Smart Policy
2011 Legislative Session Wrap-Up: With a House evenly split between parties, a looming budget hole, and just six months to consider hundreds of bills with long-lasting consequences, the 2011 Oregon legislative session was quite a balancing act.
Since 1969, OEC staff and volunteers have worked every legislative session in Salem to advocate for the interest of all Oregonians to have a clean, healthy environment, with history-making results.
2012 Legislative Session
Our state Capitol is buzzing with budget balancing and economic kick-starts in preparation for the February legislative session. OEC staff will make sure funding for environmental protections stay intact and share two great ideas with lawmakers. We’re promoting a policy that puts Oregon’s innovative green products at the top of the state’s public shopping list, and another that helps Oregonians prevent health problems by ensuring that we know when children’s products contain toxic chemicals.
Reinvesting in Oregon’s Natural Resources
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is responsible for protecting natural resources that are critical to the state’s high quality of life and economic prosperity. Oregonians rely on DEQ every day for clean drinking water, unpolluted air, and a host of other services that keep our society and economy flowing while safeguarding our environment.
DEQ has endured a string of disproportionate cuts in recent years that has limited the agency’s effectiveness—including a 33.8% decline in General Funds since 2007-08, and an 18.5% overall decline since the 2009-11 adopted budget. Additional cuts, such as those proposed in the 10.5% General Fund reductions, would have severe impacts on Oregon’s water and air toxics programs, groundwater monitoring, and a host of other critical areas.
It’s time to reinvest in Oregon’s air, water and land by restoring the DEQ budget back to healthy, functioning levels for the future economic prosperity of our state and a strong environmental legacy. The first step starts this session. OEC and its partners will be working to prevent any additional cuts to the Legislatively Adopted Budget adjustments for Fiscal Year 2011-2013 for DEQ, holding our ground for the health of Oregon’s environment for today and future generations.
Smart Public Purchasing
In our current belt-tightening economy, anything Oregon can do to support local innovative businesses and reduce burdensome health costs is truly a win-win scenario. That’s why a smart public purchasing policy makes sense for our state.
Smart purchasing is a practical, voluntary approach to selecting products based on price, quality and impact on our health and the environment. It allows the state to support Oregon’s businesses as they take the lead in developing and manufacturing safer products using green chemistry principles that reduce toxic hazards.
OEC supports Oregon adopting a voluntary pilot program for purchasing safer cleaning supplies and building products—two categories where high-quality Oregon products are already on the market. Companies and research facilities throughout the state are recognized leaders in the green chemistry field; smart public purchasing is a thoughtful, logical step that supports these innovators and protects the health of Oregonians with safer, innovative products.
Keeping Children Safe From Toxic Chemicals
To keep our children and families safe, prevention is often the best—and most cost-effective—solution. Cancer, learning disabilities and other chronic disease take a multi-billion-dollar toll on Oregon’s economy. One of the best ways we can minimize risk and protect our health is by reducing our exposure to toxic chemicals, especially early in life.
A children’s product disclosure bill would give Oregon a sound strategy for reducing exposure to chemicals considered a high risk for children. The state would draw from existing chemicals of concern (as established by Oregon DEQ and Washington State) in order to establish a core list of priority chemicals for Oregon. Manufacturers of children’s products would then be required to provide the Oregon Health Authority with information about high priority chemicals in these products.
Our goal here is simple: Give health experts and parents the information they need to protect children from harmful chemicals in everyday products.
