislator, contact your state representative or your senator and say, I have an idea. That is where a lot of bills start.
And then you kind of follow that bill as it goes through the process so that when it is introduced into the legislature, then, yes, that person can come to Salem and you can testify in committee, meaning you get up and you say some words in support of. Or maybe you're coming because you oppose something, or you can sign up to testify remotely. Maybe you can't make the drive in, but you can do it online or you could write a letter.
So there's several different ways in which you can lend your support to the process. Right.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: And speaking of how a bill becomes a law, we covered that in a previous episode. So again, if you're new, you can go back and listen to that in length, because part of our goal with this podcast is to be informative, educational, and make sure that you have some idea what's going on in this world of state government.
And speaking of bills.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: As I understand it, in this short session, each legislator can bring forth two bills.
And those are usually bills that have already maybe had some work done or had been seen in the long sessions.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: I would say more often than not. Yes. Or they're a topic. Maybe it's an extension of a federal bill or. Or a topic that's already, you know, known of. So it's not, like I said, it's not this huge new topic that we're going to try to cram through in five weeks. Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: And so speaking of bills, what are the two bills that you are bringing forward for this short session?
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I have one around education and one around healthcare. The education one is.
It's taking private dollars and getting federal tax credit for it and seventeen hundred dollars per person. And it would require the state to set up grant opportunities that people could use to give this money to students. And it's not a school choice bill. It's. It's. It can be private or public education.
So it really isn't a partisan thing, but it's a way to use private funds versus state. State tax dollars to get more for our schools.
But you. You don't automatically get to do it. The state has to opt in. So this bill would just be saying, we are going to participate with this federal opportunity.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: So this is something that was sort of created at a federal level, and each state gets to decide whether or not they want to.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Opt in to participate, Correct?
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Correct. Yes. And then my other one is around in vitro fertilization, and that would be making insurance cover, private insurance, public insurance cover this as an option for families that want to have more children.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is a bill. The second one is a bill that I ran in long session. Yeah. And so it saw some. Some problems, but it's a conversation that is widely supported.
So it's one that I want to continue to have and keep fighting for strong, healthy families.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: And now, since that was a bill that was brought forward before, do you bring it forward in the exact same way or did you make changes to.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: It essentially the same way?
There might have been some. Few. A few tweaks. I couldn't tell you what they are right now. They would have been technical if it had some issues in the past or maybe stakeholders said they didn't like certain things. And so I think I have made a few concessions, but nothing that would change the integrity of the bill.
Trying to get it to pass, of course, with the goal in mind. Yeah.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: So it's going to be a busy. Yes, busy five weeks.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Really intense.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: We have to balance our budget and also figure out transportation money and that whole conversation.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, these. We are hoping to get several of these short at the Capitol.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Podcast updates again that.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: What?
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Different camera, different sound system. But we want to still stay connected with everybody. And so this one's going to be short. But in closing, though, you mentioned the transportation. And that's on all over social media over this referendum text. Is it going on the November ballot? Is it going on a special ballot? What's it allowed to do? What does this mean?
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Are there any updates?
[00:08:09] Speaker B: 250,000 people signed a petition to refer that bill, the. The transportation bill, to the ballot. The transportation bill, increased gas tax and fees, DMV fees. So we had four times as many Signatures collected as needed. And we. We did it in like, 32 days. So unprecedented. Crazy. I've said that all before.
So when people signed that, the intent was that that would go to the November ballot, because the Constitution says when you sign the referendum or the petition and you create a referendum, it goes to the next general ballot, which is November. And historically, that would be the vote, the ballot that has the largest turnout. So that would be where most Oregonians would get the chance to. To weigh in on this.
There.
We have heard and learned that the governing party does want to change it. And since this is a constitutional right, they can't do that without passing legislation to change.
When we would vote on this issue, they want to Change it to May 19 to the primary ballot.
We're pushing back because we don't want people to lose out on being able to have their voice.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: And so the primary ballot. Just to clarify, can anybody go. I mean, I know it's a lower turnout, but theoretically, can anybody who could vote in November also vote in the primaries? Or can you only vote in the primaries if you're specifically registered for a certain party? Or how does that work?
[00:09:41] Speaker B: Yeah, theoretically, everyone can vote, but it is different in how that comes down. So, you know, as a registered Republican, I'm only getting the ballot that has the Republican nominees on it. Now, this would be on there as well if it makes it through all of the time frames to get there. So.
And independents or NAVs will get their ballot too.
So I think, in theory, everyone would get it. It's just not as wide of a turnout. It's not as easy as the general where everyone is voting and it's all in one place.
So we just want to make sure that we give the most people the opportunity to weigh in.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: And for it to go to this May ballot instead of November, November ballot, there has to be a bill passed during court session.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: And presumably people are bringing that forward.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: And then that has to be voted on.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: And then if it gets passed, can another referendum happen?
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Like, could it.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: Could a whole other set of signatures be collected saying, we don't want that bill, we don't want it in May, we want it in November.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Gosh, you're so good at these questions.
I don't think so.
I don't think so. But maybe someone will weigh in after they listen to this and say, that's not true. Yeah, I don't think we would have enough time. I think that we're already have the referendum. So it's already there. It's just trying to figure out when.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: It gets voted on and if people listening have a strong opinion on whether it's in May or November. What can they do?
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Well, they can definitely write their legislature. They can come in and they can testify. They, you know, we'll be putting out when the bill is going to be heard and what committee it will be heard. I'm sure there'll be a lot of social media press around this concept. Yeah.
So they should weigh in.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Okay. Write your governor.
Let your voices be heard.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Well, thank you for all that you're doing. I know it's a very busy day. Thanks for squeezing this in, listeners. We hope that you're getting caught up. Stay tuned. We'll try and put out as many of these short, even if they're just five minutes.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Catch up. So you have some idea what's on going going on here at the Capitol for the short session. And thank you so much for tuning in to life and legislation with Lucetta. We'll see you next time.
