| SENATE MAJORITY OFFICE State Capitol
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News Release
March 13, 2012
CONTACT: Molly Woon (503) 986-1074
Oregon Senate Democrats release 2012 accomplishments,
highlight work to help middle class families and small businesses
SALEM – Senate Democrats released summaries of their accomplishments for the February 2012 Legislative Session online today. The issue areas emphasize their strong commitment to helping middle class families, supporting small businesses, and cutting waste in order to protect critical services.
“This historic session is noteworthy for the abundance of significant legislation that addresses the real concerns of Oregonians,” said Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland). “We made major breakthroughs in education and health care reform, passed sweeping improvements to the state’s economic development strategy, and avoided devastating cuts by balancing the budget to protect critical services.”
Senate Democrats released a 2012 “Check List” this morning, illustrating their agenda at the beginning of session and the bills passed that demonstrate their success. In particular, Rosenbaum pointed to the Senate Democrats’ major priority of helping Oregonians who are struggling to keep their homes.
“The Legislature’s agreement to help struggling homeowners is a major victory for Senate Democrats and all Oregonians,” said Rosenbaum. “The foreclosure prevention bill we passed will require banks to sit down with homeowners to see if there’s a way for families to keep their homes and will end the process of simultaneous negotiation and foreclosure, known as ‘dual track.’ If not for Senate Bill 1552, homeowners would continue to be at the mercy of big banks, many of whom are not acting in good faith with homeowners who have lost jobs, become ill, or are otherwise unable to keep up on payments through no fault of their own.”
The customary “end-of-session binder” created by the Senate Majority Office at the completion of each session can be found at this link or this address:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/senatedemocrats/docs/2012binder.pdf
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For more information on the Senate Majority Caucus, please visit oregonsenatedemocrats.com