The bill modifying the statements of economic interest requirement reemerged in a committee hearing last week. The outlook for its eventual passage remains as murky as ever.
Senate Bill 292 B, an OSBA priority bill, would pause the financial disclosure requirement until 2026 for school board members of districts with fewer than 4,000 students. This is the first year school board members are included under the statement of economic interest requirement for thousands of Oregon public positions.
OSBA opposed the change in the law last year and has been working to repeal, modify or delay implementation.
Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, has championed SB 292. Owens is a Crane Union High School board member, and board members in his legislative district have been some of the most adamant that the law is misguided and overly invasive.
During a hearing Thursday, May 11, before the House Rules Committee, Owens said SB 292 was a response to immediate concerns schools boards would lose members over the issue.
“What I began hearing is that board members would resign,” said his testimony read by an aide.
Some school board members followed through, especially in eastern Oregon, and quit before the April 15 filing deadline. At least 41 school board members this year have not filed the paperwork, according to committee Chair Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene. She said she requested the numbers from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, which oversees the statements.
The hearing didn’t feature overt opposition, but there was some bipartisan pushback.
Fahey introduced an amendment that would move the threshold from 4,000 students to 1,650 students, which is the statutory limit to be considered a “small school.” She did not openly voice skepticism with the need for the bill, but she did note that the 4,000-student level would exempt most of Oregon’s 197 school districts. Some of them have budgets in excess of $100 million.
Rep. Anna Scharf, R-Newberg, said that in her experience as a school board member, the appointed budget committee members, not the school board members, drove budget decisions. Not including budget committee members in the SEI requirement meant legislators had “maybe missed a step” in the current law, implying budget committee members should potentially be included in the future.
Any changes to the bill now, though, might trip up its ultimate passage. The Senate has already passed the bill, so it only needs a House vote to get to the governor’s desk. But if it gets amended, it would have to go back to the Senate, where Republican tactics have ground work to a halt and created a huge backlog of unheard bills.
A possible committee vote on the bill was canceled, and as of Friday, May 12, the bill has not been scheduled for another hearing. The House Rules Committee is not bound by the bill work session deadline of Friday, May 19, though, so it’s not dead yet.
School board members who have not already filed their paperwork could be fined up to $5,000. SB 292 would nullify the fines for board members it covers, but its passage is far from certain and OSBA has encouraged people to file this year.
During the hearing, Rep. Emily McIntire, R-Eagle Point and an Eagle Point School Board member, said she has also encouraged board members to file.
“This bill would be so helpful to those who haven’t quite gotten there yet,” she said.
McIntire reminded committee members the SEI requirement is an additional burden and “being a school board member is not an easy feat.”
– Richard Donovan
Legislative Services specialist
