Rayfield to Return as Co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee

CORVALLIS – Rep. Dan Rayfield (D – Corvallis) has been appointed by Speaker of the House Tina Kotek to serve another term as the House Co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee. This will be his second term in the position, which serves as the chief budget writer on the House side. Over the past two years of serving as Co-chair, Rayfield has expanded access to the Affordable Care Act, made historic investment in schools via the Student Success Act, and positioned Oregon to weather the economic impact of both COVID-19 and this summer’s wildfires.

“I look forward to building on the progress of the past two years and to the new challenge of developing and setting Oregon's budget for the 2021-23 biennium,” said Rayfield.

The 2021 Session will kick off on Tuesday, January 19th. Legislators will return to Salem with several goals in mind, including closing the budget on the 2019-21 biennium, allocating further relief to those who have been affected by wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, and laying the groundwork for a successful 2021-23.

Specifically, Rayfield is ready with a slate of elections bills that will take steps towards establishing campaign finance limits, spreading ranked choice voting to the state level, and more. Campaign finance reform has been a top priority of Rayfield’s office since his election in 2014.

“Our office has a lot of elections legislation ready for this session,” said Rayfield. “We are really excited with the concepts we developed. I believe that we can make significant progress towards making our elections more accessible to Oregonians.”

 

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