We stood up for low-wage workers by passing SB 612 on wage-theft.

We stood with small business in their efforts to keep health insurance premiums affordable and in their efforts to fight unfair trade practices by insurance companies.

I'm encouraged to hear from people affected by these and other issues that simply shining light on unfair practices often changed behavior.

We had some wins and losses, and laid the groundwork for future success. I look forward to continuing the work in the coming months.

Below are some articles that highlight the work of my committee:

SB 944 will allow restaurant owners to purchase expensive specialty liquors by the bottle rather than buy the case, which is more cost effective. I thank Tobias Hogan of EaT: An Oyster Bar on N. Williams for bringing this to my attention.

HB 2960, the Governor's Cool Schools bill, will make low-cost loans available to school districts for energy efficiency retrofits and upgrades, paid for with future energy savings.

Rep. Lew Frederick passed HB 3325, making it easier to clean up polluted properties.

The Bottle Bill, HB 3145, added more types of containers. It shifted the location of redemption centers. It increased the current nickel deposit to a dime if redemption rates fall below 80 percent two years in a row.

SB 827 provided protections for those in foreclosure. It passed my committee and the Senate, but was never scheduled for a hearing in the House Rules Committee. However, work surrounding wrongful foreclosures is not over. My committee will be studying whether or not Oregon should become a judicial foreclosure state in the coming months.

Funding for Project Clean Slate was continued and more people in our neighborhood will be able to find work because of it. For more information you can visit their website at www.projectcleanslate.com.

This session, the Oregon Legislature passed the Health Care Exchange (SB 99) and the Health Care Transformation bills (HB 3650) with bipartisan support. The exchange will provide a portal for small businesses and individuals to compare health care plans. The transformation bill creates a blueprint for a new delivery system that will provide care to Medicaid beneficiaries through locally accountable coordinated care organizations (CCOs) and global budgeting, rather than through traditional fee-for-service reimbursements. The key challenge for the legislature will be to operationalize the Medicaid transformation bill in a way that improves health outcomes. Unfortunately, I don't anticipate the bill will save much money for at least three years.

I was pleased we passed SB 433, which closes a loophole in Oregon's Breast and Cervical Cancer Program so that women who are diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer outside of the Program - say, through their family physician - are still eligible for treatment through the Oregon Health Plan.

One of the key disappointments of the session was the failing of SB 97 on the House floor due to Republican opposition. It was exciting to witness so many people and groups united to improve health outcomes through cultural competency. We will work to pass this important legislation in future sessions.

Additionally, the Senate passed SB 858, which would require insurers to reimburse Nurse Practitioners in independent practice the same rate as physicians when they provide the same services as physicians. It died in the House.

We could no longer afford to allow big corporations to avoid carrying their share of the burden. That's why we executed sunsets on corporate tax loopholes and passed sensible limits on the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC). We continued some reasonable sentencing reforms in SB 730 that saved over $10 million for K-12 education.

Despite a 20% shortfall in state revenue, we focused our priorities and passed a $5.73 billion K-12 budget, which was $170 million more than the Governor's budget originally proposed.

I voted against several bills that will hurt Portland Public Schools including bills to expand virtual public schools (HB 2301) and a bill to ease inter-district transfers (HB 3681). I will monitor these laws closely and look to modify them in future sessions if they have the negative impact I expect.

The Senate also passed HB 3471, which will provide a college education for foster kids. As foster parents, spouse Shelda Holmes and I were thilled that we passed this bill.

While SBs 909 (establishes the Oregon Education Investment Board) and 242 (creates the Higher Education Coordinating Commission) passed, SB 742 (tuition equity) died in the House after passing the Senate.

These bills were largely the product of work done by the Reasonable Insurance Premium Coalition, a group of small business owners and lawyers familiar with the Public Utility Commission process. Although this package of bills did not become law, pressure exerted on the Oregon Insurance Division and insurance companies, particularly Regence, was helpful in bringing more scrutiny and lower rates. I'm confident that the Oregon Insurance Division would not have scheduled a rare public hearing on the proposed 22.1% rate increase by Regence were it not for the pressure exerted by small business owners across the state in my committee.

These issues are too important to small business to have happen behind closed doors. I will continue to work with the Reasonable Insurance Premium Coalition and other impacted people to change the way rates are set for individual and small business health insurance.

Below are links to editorials in support of these bills, as well as an article about the fight to bring health insurance rates under control: