OSPIRG Releases 2019 Legislative Scorecard

OSPIRG

OSPIRG, a statewide public interest group, released its annual scorecard today ranking public interest votes taken during the 2019 legislative session.

OSPIRG’s scorecard included the following bills:

• Advance Notice of Drug Price Increases (HB 2658)
• Maintaining Health Care Consumer Protections (SB 250)
• Health Care Cost-Growth Benchmark (SB 889)
• Campaign Finance Constitutional Amendment (SJR 18)
• Campaign Contribution Limits (HB 2714)
• Independent expenditure advertising disclosure (HB 2716)
• Donor disclosure to “dark money” groups (HB 2983)
• Pre-paid postage on ballots (SB 861)
• Commonsense security for internet-connected devices (HB 2395)
• Stronger regulations on payday lenders (HB 2089)
• Green Zoning (HB 2001)
• Statewide ban on single-use polystyrene foam (HB 2883)

Charlie Fisher, OSPIRG State Director, released the following statement:

“We’re excited that the legislature was able to come together to support commonsense measures to strengthen Oregon’s democracy, help reduce the cost of prescription drugs, and protect consumers. Lawmakers made improvements to our voting system, took first steps towards limiting political campaign donations and mandated more transparency in political spending.

“Additionally, state legislators took pro-consumer steps to rein in the cost of prescription drugs by requiring advance notice of drug price increases and strengthened the privacy and security of personal information on the internet by requiring manufacturers of internet-enabled devices to implement commonsense security protocols.

“However, there’s still much more work to be done. Legislators failed to take meaningful steps to give Oregonians control over their personal information online or to reduce e-waste by giving Oregonians the right to repair their consumer electronics. And they failed to take action on a key piece of campaign finance reform: a small donor matching program for candidates for office. At the end of the day, while we’re proud of what was accomplished during the legislative session, more needs to be done to make sure the public interest is represented in Salem.”

The scorecard is available here: https://ospirg.org/reports/orp/ospirg-2019-legislative-scorecard