Tag Archives: Bills

Oregon State University Government Relations Update | October 2024

Posted on by

Welcome to the new OSU Government Relations Newsletter.

With this this new communication, we’ll highlight some of the work conducted by the office, updates from the state legislature and congressional delegation, university engagements with elected officials and other OSU news. The newsletter will be sent at least quarterly. You’ve received this inaugural addition because you were subscribed to our updates previously. We encourage you to share this newsletter with your colleagues. They can also sign up by using this link.

Senator Ron Wyden joins President Murthy at the OSU vs. Purdue Football Game. On September 21, Senator Wyden joined Beaver Nation at Reser Stadium to help cheer the football team on to a win against Purdue. Senator Wyden also visited with Athletic Director Scott Barnes and Benny the Beaver on the field, engaged with special guests from across OSU and industry in the state who are leading on robotics and artificial intelligence and watched some of the game with leaders and friends from OSU colleges of Business, Forestry, Agriculture, and Engineering. Go Beavs!

State Relations

Quarterly, when the state legislature is not in session, legislators come to Salem for interim committee hearings for what is known as Legislative Days. These meetings provide opportunities for committees to receive briefings and updates on issues under their jurisdiction.

Associate Vice Provost for Economic Development and Industry Relations, Rebecca Robinson testifying before the House Economic Development, Small Business, and Trade Committee.

The House Economic Development, Small Business, and Trade Committee invited Rebecca Robinson, associate vice provost for Economic Development and Industry Relations (EDIR), to testify on OSU’s engagement in the outdoor products segment. She shared information on OSU’s Center for the Outdoor Economy, OSU-Cascades outdoor products degree and marker space and the vision for the Innovation District at OSU-Cascades. Other panelists spoke on the mass timber and food/beverage sectors, additional target sectors for OSU’s new EDIR division. We are very appreciative to the chair, Representative Daniel Nguyen, for the committee’s focus and invitation.

The Senate Rules and Executive Appointment Committee heard from citizens who the Governor submitted for Senate confirmation for appointment to numerous state boards and commissions. Five new OSU trustees were confirmed by the Senate for appointment or reappointment:

  • Lisa Hale, CEO of Grace Bio-Labs, a woman-owned, global biotechnology company headquartered in Bend.
  • Toby Luther, CEO of Lone Rock Resources, a balanced and diversified real assets and natural resources investment company in Roseburg and chair of the Ford Family Foundation.
  • Camille Palmer, associate professor and associate school head of nuclear science and engineering.
  • Julie Manning (reappointment) former vice president for Marketing, Communications and Community Health Promotion at Samaritan Health Services and past mayor of Corvallis.
  • Susan Clark (reappointment), an accountant with University Facilities, Infrastructure, and Operations.

For further information or questions or to flag specific issues or actions of interest, please reach out to Katie.Fast@oregonstate.edu.

Federal Relations

Congress completed a last sprint of activity in September prior to breaking for an extended recess on September 26 to prepare for the November 11 election. Congress will not be back in session until November 12 and then will have limited days in session to complete work before this Congress officially ends on January 3, 2025.

The main activity OSU working on with Congress is the status of funding to maintain federal government operations and the fiscal year 2025 appropriations legislation. Importantly, on September 26, Congress enacted a clean continuing resolution to maintain government operations and programs with level funding through December 20.

The outcome of the federal election in November has an outsize influence on how the parties in both the House, Senate and the White House will position on negotiations. We can’t yet predict how things will go until the election shows us what the future political balance of power will be across Congress and the White House. Currently, both the House and Senate have set up wide differences in priorities and funding levels for fiscal year 2025 spending across government which would have varying impacts across the research and education programs that the OSU community cares about.

We also continue to work on other bills on deck for action by Congress before the end of the year. Key bills include the Farm Bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, and we’re tracking select other smaller bills members of the OSU community have flagged for interests or concerns.

As the last quarter of the Biden administration nears, agencies are working hard to continue to issue and advance programs and funding, particularly Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds, and to prepare for the new Congress and administration, including the early stages of a fiscal year 2026 budget request. Processes have slowed down on the regulatory front, and we will reconsider our expectations for the future regulatory agenda with national colleagues following the outcome of the November elections. For further information or questions or to flag specific issues or actions of interest, please reach out to Gabrielle.Serra@oregonstate.edu.

Tribal Relations

Join OSU for events dedicated to decolonizing narratives and histories while showcasing Indigenous people’s resilience, creativity and innovation. A list of planned activities for the week of celebration October 12-17 can be found at indigenous.oregonstate.edu.

These events are open to everyone, emphasizing learning and fostering positive representation. Indigenous Peoples’ Week shifts the narrative from perpetuating harmful myths and stereotypes to celebrating Indigenous people at OSU and beyond.

For further information or questions or to flag specific issues or actions of interest, please reach out to chance.white-eyes@oregonstate.edu.

Additional Updates

  • OSU President Murthy went to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation’s Technology Innovation and Partnerships Directorate. On October 1, President Murthy had discussions with officials from these offices focused on strategic initiatives of shared interest to both the Federal Government and OSU for science, engineering, innovation and workforce development. President Murthy promoted OSU’s interests in CHIPS, AI, protecting global collaborations while balancing research security needs, and the potential impacts from signature Federal initiatives to drive innovation important to Oregon, such as the NSF Engines Program and the EDA Tech Hubs. 
  • U.S. Department of Energy Office of Water Power Technologies Office visited OSU. On September10-12, Acting-Director Matt Grosso and Chief Engineer Lauren Ruedy from US DOEWPTO joined OSU and the Pacific Marine Energy Center’s annual all-hands meeting to engage with the regional center’s faculty, students, and partners working to advance marine energy research, development, and testing. The PMEC and PacWave teams also provided the WPTO leaders and guests with a tour and showcase of the significant construction progress this summer of PacWave, the DOEWPTO-supported offshore, grid-connected wave energy technology test facility being built off the coast of Newport. More information on construction progress can be found here.
  • National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited OSU. On August 26, OSU hosted Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan on the Corvallis campus to engage with members of OSU faculty, students, and staff community, and to showcase some examples of what makes OSU unique. President Murthy with Vice President Irem Tumer hosted a half-day of engagements with the director, including an opportunity for him to speak directly to and with members of the OSU research community doing signature work with NSF. OSU also promoted the new PRAx facility and OSU’s efforts to drive arts integration with STEM; highlighting the culture of collaboration and leadership with OSU and the state in semiconductor R&D. We also showcased OSU’s unique strengths and promising students in coastal resilience, marine energy and robotics.
  • Senator Bill Hansell promoted the AgriStress Helpline hosted by OSU Extension during the Pendleton Round-Up. After Senator Hansell sponsored the successful legislation, 9,000 bandannas were distributed by OSU team members during the Pendleton Westward Ho! Parade on August 23. The former University of Oregon alum then took the time to snap a photo with OSU alum, Bryan Wolfe.

Get Involved

Election day is coming up quickly. Oregon’s vote-by-mail system makes it easy to vote, as long as you are registered. To vote in the November 5 election, you must register by October 15. You can review your voter registration information through the Secretary of State’s website. For those that still need to register, TurboVote makes it efficient for all citizens to register, update registration information and receive election reminders.

OSU in the News

Thank you, Beaver Nation!

Posted on by

This legislative session, OSU engagement has been at a record high. Thousands of you wrote letters to your legislators requesting support for OSU student-athletes, who are impacted by conference realignment. Students and stakeholders participated in lobby days to support student-based initiatives. Faculty, students, and stakeholders testified on a multitude of issues and shared their experience with the legislature.

Your engagement validates the work being done across OSU to support students, innovate through research, and engage with communities throughout Oregon. This meaningful work embodies OSU and is why we are Oregon’s team!

While the legislature was only in session for 32 days, in a bipartisan manner, they moved major policy initiatives to reform Measure 110 and address Oregon’s addiction crisis, make investments in and policy changes around housing, and pass compromise legislation creating political campaign contribution limits. The legislature also made some meaningful investments and policy around higher education.

Investments

$10M for OSU student scholarships. While this is only a one-time investment and not the continued funding we requested, it is meaningful and will help us continue to support our student-athletes.

$2M to the College of Engineering for investments around semiconductors.

$1.9M to the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Lab housed at OSU College of Veterinary Medicine for work on chronic wasting disease and zoonotic diseases

Policy Bills

Name, Image Likeness (NIL) [HB 4119]

Makes changes to Oregon’s NIL laws that strengthen protections for the university and its student-athletes. Importantly, the measure prevents the NCAA from sanctioning OSU as long as it follows Oregon’s NIL laws, and it allows OSU to directly assist student- athletes in securing NIL deals. Effective on passage.

Sexual Misconduct [HB 4164]

Technical changes to HB 3456 (2023), which included the development and dissemination of a sexual misconduct survey and the development of university policies and programming around sexual misconduct. The measure removes persons who are “seeking to enroll” from definition of “student,” repeals the requirement to offer the sexual misconduct survey to students on a leave of absence, and extends the time to make the survey available, among other fixes.

Posting Board Meetings Online [SB 1502]

Requires OSU to post video or audio recordings of its Board of Trustees meetings on its website or social media within seven days of the meetings. Exempted from this requirement are meetings held in executive session.

Education Omnibus [SB 1552]

Makes changes to several K-12 and higher education statutes. Most notably for OSU, the measure:

  • requires the HECC to establish a direct admissions program for public universities.
  • makes HECC the body to approve distribution changes to the Oregon Opportunity Grant through a public rulemaking process.
  • clarifies that part-time faculty who “work,” not just “teach,” at an institution may be eligible for health care benefits.
  • requires the HECC to conduct a forest workforce study.
  • exempts Transfer Council subcommittees from public meeting requirements. 

AI Task Force [HB 4153]

Creates a 14-member task force to identify terms and definitions related to artificial intelligence that may be used in legislation. Two members will represent public universities.

Board Appointments

In the 2023 legislative session, the legislature passed SB 273, relating to university governing boards. One item in the bill was the creation of two new student positions on universities’ boards of trustees: one graduate student position and one non-voting undergraduate position. This will bring a total of three student positions to board of trustees. While these new positions do not go into effect until July 1, 2024, Governor Kotek started the process of filling these positions and made nominations for appointment during the session. The Senate confirmed the following appointments:

  • Undergraduate Non-Voting Trustee:  MJ Mihro, Biology Major on a pre-veterinary track.
  • Graduate Trustee: Kate Carter-Cram, PhD student in Public Policy.

2024 Legislative Session Highlights

Posted on by

By: Katie Fast, Executive Director of Government Relations

Today, the Oregon Legislature convenes it’s short 35-day session. Due to the short timeframe, each legislator is limited to introducing two bills and committees restricted to three. That does not mean that legislators won’t be tackling policy issues this year; in fact, reforms to Measure 110 and solutions to Oregon’s housing needs will be proposed.

Oregon State University is also tackling big issues and is looking to the state for partnership. Below are priorities that we are bring to the Oregon legislature:

  • Impact of Conference Realignment: The decisions by some universities to leave the Pac-12 not only eroded our 108-year-old conference and legacy but created a significant budget shortfall for OSU Athletics. We need the legislature’s assistance to:
    • Maintain OSU’s Commitment to Collegiate Athletic Scholarships: OSU commits $10.4 million annually toward athletic scholarships. As an Oregon public university, we have an obligation to continue supporting student-athletes who are bearing the real implications of conference realignment. For many student-athletes, their scholarships make college financially possible, and without that support, they lose their access to education.

The state of Oregon currently allocates 1% of the Administrative Services Economic Development Fund from the State Lottery Fund to the Sports Lottery Program. For the 2023-25 biennium, $18,329,943 was allocated. However, OSU will only receive about $650,000 annually because the university historically received multimillion-dollar media payments. Unfortunately, OSU can no longer expect the same media income after July 31, 2024. An additional 1% of lottery funds dedicated to OSU student-athletes would meet OSU’s athletic scholarship needs.

  • Covering OSU Athletics’ COVID Deficit: COVID-19 health protection regulations placed financial burdens on university athletics departments nationwide. OSU faced more than a year of zero sporting event ticket sales while maintaining our financial commitments to student-athletes and athletics staff. Federal COVID support funds received could not be used to support intercollegiate athletics. The university therefore loaned OSU Athletics $31.8 million to cover its COVID-related deficit. The opportunities for athletics repayment have changed due to conference realignment and a subsequent dramatic drop in media income. OSU has an immediate need from the state to help cover this deficit.
  • Building a Campus to Serve Central Oregon & the State: OSU- Cascades students and supporters are requesting $24 million to expedite the Phase 3 land remediation, which would create 81 contiguous acres for academic buildings and student housing. This is a critical step to meet growth needs of this innovative campus.
  • Supporting Student’s Needs: We will be working with other public universities and students to request:
    • $6 million in renewed funding for Strong Start 2.0: Continued funding for the Strong Start program is critical to ensure students are prepared and supported allowing them to succeed in a university environment. Initially a response to pandemic learning loss, Strong Start allows universities to offer comprehensive services including summer bridge programs, community- building cohorts, academic skill-building, and ongoing wraparound support. This state investment has led to greater retention rates, higher GPAs, and increased credit hour completion for participating students, compared to their peers.
    • $5 million to strengthen student basic needs programs and infrastructure on university campuses, includes basic needs centers. 
    • $1 million in emergency funding to the Open Educational Resources (OERS) program to improve access to low- or no-cost course materials for the remainder of the biennium. Since 2015, Oregon OER grants have saved students $12 on course materials for every program dollar spent.
  • Addressing Zoonotic Diseases: The Oregon and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (OVDL) plays a vital role in public health, responding to issues of serious concern for people and wildlife, including highly contagious bacterial disease, avian flu, and mosquito born illnesses. Consistent with recommendations from the legislative report directed by HB 4128 (2022), HB 4148 allocates $3.5 million for critical equipment and capacity necessary for the OVDL and the state Wildlife Health Lab to combat threats such as Chronic Wasting Disease and zoonotic diseases.
  • Creating Pathways to Semiconductor Careers: In 2023, the legislature invested $200M in Oregon’s semiconductor sector. However, research and supporting the needed workforce was not addressed. HB 4154 invests $30 million in K-12 pathway programs, community colleges and public research universities to provide the faculty and tools focused on semiconductor related work.

To support OSU’s legislative priorities and easily engage with the legislature, consider joining the Beaver Caucus’s advocacy efforts. You can learn more here. https://thebeavercaucus.org/

Welcome New Members of the OSU Government Relations Team

Chance White Eyes joined OSU in December as Director of Tribal Relations. In this position, he will build and maintain collaborative, mutual and trusting relationships with Tribal nations within Oregon and beyond and consult with Oregon State leadership, colleges and programs to advance the university’s teaching, research and engagement missions.

White Eyes holds a doctorate in critical and socio-cultural studies in education from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Oregon State. He is an enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin.

In November, Sherry Morgan started as Administrative Assistant. She previously worked in OSU Academics for Student Athletes. In this role, she is managing the office’s administrative needs and assisting tracking bills of interest to OSU and our community.

Katheryn Yetter, OSU University Policy & Standards Specialist, is taking on additional duties and supporting OSU’s advocacy efforts in Salem. We are fortunate for prior the legislative experience Katheryn brings to the team.