Three Democratic lawmakers announced on Monday that they would not be seeking reelection. The cause? They can’t afford to serve.
Reps. Karin Power, Rachel Prusak, and Anna Williams – an attorney, nurse practitioner, and social worker, respectively – have found that Oregon’s state legislative positions don’t really pay well enough to constitute their workload.
The Legislature, while technically a part-time job, pays roughly $33,000 per year in Oregon. Members meet every February in sessions that can last no longer than 160 days in odd-numbered years, and 35 days in even-numbered years. However, special sessions have become increasingly common in recent years, forcing lawmakers to return to Salem more regularly.
This, in combination with a state of citizens who need help year-round, has caused an issue. The state’s grown, as has its budgetary and policy demands – yet the salaries for lawmakers haven’t changed.
The three women wrote a combined resignation letter, saying, “Balancing our work, multiple day jobs, families and our service has become unsustainable. How much of a check on power can we be if we earn a base salary of less than $33,000 a year? How can we adequately oversee a state budget of more than $25 billion, with dozens of different state agencies?”
The diversity that the three legislators bring to the table is vital to the decisions that are being made for Oregonians every year.
On Monday, Power brought her child to the House floor. She spoke on behalf of a measure to address the childcare workforce shortage in Oregon – all while holding her 18-month-old son.
“We’re working on these because these are our families, they are our friends, we’re right there in that time of our lives where it’s a lot to balance,” Power said. “… I and my wife have lived out what everyone is living out right now … It’s duct-tape, holding it together.”
She later noted that women have been forced out of the workforce due to the pandemic in alarming numbers, often due to a need to prioritize their families.
“I think we’re picking this up on a state-by-state level because we’re electing younger people who are living through this right now,” Powers told OPB. “I’m so tired after the last two years of doing work while taking care of my kids at home and I’m also so grateful for my childcare providers.”
In their letter, Power, Prusak, and Williams also addressed the issue of equality, saying, “We continue to perpetuate systems that leave Black, Indigenous, Latinx and women legislators behind. Most people cannot afford to even consider this job … If this system is built for the financially well-off or the retired, will it ever work for you?”
And it’s not just these three women who are feeling the impact of this job. Rep. Ricki Ruiz, a Gresham Democrat, is also struggling. Ruiz just had a new child after getting his “dream job” – being an Oregon Representative. Despite a second job working with the Parks Department in Gresham, the 27-year-old has had to move in with his in-laws to make ends meet.
Ruiz said, “The way the Oregon Legislature was built, it was made for us not to be here in the first place. We are proving that we can make it … But we can barely make it.”
It may be time to ask the Legislation the same question that Power, Prusak, and Williams asked in their resignation, “What interests does this current structure serve?”
By Ethan Hauck
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com