For the past few years,
many people working for the state
of Oregon who can do their jobs
from home or really from anywhere,
have lived outside the state of Oregon.
That's not likely to change anytime
soon for most of those workers,
but what is changing is that they will
soon have to pay their own way to come
back if they need to return to the
office for a meeting or for training.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced
that yesterday workers will no longer be
reimbursed for their travel expenses.
If they work remotely,
the change goes into effect in September.
That's nearly a year after Willamette
Week first reported on the policy.
Back in August of last year,
they broke the story that the state
was paying thousands of dollars to
bring workers back for meetings.
Some workers live close by,
maybe just over the border in Washington.
But we also found when we dug into it,
others live as far away as Florida
and New York.
The policy started during the
pandemic because so many workers had
moved away while they were working
remotely and in a tight labor market.
State officials said.
Well, allowing workers to be remote
was important for keeping them,
and well,
they told them that they'd pay for their
travel back to the office because again,
they wanted to keep them.
Now some workers are living
in states with no income tax,
and when they need to come back to Oregon,
you, the taxpayer,
including right now,
are paying for their flights or their trips.
Our research found about 300
workers in far-flung states,
including Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas,
New Mexico and a whole bunch more.
We also found state agencies that
paid at least $35,000 to bring
remote workers back to Oregon.
I know it's not a huge number when
you're thinking about a state
budget that's like $32 billion,
but plenty of people on both sides of
the aisle said that's a bunch of baloney.
It's time to change that policy.
Senate Bill 853 was introduced this
session by the Senate Minority Leader,
Republican Tim Konope.
The bill had bipartisan support.
Konope actually called it the
sessions most bipartisan bill,
and he may have been right.
It sailed right through the Senate,
approved unanimously.
Well,
actually it sailed through after
they fixed the things the Union
did not like about it.
But here's what he told us earlier this
year after the bill was first introduced.
There are. Every member of the Senate
wanting to make sure this policy
changes and we're going to work
to try to make sure that it does.
We have nearly half the House as
sponsors as well and I think people
recognize the inequity here and
that if this policy continues that
it will continue to be exploited
by more and more employees.
But before the house could work on it,
which was scheduled to happen today,
Governor Tina Kotek came out and
changed the policy on her own,
announcing the change yesterday afternoon.
We wanted to know why the change
policy now all of a sudden,
her office told us.
Well, the governor's reviewing
COVID area policies in the wind
down of the public health emergency.
Human resources policy making should be
flexible and responsive to workers needs
and the work environment at the moment.
Not exactly sure what all that means,
but it means she decided,
and that's the way it is.
So it looks like now Senate Bill 853 is dead.
Today's public hearing was
pulled off the calendar,
but Senator Kanope said he
is grateful for the change.
He told us I appreciate the governor
joining us in our effort to end
this unfair and wasteful policy.
And on the House side,
Republican leader representative
Vicki Breese Iverson told us.
Senate Bill 853A highlighted and
necessary fix to a wasteful policy.
I'm pleased the governor took
action in response to the concern
raised by this bipartisan bill and
practiced fiscal responsibility.
This decision is not only necessary,
but good for Oregon.
And here's my opinion on all this.
The governor does deserve credit and
appreciation from US taxpayers for
stopping the ridiculous practice,
as the Treasurer, Tobias Reed,
told me months ago.
If you want to live in another
state other than Oregon and work
for the state of Oregon,
Okay,
but don't expect us to pay for it
when you need to get back for a meeting.
Governor Kotek showed decisive
action and bold leadership.
I can't imagine it made her
many friends in the unions,
probably didn't make them all that happy.
But then again,
even the Union Leader said they
didn't think it was much of an issue,
so maybe it did not impact many
of them regardless.
If we're going to hammer the
governor and others for doing things
that we think are kind of dumb,
then we need to heap praise on
them when they do something that
we think is really smart.
Telling employees they have to pay to
return to Oregon from their distant
states is a smart thing to do.