AAUP Oregon Legislative Wins in the 2024 Short Session
Oregon’s annual legislative sessions alternate between “long” and “short” sessions. The 2024 short session was intense, with a greater number of bills relating to higher education than any short session in recent memory. Our legislative committee reviewed and tracked dozens of bills, and you can see the testimony our union submitted here. Our legislative efforts are strongest when you and your colleagues are involved, so if you need support with submitting your own testimony next legislative session, you can reach out to me here.
Thanks to our work in collaboration with our allies at AFT Oregon, the Oregon Education Association, the Oregon Students Association, and SEIU, some of the highlights of what we secured include:
- Important fixes to part-time faculty healthcare in the Senate Education Omnibus bill (SB 1552)
- $4 million in additional funding to EOU, OIT, PSU, SOU, and WOU’s behavioral health workforce training programs (HB 5204)
- Greater protections for our members’ PEBB retirement accounts and our environment by divesting from coal (HB 4083)
- Improvements to make the Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey for Oregon’s colleges and universities easier to implement (HB 4164)
Unfortunately, two of our highest priority bills, the University Governance Bill (HB 4125) and the Student Emergency Needs Package (HB 4162) did not pass. This is in part because other budgetary priorities in the legislature, including the housing and mental health crises gripping our state, eclipsed the needs of the higher education community and available funding was not sufficient to cover these priorities.
We know that our members can be part of the solution to many of the issues facing our state, but this is only possible with more robust public investment in our institutions. State investment in the faculty who do the hands-on work of teaching, research, and public outreach at Oregon’s colleges and universities will have the most return in terms of student success and advancements that help our state’s economy. Investments in athletics and capital projects are not always focused on student success or the common good. As we look ahead to the 2025 legislative session, we as a union need to send a clear message to our state leaders: Invest in our future by funding higher education in Oregon!
In solidarity,
Louisa Hooven
VP of Political Action
