Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Bill Morrisette’s major concerns as a state senator have been largely focused on health care and education.
The Democratic incumbent for District 6 served two terms in the state House of Representatives beginning in 1999, then was appointed to the newly established District 6 in 2002. The district covers Springfield, a major part of east and south Eugene, and rural eastern Lane and Linn counties from Creswell almost to Albany, including Crawfordsville and Holley.
Morrisette is the former mayor of Springfield (1989-1999). He taught social studies at Springfield High School for 28 years, retiring in 1990. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Carroll College in Helena, Mont. and a master’s degree in education from the University of Oregon.
He and his wife, Janice, have eight children, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Morrisette currently serves as chair of the Senate Human Services Committee and also serves on the Senate Health Policy and Education committees, as well as the Joint Ways & Means Subcommittee on General Government. He chaired the Senate Education Committee in the 2003 session, and was a member of the House Education Committee in the 2001 session.
He has sponsored numerous education-related bills and sponsored Measure 44, which grew out of attempts in the 2005 Legislature to expand the Oregon Prescription Drug Program, a discount program that he also introduced, which allows the state to buy prescription drugs in bulk for low-income seniors without drug coverage, and for school districts and local governments. Measure 44 would allow nearly one-third of the state’s population, who are uninsured, to join the Oregon Prescription Drug Program.
Other bills he helped pass in 2005 included the following:
– The extension of Oregon Project Independence, a program that funds care for elderly people in their own home rather than in care facilities, to the disabled.
– A bill to improve the state’s medical marijuana law, with the support of both advocates of medical marijuana and law enforcement leaders.
– A tsunami warning bill to help establish a uniform tsunami-warning signal and increased information for coastal residents and visitors on what to do in case of a tsunami caused by offshore earthquakes.
Morrisette was in Sweet Home, Brownsville and Lebanon Friday, stumping for the ballot measure. He is running against Lebanon-area Republican Renee Lindsey.
He said he is particularly interested in rural health, noting that many rural communities in Oregon do not have adequate health care.
“This is an economic development issue,” he said. “If a community doesn’t have adequate health care and schools, who’s going to want to move there?”
Morrisette’s interests in health and education have him planning to re-introduce legislation banning junk food on school campuses, particularly middle schools. A previous attempt, during the 2005 session, was killed in committee, he said.
“I’m not asking that vendors get rid of their machines,” he said. “I’m just asking that they put healthy food in them.”
Other proposals or programs Morrisette supports, or is directly involved in, include:
– A Malt Beverage Cost Recovery Bill, which would raise the state tax on a bottle of beer to 10 cents – which, he said, hasn’t increased since 1977 – to help fund alcohol and drug abuse prevention and mental health programs cut by counties in recent years.
“This is the biggest cost shift in medicine, the lack of alcohol and drug prevention programs,” he said. “The problem is that if you don’t have adequate treatment, people wind up in the emergency room or in jails.
Morrisette and his legislative assistant, Don Bishoff, blame Republican House leaders, “at the behest of beer industry lobbyists,” for the failure of an attempt to introduce such a bill in the Legislature during the last session.
“The beer industry is a major contributor to the House leadership,” Bishoff said. “Adult beverage cost recovery bills have been stuffed in committee.”
Morrisette said the public appears supportive of such a tax, which, he said, would go directly toward prevention programs and law enforcement.
– Increasing state police numbers through a small tax on auto insurance, as proposed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
– A state health insurance purchasing pool for small businesses so they can afford coverage for their employees.
– Additional protections for owners of non-mobile mobile homes when the mobile home parks in which they live are sold out from under them and converted to subdivisions or business property.
– Involving the State Health Division and Department of Environmental Quality in the field burning issue to ameliorate health effects, investigate whether tax credits paid to field burners are being used properly and investigate how growers who don’t burn have been successful.
– Introducing a bill to ban smoking in now-exempt public places, such as bars, taverns and bowling alleys, where second-hand smoke may harm nonsmokers. He said the bill is still being drafted and exclusions are still being developed, but he has personal experience in this area, as he and his wife are both ex-smokers.
Morrisette said all but the last two of their eight children were born underweight – the last two were born after his wife quit smoking. Plus, he said, his wife lost three babies who were born prematurely.
“I’m introducing this because I support it,” he said.
– Create an office of Health Care Ombudsman to help those receiving state health care assistance navigate the bureaucracy.
– Re-institute vocational education programs and business classes that taught youngsters the basics of credit and checking account management, and music programs for elementary students.
“I think reading and math are important,” he said. “But I hate to see us get away from programs for kids who are not going to college.
“We have a funding problem. I don’t know what the solution is,” he added. “The two major areas are health care and education. When you help one, you cut the other.”
Morrisette said he supports Ballot Measures 46 and 47 – though he doesn’t like all the provisions of Measure 47 – which would limit campaign contributions to state and local candidates, which, in some races, he said, is “obscene.”
“The money comes from the House leadership and party leaders who go out and raise thousands of dollars from the beer industry. To me, this is the most needed reform in the Legislature.”
He also strongly supports the idea of a “rainy day” fund, such as that proposed in Measure 48, especially if it comes from the corporate “kicker,” “a lot of which,” he said, goes to out-of-state companies.
He said a rainy day fund would also help fund health programs and public education during economic dry spells.
“Every prudent business and
homeowner has money set aside for a rainy day,” he said. “The state of Oregon doesn’t. Our state funding mechanism relies too much on income tax and the lottery.”