WHAT QUALIFIES AS A ‘GREEN JOB?’

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On June 17, the House of Representatives debated HB 3300, a bill instructing the State to promote and define “green jobs” and the "green economy” in Oregon.

However, as this clip demonstrates, the definition of a “green job” is subjective. Rep. Matt Wingard asks the Democratic sponsor of the bill whether Oregonians working in natural resources, agriculture and other industries would qualify as having “green jobs.” After dodging the question, it took another Democrat to get the sponsor to admit that the definition would likely be very narrow--excluding the thousands of Oregonians who work with our state's renewable resources every day. Rep. Wingard ends the exchange by reminding his colleagues how important any job would be to an unemployed Oregonian right now.

FACT: In the last 12 months, an additional 137,000 Oregonians have become unemployed.