SALEM, Ore. — When the new Oregon Speaker of the House Rep. Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) gaveled out the 2022 Oregon legislative session on March 4th, his 10-year-old son Adam was by his side. It was the conclusion of Rayfield's first legislative session as Speaker of the House after being elected to replace former Speaker Tina Kotek, who resigned to focus on her campaign for governor. Rayfield called the 31-day session a success.
"I'd give it an A-," Rayfield said. "I'm kind of a perfectionist, so for me, there's always room for improvement. But I would say any time you can end a session with your son coming to work with you that definitely ranks pretty high," he said.
Speaker Rayfield was a guest on this week's episode of "Straight Talk" to discuss what was accomplished, what is left to be done next session, and shared his personal life experience that has helped to inform the kind of leader he is today.
Addressing homelessness and affordable housing
Oregon had an unexpected surge in revenue to spend on pressing needs facing the state: homelessness and a lack of affordable housing, educational challenges such as recruiting and retaining teachers, and helping low-income Oregonians faced with the rising cost of living. The biggest package included $400 million in emergency funding to address homelessness and affordable housing needs. The money will be allocated across Oregon to increase shelter capacity, keep families in affordable housing, pay for construction of new affordable housing, and for projects like "Project Turnkey" which turns old hotels into emergency shelters.
"This is a proven program that within a two year period increased shelter beds by 20% in the state of Oregon. So, those are the types of things you'll see directly in your community when it comes to housing and homelessness," Rayfield said.
Relationship between Democrats and Republicans
Rayfield was elected to the Oregon legislature in 2014 and represents House District 16 which includes Corvallis and Philomath. He served as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means spending much of his time writing budgets. He pledged to use that experience that required building relationships to build bridges between Democrats and Republicans in the state. He made that point in his speech on opening day of the short session Feb. 1st.
"I believe we are all here because we want to do good for Oregon and it's important to me that we give the measure of grace that comes with recognizing that in all of us," he said.
Rayfield said the short session was focused on building trust and relationships with one another and he had kind words for House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville).
"She was wonderful. None of us is perfect in these roles and we learn from each other. And we were able to work well with each other. Even when there were bills the minority really didn't want to pass, we were able to do it in a way that respected each other, and in a way that we respected the dialogue and understood that we all have the same values," Rayfield said.
Criticism from Oregon Republicans
The state's Republicans did have some criticism for the majority party saying Democrats overreached with spending. The House Republican caucus released a statement following adjournment that said in part, "Democratic leaders blocked our additional efforts to help Oregonians while passing an eye-watering spending plan and harmful legislation we will need to fix next year."
Rayfield pushed back, saying lawmakers worked to meet the needs of the state while also ending up with a record amount of funds in reserves.
"We had a historic ending fund balance of $760 million. That's more than when Republicans were in control. That's more than in prior cycles when Democrats were in control. On top of that, we also have reserve accounts. When you add it all up, we have around $2.7 billion in reserves," Rayfield said.
Rayfield said Oregon is one of the best-prepared states in the nation to weather a significant economic downturn.
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Sharing his personal story
Rayfield was candid during his opening day speech before the legislature sharing with fellow lawmakers his personal struggles as a youth. He revealed he had been abused as a child, was later arrested four times, drank and experimented with drugs, and flunked out of college the first time before turning his life around. He said a geography professor at community college was instrumental in helping him rebound and helped him build confidence.
"There is never a straight path," he said. "You take two steps forward. You take a step back, but I slowly got through. It's why I got a geography degree of all things. I was fortunate with the people I knew in my life," Rayfield said.
Rayfield went on to graduate from Western Oregon University and get his law degree from Willamette University. He said he shared the story of his troubled past with lawmakers to demonstrate his belief that one's worst moments don't define who they are and to build trust.
"I think when you lead with your values, when you lead with who you are, people will understand your background, it's easier to trust people," he said.
Committed to criminal justice reform
He also said he understands had he been a person of color his experience with the justice system would likely have been much different. He said he's committed to helping the state make strides toward racial system. He pointed to Senate Bill 1510 that passed in the most recent legislative session.
"It looked at preventing profiling, where you are pulling people over for minor traffic infractions. It's these small steps we continue to take to really address this," he said.
Rayfield expects lawmakers to push for additional criminal justice reform in the next legislative session.
"As we move toward the 2023 session, our office, as well as our legislative leaders like Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas), we will hopefully work towards another package to continue reforming our criminal justice system, he said.
Have coffee with your local lawmaker
Rayfield said the Oregon Legislature is extremely accessible to its citizens and he encouraged Oregonians to get to know their local lawmaker.
"If you call your state legislator you can sit down and have coffee with them. A lot of the ideas we passed were facilitators of good ideas," he said.
He said if your legislator gets to know you on a first name basis that means they will better represent you.
"We are very accessible folks and we are here. We share a lot of the same values," Rayfield said.
Straight Talk airs Friday at 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
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