Take Action to Support Part-Time Faculty Health Care
Please take a moment to urge legislators to pass HB 4146, the Part-Time Faculty Health Care Bill. HB 4146 will provide affordable health care to part-time faculty who teach more than half-time when their hours are pooled across Oregon’s public universities and community colleges. After years of trying to close the health insurance gap for these faculty, our coalition believes we can pass this important legislation this session. We need the Ways & Means Committee of the Oregon Legislature to support our bill (and Republicans to return to the Capitol to do their job) in order to make that happen!
Support passage of HB 4146 by:
(1) Emailing the Senate President, Speaker of the House, and Co-Chairs of the Ways and Means Committee by clicking here. This link will auto-generate an email to Senate President Courtney, Speaker of the House Kotek, and the three Co-Chairs of the committee. A sample message body can be found below. Be sure to personalize the message by adding personal experiences and your name and institution in the signature line.
(2) Also emailing your Representative and/or Senator if they appear on the following lists of legislators serving on the Ways and Means Education Subcommittee or the full Ways and Means Committee. Click on their name in the lists below, and your email client will auto-generate an email. A sample message body can be found below. Be sure to mention that you’re a constituent of their district in your message! If you aren’t sure who represents you in the Oregon Legislature, enter your address at this link to find out.
Sample Message Body
Senate President Courtney, Speaker of the House Kotek, and Joint Ways and Means Committee Co-Chairs Johnson, Steiner Hayward, and Rayfield:
I’m writing to you today to urge you to support HB 4146, the Part-Time Faculty Health Care Bill. As our colleges and universities continue to move away from using full-time faculty and become more reliant on part-time faculty, it has become incredibly difficult for experienced instructors to stay in the field.
Many part-time faculty members are forced to cobble together a string of teaching positions at multiple institutions just to make ends meet. Too often, part-time faculty are working the equivalent of 1.5 instructional positions in order to cover the high costs of paying for housing, health care, and all of life’s other necessities. When instructors are forced to spend so much time trekking from one institution to another, students can’t receive the access and support from their instructors that they need to succeed.
The truth is that student and faculty outcomes are improved when part-time faculty receive the pay and benefits they deserve. Part-time faculty need the same qualifications and have the same skills as faculty members who are hired into a full-time position, but they are paid a fraction of what their full-time peers earn, and they don’t receive benefits. It is time the state supported our part-time faculty with this basic need.
The Part-Time Faculty Health Care Bill (HB 4146) is a chance to strengthen higher education throughout the state for both students and educators, and I urge you to support that effort.
Ways and Means Education Subcommittee
Senator Lew Frederick(Co-Chair)
Representative Susan McLain(Co-Chair)
Ways and Means Committee
Senator Betsy Johnson(Co-Chair)
Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward(Co-Chair)
Representative Dan Rayfield(Co-Chair)
Senator Fred Girod (Co-Vice Chair)
Representative David Gomberg(Co-Vice Chair)
Representative Greg Smith(Co-Vice Chair)
