RED ALERT!! BANK ROBBERY BILL!!!! PLEASE RE-POST ON ANY AND ALL OMMA PATIENT LISTS!!! EMERGENCY!!! There has been a terrible bill passed by ways and means on Tuesday, HB 5077 which takes $900,000 from OMMP bank account and puts into general fund. This will bankrupt the program and eliminate any chance of anything in 772 which requires OMMP expenditures to fail -AND / OR- it will force a fee raise. Summary: Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5). Presession filed. (at the request of Budget and Management Division, Oregon Department of Administrative Services) -- Relating to state financial administration; appropriating money; declaring an emergency. Stealing these funds is a short sighted solution to a budget shortfall. In the long run, this will require the program to seek operating expense money from the general fund. What was a self sufficient program will become a drain on the taxpayers. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS NOW!! KILL HB 5077 - THIS IS NO JOKE!! Make sure everyone in that building gets piles of messages – We, the people, are all screwed if this passes. STEALING MONEY FROM SICK PEOPLE, CRIPPLED PEOPLE AND DYING PEOPLE IS CRIMINAL. ACT NOW!! CALL, WRITE, EMAIL POLITE FORCEFUL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE NOW!! Contacts: Use these links help with contacting state reps: (Find Your Legislator) (write your legislator) For example: Senate President Senator Peter Courtney (D) D-Salem/ Gervais/Woodburn District: 11 900 Court St. NE S-203 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1600 FAX: 503-986-1004 eMail: courtney.sen@state.or.us or Human Services Subcommittee Members. Such as: Senator Laurie Monnes-Anderson (D) District 25 Capitol Phone: 503-986-1725 Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-310 Salem, OR 97301 E-Mail: sen.lauriemonnes-anderson@state.or.us Senator Alan Bates District 3 Capitol Phone: 503-986-1703 Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-305 Salem, OR 97301 E-Mail: sen.alanbates@state.or.us Or Patient friendly - Senator Bill Morrisette (D) District 6 Capitol Phone: 503-986-1706 Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-306 Salem, OR 97301 E-Mail: sen.billmorrisette@state.or.us Status: HB 5077 is scheduled for a vote on the house floor next week early, but will likely get up later due to carryovers from the previous days. There has been a request made of the Legislative Fiscal office for the analysis of the OMMP account which was used for HB5077. Further, the OMMP (Oregon Medical Marijuana Program) has been asked by Rep. Buckley for the details of how HB5077 affects what and when he gets them he will forward them to the activist community. We will post them as well as any other analysis of the HB5077 problem and we, the people, can have a better tool to explain things to our reps. Our real hope is to focus displeasure over that part so that we may get it reconsidered. it may pass the House as is and get amended in the Senate. There is a SLIM chance that it may get reconsidered in the House but it would require that the Speaker agree that the OMMP part is a problem. In the meantime, construct concerned letters to your reps (see below, Thanx to contributors!) over the weekend and we will pick it up again on Monday morning (5/23). ==== FAQS ==== Q: Is stealing the OMMP funds the only thing in the bill or is that one of many provisions designed to balance the budget? A: 5077 rebalances the entire DHS budget and OMMP funds are only a part of the reshuffle. Most folks in the building were not aware that 5077 did any specific thing other than shuffle funds - activists are fairly certain, for example, there was not an amendment which said "and we steal 900 G's from the marijuana guys" But it is specifically punishing this class of citizens none the less. Q: How did it get here? A: Regarding the time line of HB5077, it was introduced at the same time as most of the 5000 series budget bills and like them was blank- ------- HISTORY ------- 01/12 (H) First reading. Referred to Speaker's desk. 01/12 (H) Referred to Ways and Means. 05/05 (H) Assigned to Subcommittee On Human Services. 05/12 (H) Public Hearing held. 05/12 (H) Public Hearing and Work Session held. 05/12 (H) Returned to Full Committee. 05/17 (H) Work Session held. The flesh of budget bill only starts to be applied when the W+M committee starts work in earnest, which was in May. The events at the hearings can be found out about online. The first word of the contents to be of 5077 to an activist in the medical cannabis community on Tuesday 5/17 afternoon late and relayed the actions of the Ways and Means that day. Activists spent Wednesday on the phone with various legislative offices and staffers trying to track down where the bill really went. There was some confusion on Wednesday with Leg Fiscal Office mistakenly telling them it went back to the Speaker's desk for reassignment to the House Budget Committee. They initiated contacts with several folks on the committee including Rep March and Richardson. Thursday a.m. the activist community reps contacted the Legislative Reps again - which included Rep Buckley (a friendly) - who responded with a request for info on the fees and balance which was forwarded to OMMP for the info about noon. In early pm activists called the Speaker's office to track down HB5077 and found out it was scheduled for floor debate on Monday (5/23) probably but maybe later. Because of that, there was no chance to amend the bill in a committee before that action so the kill call was sent out. The Senate may provide a chance to amend, but it would take convincing Sen. Courtney to refer it to the Senate Budget committee. Then it would have to go to a reconciliation committee to make both bills agree - and we have little control over how that would occur - simplest way would be to simply eliminate any Senate amendment - and they like simple towards this end of the session. Otherwise it is going to take either a down vote or a veto to stop it. Activists have contacted several staffers in the Gov. K's office including the Human Resources advisor, the Legislative Liaison Office and the Gov's personal assistant and sent the exchange with Richardson. The reply back from Humans Resource advisor was that they were "aware of this bill and we have been tracking its progress)- a certainly neutral, factual answer. We will try to keep everyone posted as we find out more regarding their view of the affair. Details: The text of HB5077 is in PDF at: http://www.leg.state.or.us/05reg/measpdf/hb5000.dir/hb5077.intro.pdf or in html at: http://www.leg.state.or.us/05reg/measures/hb5000.dir/hb5077.intro.html More links to Text follows (see below). Note that it declares an emergency so that it can go into almost immediate effect. To find Bills ONLINE - Go Bills and Laws web page ( http://www.leg.state.or.us/cgi-bin/searchMeas.pl ), then to measure text, then to Search for Specific Measure Number. In this case type in hb 5700 where needed-bingo! Text link and history link-history is not up to date. TIP: All budget bills are numbered 5000+ -------- ANALYSIS -------- It means the demise of 24/7 and the demise of reduced fees. Stated differently, if this bill passes, we will lose the fee reduction and delay the implementation of 24/7. Make no mistake, this is war on the poorest and most dis-advantaged class of sick and dying people in Oregon. Ask your representative and senator to stop HB 5077. For what it is worth, in 2003 with 4700 patients we were able to make every call to some offices for some days be about last session's bad bill - HB2939. There are 10,000 of us now and if that building has anything but killing this on their mind after about Tuesday next, it better not be our fault. Call, write, email, visit and do it again. And again. Here are a couple of talking points. Others can add more and improve the language. 1. The large budget cash surplus is a managerial mistake made by a previous OMMP manager who recently left the program. Patients should not be penalized for an error by OMMP management. Patients should not be penalized by losing surplus fees to the general fund because OMMP delayed fee lowering thus allowing this large balance of patient fee money to accumulate. 2. After OMMP was reminded of the cash surplus by patients, a fee lowering finally began in January 2005 with plans to lower the cash balance to minimum necessary operating levels over 24 months. We are part-way through this process. In addition, money has been verbally budgeted toward a 24/7 OMMP stand-alone query-only permit verification network. Both OMMA advocates and law enforcement reached consensus that a 24/7 system is a good idea and have testified to this effect in the Senate. But, HB 5077 puts any consensus plans in jeopardy. In other words, it is unfair to transfer 90% (or any %) of patient fees temporarily residing in the cash balance to the general fund. Not only should this money be returned to patients and spent on patients through lower fees and better services but this "cash balance" is already spent. Any raid on this temporary surplus must be stopped and therefore HB 5077 should be voted down. MANY, Many thanx to those who contributed to this info! We beg for comments and any info any others may have. LTL (Letters-To-yer-Legislator) Examples - ------------ Dear Senator- In as much as hb 5077 will gut the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program bank account, and eliminate the ability of the program to provide functions now being written into possible statute in SB 772, its passage would be a great tragedy for those dependent upon the OMMP, as well as those in law enforcement who need certain likely provisions in SB 772. Please act on the clear knowledge of the damage to the OMMP which 5077 would inflict and refuse support for it. I look forward to hearing your feelings about this very concerning matter and would hope that you would join with the important effort to make sure, one way or another, that 5077 does not inflict this damage to this important program. Sincerely, Xxxxx Xxxx ------------ Dear Senator- I would ask that you review your view that OMMP patients are suffering mere heartburn. It is no exaggeration to say that passing 5077 in its current form will defund the OMMP and likely cause it to cease functioning. Such a thing will result in people who are crippled, severely ill or terminally ill being deprived of the program's protection and thus the ability to use the medicine which allows them to live and function. None of them are suffering heartburn. You will likely be in a position to understand more of the importance of this program to Oregonians over the next few days. Please listen to those people who will be contacting you and your colleagues soon. Their life depends on it. Sincerely, Xxxxx ------------- Dear Senator- Thank you for your hard work in trying to balance the state's budget. But is this true what I am hearing? Is the OMMP being raided to balance the budget? You should not let this happen. It will be taking funds from one of the only programs that has been paying its own way. HB 5077's grab at the OMMP funds will stop or delay the fee reduction that is planned to continue for the next two years and victimize some of Oregon's poorest citizens (a large number of patients on the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program exist on government disability checks). It will also delay or preclude from happening some of the changes that are in the works in SB 772 that are backed by both law enforcement and patients. Please reconsider this reassignment of funds. Patients should not be punished because other programs and departments are not as successful as the OMMP. Thank you for your time, Xxxxxx Xxxx NE Portland ------------ Dear Senator- I am writing in great concern about hb 5077, referred by Ways and Means yesterday to the speaker and eventually on to the budget committee and probably your subcommittee, thus this note. Fiscal office referred to this bill as the Human Resources Rebalance Bill and the part which concerns me, and every other registrant with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program is that is that it contemplates taking almost 900,000 dollars from the OMMP bank account (over 90% of it!) and putting it into the general fund. This money has accumulated in that account from the fees and only the fees paid by OMMP registrants to run the program. It was realized last year that the account surplus would allow a lower registration fee and a new fee was set which would allow, by the end of the next biennium, the balance to be reduced to a much more modest level as some of the balance was used up by costs. There are several planned uses for the remaining parts of this fund, some of which are being written into statute in SB 772 this session and these planned uses are crucial to the successful future operation of the OMMP. These funds are being counted on to fund these operations ! And if the bank balance is raided to any significant extent then these programs planned will not be funded, to the serious detriment of all parties concerned with the OMMP, law enforcement included. I do indeed realize that Oregon has a fiscal problem currently, but to attempt to solve it by stealing funds from sick, crippled and dying patients is appallingly inappropriate. These funds ARE NOT public funds and have never been in the general fund, but have been produced by OMMP registrants for the OMMP use. OMMP registrants have historically felt very protective of this program and its funds and will, I assure you be outraged at this yet not public news, and will certainly respond with a significantly attention getting manner if this effort goes anywhere but to the trash. I ask you sincerely to stop this bill and make a stand for fiscal responsibility and honorable action. When the people told the government to live within its means and not expect new taxes, it most certainly did not contemplate that the state would respond by stealing money which never belonged to it, from sick, crippled and dying persons to whom it does belong. I look forward to your response and help in stopping this bill. Please call if you have any questions. Sincerely, Xxxxx Xxxx 503-555-0420 Please email yours or enter in the Bulletin Board. Questions? Comments? Need some info? Got some info? E-Mail us or visit the Bulletin Board for further comments on this bill -or- to post your own. Link Summary: Visit online at http://mercycenters.org/legis/HB5077.html - For reference, tools, etc. such as: · The OMMP financial report as of 31 December 2004. It is in PDF and was scanned using updated Norton anti-virus. This may help you know what HB 5077 is targeting. Look for "Cash Balance Ending" at the bottom. And Text of the Bill in various formats. --------------------------------------- Text of the Bill ---------------- 73rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2005 Regular Session Note: For budget, see 2005-2007 Biennial Budget NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within { + braces and plus signs + } . LC 9077 House Bill 5077 Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5). Presession filed (at the request of Budget and Management Division, Oregon Department of Administrative Services) SUMMARY ======= The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's brief statement of the essential features of the measure as introduced. Appropriates moneys from General Fund to _______ for biennial expenses. Limits biennial expenditures from fees, moneys or other revenues, including Miscellaneous Receipts, but excluding lottery funds and federal funds, collected or received by _______. Limits biennial expenditures by _______ from federal funds. Declares emergency, effective July 1, 2005. A BILL FOR AN ACT Relating to state financial administration; appropriating money; limiting expenditures; and declaring an emergency. Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon: SECTION 1. { + There is appropriated to the _______, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2005, out of the General Fund, the amount of $_____ for ______. + } SECTION 2. { + Notwithstanding any other law limiting expenditures, the amount of $_____ is established for the biennium beginning July 1, 2005, as the maximum limit for payment of expenses from fees, moneys or other revenues, including Miscellaneous Receipts, but excluding lottery funds and federal funds, collected or received by the _______ for _______. + } SECTION 3. { + Notwithstanding any other law limiting expenditures, the amount of $_____ is established for the biennium beginning July 1, 2005, as the maximum limit for payment of expenses for _______ from federal funds collected or received by the _______. + } SECTION 4. { + This 2005 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2005 Act takes effect July 1, 2005. + } ----------