Legislative Efforts

Many important improvements we can make for our members are not accomplished through collective bargaining alone. They require changing Oregon law.

Over the last 4 years, we’ve had several successes during session.

In 2014, legislation allowed Oregon State Police Sergeants to become members of our bargaining unit. However, that authorization was temporary and scheduled to expire. Rather than wait until the deadline approached, we addressed the issue proactively.

In 2023, I testified before the Oregon Legislature in support of Senate Bill 194, which permanently protected the ability of OSP Sergeants to remain represented by OSPOA. The legislation passed, eliminating the uncertainty surrounding their continued membership. OSP Sergeants were the first Sergeants in the state to be allowed in a union. Two years later, other agencies were successful by following our model, but it was OSPOA that blazed this trail.

Another major legislative priority was improving retirement benefits for our Forensic Scientists and Evidence Technicians. These employees perform important public safety functions but historically did not receive the same Police and Firefighter retirement classification as sworn personnel.

We pursued legislation to correct that inequity. At the same time, AFSCME was pursuing similar retirement improvements for Dispatchers as well as other workers. Ultimately, those efforts were combined into House Bill 4045, which passed in 2024.

The legislation granted qualifying OSP Forensic Scientists and Evidence Technicians Police and Firefighter retirement classification beginning in 2025. It also established a Hazardous Position retirement classification covering 911 telecommunicators, scheduled to take effect in 2030. Additionally, the bill reduced the normal retirement age for certain OPSRP Police and Firefighter employees from 60 to 55.

We also worked to improve how overtime is recognized in OPSRP retirement calculations. Previously, approximately 100 hours of annual overtime could be credited toward a member's final average salary. Our legislative efforts sought to increase that amount to 600 hours annually.

This matters because overtime can represent a substantial portion of a member's earnings. How those earnings are recognized can significantly affect retirement income over the remainder of someone's life. Our bill to address this technically failed in the legislature, but only because we were able to pressure DAS to agree to raise our overtime cap from 100 hours per year to 600 hours per year.

In 2025, we supported Senate Bill 588, which improved disability retirement protections for Police and Firefighter employees.

Previously, an employee could be denied disability retirement because they were considered capable of performing another type of employment, even when they could no longer perform their public safety duties. The legislation changed that standard to focus on whether the employee can perform the work they were doing when they became disabled. It also established deadlines for referring disputed disability determinations to hearings.

Under current PERS rules, OPSRP members are not eligible for retirement until they’ve both completed 25 years of service and also have reached the age of 53. This is for the Police and Fire classification. In addition, a person is required to REMAIN in Police & Fire for the last 60 months of their career. Current rules also require a person to begin receiving retirement benefits immediately after retiring.

That means if you were hired in your early 20s usually you would have to work well beyond the 25 years while waiting to reach age 53, effectively turning a 25 year career to a 30+ year career.

Our goal is to allow these members to complete 25 years of service, pursue another career or opportunity, and begin collecting their Police and Firefighter retirement benefit once they reach age 53.

We began pursuing this change in 2023 but have not yet secured its passage. We have legislation drafted to continue this effort during the 2027 legislative session. We've received encouraging indications of support, but there is still work to do.

Not every legislative objective can be accomplished in a single session. Some require years of persistence, negotiation, and cooperation with other organizations.

These accomplishments weren't achieved by one person. They required the involvement of legislators, other labor organizations, OSPOA members, and Association leadership.

But I believe the record demonstrates that OSPOA has been an active participant in shaping laws that directly affect our members' careers and retirement security.

My commitment moving forward would be very similar: finding new ways for our legislative efforts to benefit our members.