Oregon Legislature

A significant bipartisan majority of the 2013 Legislative Assembly voted to enact House Bill 2787, which became known as the “Tuition Equity Act.” It established in-state tuition eligibility for students who demonstrate the intent to become United States citizens and who met certain previous attendance requirements in schools both in Oregon and other U.S. states and territories.

The Legislative Fiscal Office’s report on the bill estimated that only 38 undocumented alien students would access the opportunity to pay in-state tuition to attend an Oregon university during the 2013-15 budget period, and that 80 students would participate during the 2015-17 biennium. The Act didn’t affect Oregon community colleges, because they do not have residency requirements.

Tuition Equity Act supporters argued it would cause minimal cost to Oregon taxpayers. They further implied they would neither ask for future eligibility expansion for in-state tuition nor request financial aid eligibility for undocumented alien students. I voted against HB 2787 — not least because I didn’t believe their words.

University and community college students who are neither United States citizens nor eligible non-citizens are ineligible for federal grant-in-aid programs. Undocumented aliens are prohibited from even filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid. However, Oregon’s own taxpayer-funded grant-in-aid program for college students, the Oregon Opportunity Grant, is not constrained by federal law.

The Legislature’s Democratic majority enacted Senate Bill 932 this year, on party-line votes. It significantly enlarged the number of undocumented aliens who are eligible for in-state tuition. Further, the bill created new eligibility for Oregon undocumented alien university and community college students to receive Oregon-funded grant-in-aid and student loans.

I believe this bill will serve as a beacon for undocumented alien students to come to Oregon for what amounts to a free college education at the expense of Oregon taxpayers.

The Legislative Fiscal Office’s report on SB 932 estimates that as many as 1,000 undocumented alien students may receive Opportunity Grants the first year, and that as many as 4,000 may be participating within four years. At only $1,000 per term, the cost could reach $12 million per year. The fiscal report doesn’t appear to contemplate my predicted in-migration of students.

Not only does SB 932 make undocumented alien students eligible for Oregon taxpayer-paid tuition and expenses, it likely gives them preference over documented resident citizens. According to the bill’s fiscal report, grants and loans for unauthorized immigrants “may be skewed towards an expected family contribution rate of zero or close to zero, which would give this population a higher priority for grant awards.”

The Democratic majority further amended the existing program by enacting House Bill 2407. It ensures that the state will make grants to students with the highest financial need and, where possible, prioritize funding for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. That priority will be based upon an “equity lens” established through Oregon Education Investment Board rulemaking. The “equity lens” appears to be focused on contributing financial aid to low-income undocumented alien students.

Democrats further amended the statute to include “foundations of community colleges” that distribute money to community colleges in the program.

Another bill, House Bill 3063, was created specifically to increase the number of under-served, low-income and first-generation college-bound students who enroll in community college and make progress toward a degree or certificate. This, too, appears to be focused on impoverished, first-generation and perhaps undocumented immigrants. It appropriates $3 million in general fund dollars to that program.

Many legislators who voted for the Tuition Equity Act in 2013 rightly feel betrayed. Assurances that their votes would not open the floodgates for undocumented alien students to attend Oregon colleges and universities with taxpayer-funded Opportunity Grants were insincere. Egregiously, some legislators contend they’re unable to remember making those assurances. So much for an open and transparent legislative process.

Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, represents District 28 in the Oregon Senate. Read more about Changes to tuition act prove doubters right

SALEM — Oregon lawmakers have cleared the way for state grants for Oregon university students who were brought to the United States as children but lack immigration papers.

Gov. Kate Brown will receive Senate Bill 932 after the Senate voted 17-12 on Friday for the final version. The House approved it, 34-25, on the previous day.

With the exception of one Democrat in the Senate, the votes were along party lines ...

The House vote followed a verbal dust-up between a supporter and opponents of the bill.

According to state estimates, a maximum of 1,000 such students would be eligible for Oregon Opportunity Grants — and that 350 of them were likely to obtain them.

Rep. Joe Gallegos, D-Hillsboro, said about 75 students are enrolled at state universities under the terms of 2013 legislation allowing them to qualify for in-state tuition rates if they meet specified requirements....

The two-year budget for Oregon Opportunity Grants will be increased by 24 percent, to $141 million. According to estimates, 84,000 students will receive average grants of $1,650.

But a couple of the five Republicans who voted for the 2013 in-state tuition law said they believed it would not extend to eligibility for state financial assistance.

“We are going to do now what we said was not going to happen,” said Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn.

The bill received no Republican votes, and Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose was the only Democrat in opposition...

The House debate was interrupted when Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, criticized the opposition voiced by some of his colleagues as he spoke in favor of the bill. His remarks triggered a response by Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, who had just spoken against the bill.

A House rule says: “In speaking, the member must confine discussion to the question under debate, avoid personalities and not impugn the motives of another member's vote or argument.”

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, spoke after a timeout lasting several minutes, during which members of both parties attempted to calm things.

“I want to point out that it is really important not to impugn or infer someone’s motives here on this floor,” Kotek said. “I want to say that the member from East Multnomah County was inappropriate in what he was saying.”

Gorsek then rose and said: “I understand that I did something extremely inappropriate“ and I am extremely embarrassed by that.”
  Read more about Lawmakers clear grants for undocumented students

The issue for some was simply about respect for U.S. laws, the nation's sovereignty and secure borders.

For others, it was a rejection what they saw as hatred. What seemed clear even before the rally started was that few would find any middle ground.

About 100 people gathered on the steps of the state Capitol on Saturday for a rally to hear Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, speak about immigration, drugs, gun laws, taxes and getting tough on crime.

The event was sponsored by the Oregon Republican Party.

Also in front of the Capitol, but across the street, about three times as many people gathered in protest of Arpaio, who is known for his conservative stances on immigration and hard-line policing.

Now 81, Arpaio has been sheriff for 23 years of the county that contains Phoenix and the 13th-largest metropolitan area in the nation.

During his 40-minute speech, Arpaio spoke of illegal immigration as an economic, diplomatic, and political problem. He joked about how the crowd across Court Street could have arrived at Capitol, prompting laughter from those crowded onto the steps.

While the counter-ralliers waited for the speech to start, they chanted "no hate in our state," and "love your neighbor."

Yrma Hernandez, a "40-something" Salem resident was among the counter-rally crowd and said she attended the event in the 90-plus-degree weather to support farmworkers.

"I'm here to support all the people who work hard for us in the fields," Hernandez said. "They deserve a chance to work, too — a chance to have work permits and green cards."

Arpaio, who is known as "America's Toughest Sheriff," has implemented some controversial programs and regulations — like chain gangs, two daily meals in jails instead of three, and a "tent city" where inmates reside in military surplus tents.

Hillsboro resident Brad Toman stood on the Capitol steps holding a full-sized American flag.

"I'm here today because I support the sovereignty of our nation and a secure border," Toman said. "The government doesn't seem to support us in enforcing immigration laws."

Toman said he became politically active when Oregon driver cards became an issue and said he was happy that 66 percent of Oregonians were against it.

"It showed me that there's a big silent majority here in Oregon," Toman said. "And I'm a bit disappointed in the number here on this side of the street, and the tact of those across the way.

"The signs they're holding refer to race. Immigration isn't about race at all. They play the race card because it's inflammatory."

Ruben Zamora, 25, was one of the few who crossed Court Street and ascend the steps.

"They called me a terrorist," Zamora said, who was wearing a plastic mask. "I said, 'Jesus commanded us to love one another.' All this hate creates a gut-wrenching feeling for me."

As part of the rally, three pairs of pink underwear were raffled as prizes. The garments' significance relates to Arpaio's tactic after several pairs of white underwear were stolen from the Arizona jail.

After the thefts, Arpaio had jail underwear dyed pink, reasoning that those who turned up wearing the pink underwear in release sweeps could be identified as thieves.

Hernandez said she didn't appreciate Arpaio's presence in Oregon.

"Joe needs to take his pink underwear back home with him," Hernandez said. "We don't need them here."

As Arpaio stepped away from the podium, he reminded the crowd of why he was there and chants from across the street continued.

"This is the greatest country in the world," Arpaio said. "Some things I do are controversial, and that draws a lot of national attention, but the most important thing is to remember that this greatest country in the world."
  Read more about 'Toughest Sheriff' Joe Arpaio draws supporters, foes in Salem

SALEM — State grants could go to college students who were brought to the United States as children but lack immigration papers under a bill that cleared the Oregon Senate on Thursday.

The 17-11 vote, largely along party lines, moved Senate Bill 932 to the House.

Sen. Michael Dembrow, a Democrat from Portland and the bill’s chief sponsor, said that based on estimates, ...350 of them were likely to get them.

Given that lawmakers have boosted funds in the next two-year budget cycle to make grants available to 13,000 more students, Dembrow said the 350 would be a small share.

“They are exactly the kind of kids we should be investing in,” Dembrow said. “Most of these kids have lived here all of these years and they deserve a shot.”

But Dembrow, a community college instructor, acknowledged that his sponsorship of the bill is a shift from two years ago, when as chairman of a House committee, he was floor manager of the bill that allowed in-state tuition rates for undocumented students.

Dembrow said then that the 2013 bill, which became law, did not open the way for state aid to these students — unlike SB 932.

Jim Ludwick of McMinnville, spokesman and former president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, made a pointed comment about Dembrow’s 2013 remarks in written testimony filed for a June 15 budget subcommittee hearing.

“I remember nudging the person next to me and saying wait two years,” Ludwick wrote. “Here we are just two years later and the same advocates now want to do just that.”...

...If the House passes SB 932, Oregon would join California, Washington and some other states that allow state aid.
  Read more about Undocumented student grant measure clears Senate

SALEM — Oregon lawmakers are considering expanding a controversial 2013 law dubbed “tuition equity,” which allowed certain illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Oregon’s seven public universities.

This year, Senate Bill 932 would let those students — who must be Oregon high school graduates — receive state-funded need-based college scholarships through the Oregon Opportunity Grant program. The scholarships are up to $2,000 per student per year.

Proponents of the bill argue that those eligible, who’ve often spent much of their life in this country, face an unfair disadvantage in paying for college, because they aren’t eligible for subsidized federal student loans or most public scholarship programs.

“The lack of access to any kind of financial aid is a real barrier for these students,” said Sen. Michael Dembrow, a Portland Democrat who spearheaded the initial “tuition equity” policy and is a chief sponsor on SB 932.

“The Opportunity Grant program was designed for precisely this type of student: low-income, first-generation college attendee,” he said. “These students are Oregonians like everyone else.”

But the proposal comes at a tricky time for majority Democrats. Last November, Oregon voters thrashed, by a 2-to-1 ratio, a proposal to grant short-term driving licenses to illegal immigrants. Lawmakers had passed that measure in 2013 with bipartisan support.

Advocates at Oregonians for Immigration Reform, a group that fought that measure, have been caught off guard by SB 932.

“When legislators passed (the “tuition equity” bill) they said repeatedly that it wouldn’t allow these students to receive government financial aid,” said Jim Ludwick, a spokesman for the group. “Two years later, we’re going right back on it.”

The new proposal is also controversial because the Oregon Opportunity Grant program, the state’s primary college aid spending, has been woefully underfunded recently. Only around 20 percent of eligible students received the grants this year, essentially on a “first-come-first-served” basis.

To address that, lawmakers are proposing to bolster state funding for the grant program by around $30 million in the next two-year budget cycle, about a 25 percent increase.

But regardless, Ludwick said, passage of SB 932 would mean that “citizens will be competing against illegal aliens for these scholarships.”

“When you have such a resounding vote (on the driving license measure), with 35 out of 36 counties opposing it, it means that the vast majority of citizens don’t want special benefits for illegal immigrants,” he said. “I don’t think you could see it any other way.”

Dembrow countered that SB 932 and the drivers’ card vote as two “separate issues.”

“People understand who these students are,” he said. “They’ve grown up here, they’ve gone to our high schools ... Students from out-of-state can live in Oregon for one year and be eligible (for an opportunity grant). These students aren’t.”

The Oregon Opportunity Grant program doled out $58 million this school year to 35,000 students at eligible private and public Oregon community college and universities. Students’ families must have a gross income under $70,000 annually to be eligible. Students received a maximum of $2,000 this year.

Maria Saldana, a high school senior from Salem who has received federal deferred immigration status, was one of several students who urged lawmakers to approve SB 932 at a public hearing last month.

“I panicked when I realized that all my plans of paying for college with need-based financial aid, scholarships and even student loans would automatically be eliminated” because of her status, she said. “It is stressful knowing that I do not qualify for a lot of the help that my peers do.”
The number of students who have received in-state tuition rates in Oregon because the initial “tuition equity” bill, is “overwhelmingly small,” said Rep. Jessica Vega-Pederson, a Portland Democrat, at the hearing.

Thirty-two students used the program in the 2013-14 school year. An estimated 76 students used it in the 2014-15 fall term. Legislative analysts expect the number to grow.

Vega-Pederson also noted that six other states, including Washington State and California, allow illegal-immigrant “tuition equity” students to access state financial aid.

SB 932 also would make a couple of minor changes to the 2013 “tuition equity” law. It would remove the requirement that an illegal-immigrant student would have to start college within three years of high school graduation be eligible for in-state tuition. A requirement that they complete a college degree in five years would also be eliminated.

The bill appears to have some traction.

The Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee approved it on a party-line vote this week, sending it to the Legislature’s budget committee.

The bill also has one powerful sponsor: Senate President Peter Courtney, a Salem Democrat. Courtney was unavailable to comment on the bill this week.

Sen. Tim Knopp, a Bend Republican who voted “no” on SB 932 in committee, said he believes that the federal government needs “to act on immigration and secure our border.”

“Having states provide additional benefits to undocumented immigrants sends the wrong message to others that might wish to come to the U.S.,” he said.

“This bill has been portrayed as not being very costly,” Knopp added. “But if it costs a citizen the opportunity to receive their grant, that should be concerning to everyone.”

If SB 932 passed in its current form, the measure couldn’t be referred to voters, like the drivers’ license measure was. That’s because lawmakers have included an “emergency clause” in the bill, which means it would go into effect immediately on passage. Without an emergency clause, opponents would have the normal 90 days to collect the necessary signatures to refer the policy to voters at the next general election.

Dembrow said the emergency clause was included in SB 932 because he wants “tuition equity” students to be able to access opportunity grants in the coming school year.

But Ludwick said the bill clearly doesn’t address an actual emergency. The clause is being used to block a referral to voters, he said, as lawmakers often do with controversial bills.

“It’s clear that the framers of our Constitution wanted citizens to have a right to refer laws” to a public vote, he said. “The Legislature wants to deny citizens that right to the referral process.”
  Read more about Controversial Oregon bill would give state college aid to illegal immigrants