Lawmakers advance contentious bill to reset child abuse rules on party line vote

Lawmakers on Wednesday advanced

a bill

that would loosen Oregon’s standards for when restraining a child is considered abuse and again allow the Department of Human Services to send foster youth out of state for treatment.

House Bill 3835

is among the most complicated and contentious pieces of legislation circulating in Salem this year. It is backed by state leaders and child caring agencies who argue that Oregon’s current regulations have made it hard to retain staff or secure necessary mental health and medical care for foster children. It is hotly contested by advocates for those children who argue the expansive and technical bill goes too far, walking back regulations that protect vulnerable kids from child abuse. The bill is sponsored by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – and also opposed by lawmakers on both sides.

The House Rules Committee first heard testimony on the bill last month, after the House Committee on Early Childhood and Human Services moved it to that committee for more vetting.

On Wednesday, the Rules Committee voted along party lines to

adopt an amendment

proposed by bill sponsor Rep. Rob Nosse, a Portland Democrat, and to advance the measure to the Legislature’s budget committee, despite concerns raised by the Democratic chairs of both the House and Senate human services committees and opposition from House Republicans.

In an email Wednesday morning, Democratic Rep. and House Human Services Chair Annessa Hartman of Gladstone told Rules Committee members that a multitude of questions she’d raised about the bill’s impacts have gone unanswered. She called it “disrespectful” and “disappointing” to be ignored.

The bill doesn’t significantly impact the state’s ability to support children in their communities or improve holistic support, Hartman said: “It simply loosens regulations on an outdated residential system that this state has known was inadequate to meet the needs of our kids for over a decade.”

Rep. Lucetta Elmer, a McMinnville Republican, said Wednesday that she’d been leaning toward a yes vote on the bill but was hung up on the vastness of the far-reaching, 100-page amendment and concerned about the number of questions left unanswered.

Despite feeling sick to her stomach about the thought of failing to “move the needle” for Oregon’s foster youth, Elmer said, she voted against advancing the bill. It needed more conversation, she said, and she fears it might have unintended consequences for children.

“We need to do something. These kids don’t have a voice – or one that’s not being heard,” Elmer said. “Our system is broken.”

Elmer was joined by House Republican Leader Christine Drazan from Canby and Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis from Albany in voting against the bill. Drazan said the bill felt tailored to protect state systems and bureaucracies instead of centering the experiences of kids.

“I’m not willing to make a trade-off that puts kids in harm’s way for the convenience of anyone,” Drazan told The Oregonian/OregonLive in May before she’d decided how to vote on the bill. “If this bill allows us to move forward and streamline systems without putting kids at risk, then that’s something worth doing. And if there’s a chance that it’s not, that it’s just the agency meeting its own needs, then it’s not something that we should support.”

Democrats said they were advancing the bill because something has to change in Oregon’s care for youth. They’re frustrated with the state’s reliance on placing children in hotels when the child welfare agency can’t find a better place for them and a lack of services for children even as their behavioral health needs escalate.

Rep. Hai Pham, a Hillsboro Democrat,


said he’s been involved with government efforts to expand behavioral health access for youth for seven years and things have only gotten worse. He sees HB 3835 as an opportunity to move the needle and hopefully reverse the trend.

“These kids need help. The status quo is not working. We need to do something,” Pham said. “If we do nothing, kids are going to continue to be harmed.”

Democratic Reps. Andrea Valderrama of Portland, Jason Kropf of Bend and House Majority Leader Ben Bowman of Tigard joined Pham in support of the bill. Valderrama said Oregon can’t afford to lose behavioral health workers or health facilities. She said she was optimistic the bill would help prevent temporary lodging and improve access to treatment for children of color and children with severe behavioral health needs. Kropf, an attorney who is familiar with Oregon’s delinquency system, said the bill will allow behavioral health providers to expand services and offer more care for kids who need it.

“I think this is a step forward,” Kropf said.

Sami Edge covers higher education and politics for The Oregonian. You can reach her at


sedge@oregonian.com


or (503) 260-3430.

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