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— Awards:
Hobbies or Special Talents:
Horseback riding, hiking
Priority Issues:
Kate Brown is committed to continuing to move Oregon forward. In the next two years, she plans to:
*Continue to change the way Salem operates, by giving Oregonians the ability to impeach elected officials, including the governor, who breach public trust.
1. Abortions should always be legally available.
- X
2. Abortions should be legally available when the procedure is completed within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should be legal only when the pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, or when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal only when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
6. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and parental notification requirements.
- No Answer
7. Should Oregon government funding be provided to clinics and medical facilities that provide abortion services?
- No Answer
1. Oregon government should prosecute cases of discrimination in the public and private sector.
- X
2. Oregon government should provide no affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
3. Specific, adjustable percentages of contracts for state work should be awarded to minority or woman-owned businesses.
- X
4. Do you believe that Oregon government should recognize same-sex marriages?
- Yes
5. Do you think sexual orientation should be added to Oregon's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes
1. Increase state funding for programs to prevent teen pregnancy.
- X
2. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
- X
3. Deny or suspend state-issued permits and licenses to parents who are delinquent in paying court-ordered child support.
- X
1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer
2. Expand and promote "community policing" programs.
- X
3. Support "truth in sentencing" for violent criminals so they serve their full sentences with no chance of parole.
- No Answer
4. Expand the use of the death penalty for additional circumstances relating to murder.
- No Answer
5. Oppose the death penalty.
- X
6. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X
7. Require mandatory life sentences for third-time, violent felons as set forth by Measure 11 in 1994.
- No Answer
8. Inform communities when a convicted sex offender moves into the community.
- X
9. Increase state funds for programs which rehabilitate and educate inmates during and after their prison sentences.
- X
10. Decriminalize the possession and private use of certain illegal drugs such as marijuana.
- No Answer
11. Strengthen penalties and sentences associated with drug-related crimes.
- No Answer
12. Implement chain gangs in which prison inmates work together in chained work groups.
- No Answer
13. Support contracting with private sector firms to manage state prisons.
- No Answer
14. Increase state funds for hiring more police officers.
- X
15. Limit the number of appeals allowed for inmates on death row.
- No Answer
16. Incarcerate prisoners serving less than one year in county jails, rather than the state prison system.
- X
1. Prosecute juveniles who commit murder or other serious violent crimes as adults.
- X
2. Provide state funding for military-style "boot-camps" for juvenile first-time felons.
- X
3. Increase state funding for local community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- X
4. Support state government funding of programs for at-risk youth such as guaranteed college loans and job training and placement.
- X
5. Provide funding for communities to combat gang violence through juvenile correction, domestic violence, and drug abuse prevention/treatment programs.
- X
6. Allow courts to hold parents accountable for a minor child who commits a crime.
- X
1. Increase state funds for improving the state's transportation system, including major roadways, railways, and airports.
- X
2. Provide low-interest loans and tax credits for expanding, start-up or relocating businesses.
- X
3. Expand legalized gambling (e.g. video poker, slot machines).
- No Answer
4. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- No Answer
5. Remove state government controls or caps from wages, prices, rents, profits, production, and interest rates.
- No Answer
6. Support limits on cash damages in lawsuits against businesses and professionals for product liability or malpractice.
- No Answer
7. Increase state funding for programs to re-train unemployed workers.
- X
8. Fund construction of a North-South light rail transportation system for Portland.
- X
9. Extend state-funded unemployment benefits.
- No Answer
10. Support the elimination of the state lottery in Oregon.
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for professional development and salaries of public school faculty.
- No Answer
2. Endorse teacher-led voluntary school prayer in public schools.
- No Answer
3. Encourage private or corporate investment in certain public school programs.
- X
4. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious, technical).
- No Answer
5. Implement charter schools where teachers and other professionals receive state authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- No Answer
6. Require the use of state-wide achievement standards for all state public schools.
- X
7. Emphasize local control of education as long as the school district meets state health and safety standards.
- X
8. Support sex education programs which stress abstinence.
- X
9. Support sex education programs which stress safe sexual practices.
- X
10. Support allocating more state education funding to Oregon's lowest-wealth districts and less to the highest-wealth districts.
- X
11. Increase state funds for higher education.
- X
12. Increase tuition at state colleges and universities to fund higher education.
- No Answer
13. Support legislation which would allow voters in local school districts to vote to raise property taxes to fund schools.
- No Answer
14. Support the school funding system set in place by Measure 5 which places a $5 per $1000 limit on local property tax funding for schools.
- No Answer
15. Support an amendment to Measure 5 which would allow more money from local property taxes to be allocated to schools.
- X
1. Enact tougher environmental standards to encourage the sale of cleaner burning fuels throughout Oregon.
- X
2. Support "self-audit" legislation which creates incentives for polluting industries to audit themselves and clean up pollution.
- X
3. Require a cost/benefit analysis be completed to determine the economic impact of proposed environmental regulations before they are implemented.
- No Answer
4. Require the state to reimburse citizens when environmental regulations limit the use of privately owned land.
- No Answer
5. Continue to provide funding for recycling programs in Oregon.
- X
6. Request flexibility from the federal government in enforcing and funding federal environmental regulations.
- X
7. Suspend Oregon's participation in unfunded, federally mandated environmental protection legislation.
- No Answer
8. Maintain minimum environmental quality as mandated by current federal regulations.
- No Answer
9. Increase state taxes on gasoline to promote conservation and alternative fuel development.
- No Answer
10. Provide financial and technical assistance to localities to assist them in watershed planning.
- X
11. Support flow augmentations and reservoir drawdowns as measures to promote recovery of the salmon population.
- X
12. The Endangered Species Act should continue to rely on regulations that require property owners to protect threatened plants and animals on their land.
- X
13. The Endangered Species Act should be amended to rely on incentives to encourage property owners to protect threatened plants and animals on their land.
- No Answer
14. Expand the bottle bill to cover more types of containers.
- X
15. Do you support initiatives which would allow cities to expand their boundaries by modifying "Urban Growth Boundaries"?
- Undecided
1. State Senators (8 years, to take effect in 2002)
- No
2. State Representatives (6 years, to take effect in 1998)
- No
3. Governors (limited to eight out of every twelve years)
- Yes
4. Do you support amending the U.S. Constitution to require an annual balanced federal budget?
- No
5. Do you support requiring limits on individual contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes
6. Do you support requiring limits on PAC contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes
7. Do you support requiring limits on corporate contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes
8. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
9. Do you support imposing spending limits on political campaigns?
- Yes
10. Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
- Yes
11. Do you support conducting state elections by mail-in ballot?
- Yes
1. Support expanding the nationwide federal ban on the public sale of assault weapons to include all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
- No Answer
2. Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
- No Answer
3. Maintain all state registration procedures and state restrictions on possessing firearms.
- No Answer
4. Ease state procedures and restrictions on the purchase and registration of firearms.
- No Answer
5. Repeal all state bans and measures that restrict law-abiding citizens from obtaining firearms.
- No Answer
6. Allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms.
- No Answer
1. Expand state funding for pre-natal and infant care programs available in the state, including immunizations.
- X
2. Provide tax incentives to assist small businesses in providing health care to their employees.
- X
3. Ensure that Oregon citizens have access to basic health care, through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- X
4. Guaranteeing medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer
5. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
6. Support a "managed competition" health care plan that does not include mandated health alliances, government cost control powers, or employer/employee mandates.
- No Answer
7. Provide state assistance to seniors and the disabled in having access to home and community-based health care.
- X
8. Continue the Oregon Health Plan which ensures state-funded basic health care to Oregon citizens.
- X
9. Support legislation requiring health insurance providers to cover alternative medical care (e.g. chiropractors, herbalists).
- X
10. Do you believe that terminally ill individuals should have the right to end their life?
- Yes
1. Abortion
- Maintain Status
2. Affirmative Action
- Slightly Increase
3. Agriculture
- Maintain Status
4. AIDS Programs
- Slightly Increase
5. Education
- Slightly Increase
6. Environment
- Slightly Increase
7. Health care
- Slightly Increase
8. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status
9. Welfare
- Maintain Status
1. Alcohol Taxes
- Greatly Increase
2. Business Taxes
- Slightly Increase
3. Capital gains taxes
- Maintain Status
4. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase
5. Income Taxes (incomes less than $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease
6. Income Taxes (incomes greater than $75,000)
- Slightly Increase
7. Property taxes
- Maintain Status
8. State Fees
- Maintain Status
9. Do you support a flat tax structure for state income taxes?
- No
10. Do you support implementing a sales tax in Oregon to fund Oregon schools?
- No
1. Increase state funding for child care services to welfare recipients who work or attend school.
- X
2. Continue to allow Medicaid-eligible welfare recipients with small children to work and receive state-funded health care until they become self-sufficient.
- X
3. Continue to require that able-bodied welfare recipients receive job training, attend school, or work in order to receive welfare benefits.
- X
4. Support the "Jobs Plus" requirement that unwed mothers under the age of 18 attend school and live with a parent or guardian (if possible) to receive welfare benefits.
- No Answer
5. Limit the welfare benefits given to recipients if they have additional children.
- No Answer
6. Provide two-parent families living in poverty the same welfare benefits as one-parent families.
- No Answer
7. Eliminate government-funded welfare and advocate privately-funded assistance to people in need.
- No Answer
8. Maintain Oregon's maximum two (out of every four) year limit on welfare benefits for recipients who are able to work.
- No Answer
9. Require mothers to identify their child(ren)'s father in order to receive welfare benefits.
- X
Explain what your two main legislative priorities will be if elected to the Oregon Legislative Assembly. If any of your priorities will require additional government funding, explain how you intend to obtain the additional funding.
- My legislative agenda includes legislation that prohibits discrimination in insurance coverage for the mentally ill; complete funding for effective drug and alcohol treatment programs by increasing the beer/wine tax, passage of the Children's Justice Act, a package of bills designed to ensure the health and safety of Oregon's children.
By Kate Brown and Jay Inslee Brown is governor of Oregon. Inslee is governor of Washington. The only stoplight on Interstate 5 between Canada and Mexico is on the bridge over the Columbia River. As the governors of Washington and Oregon, we know that for too long the antiquated bridge has held our region back, literally and figuratively. More than 138,000 vehicles cross the I-5 bridge each weekday. People travel between Vancouver and Portland for work, recreation, shopping, and visiting friends and family. The bridge's importance to the entire region and our connectivity cannot be overstated. This crucial link has become a major congestion point, and instead of moving the entire region full speed ahead, the bridge has become a symbol of traffic and frustration. Congestion can be so severe during morning and evening commutes that speeds on this interstate highway can be reduced to 15 miles per hour. We've been stuck behind the traffic accidents -- the rate of which quadruple during bridge lifts -- and stuck behind one of our country's worst freight bottlenecks that constrains the economy. We've been stuck with insufficient high-capacity transit and active transportation options even as our population centers grow. And we've been stuck behind a century-old structure built on river sand that's susceptible to damage in even moderate earthquakes. None of that benefits Oregonians, Washingtonians, and the millions of people who drive this stretch of highway every year. For safety, traffic relief and jobs, we are recommitting to replacing the I-5 bridge. We are dedicating $44 million dollars to reopen a project office and begin a transparent, data-driven process that builds on previous work and truly listens to the community's needs. We never stopped fighting for this bridge and much has been accomplished in recent years. In 2015, we secured over $98 million for key infrastructure like the I-5/Mill Plain Boulevard interchange that's an integral piece of the project. In 2017, we re-established a baseline of planning information to help move the project forward. And this year, we secured an important extension from the federal government to keep our funding options open. Share your opinionSubmit your essay of 500-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.Through our renewed efforts, both Washington and Oregon will save money by using some of the technical planning work from the previous project. This includes using or updating geotechnical evaluations, pile-drive tests, and foundation work, as well as archeological and historic property studies. We've jointly instructed our departments of transportation to assign dedicated staff to establish the program office and keep the work on track to meet important milestones. As these efforts are vital to the entire region, we will engage the public at every step in the process. We have an obligation to not just share accurate and timely information, but also listen to community ideas and concerns. We are committed to public engagement through neighborhood meetings, open houses, public festivals, and community group presentations. Regular updates will also be available on the project website, and through email and social media. We've worked hard to align our states for a restart of this project, and we're encouraged that leaders in Washington and Oregon have expressed an interest in coming back to the table, including a new joint legislative action committee. Leadership requires the humility to listen and the courage to act, and these lawmakers are helping us think through foundational principles important to both sides of the river. As we take this next step, we encourage the community to join us in giving this bridge the green light it needs to move the entire region forward.
On February 12, Brown issued a statement regarding rumors that Kitzhaber would resign from office: “ Late Tuesday afternoon, I received a call from the Governor while I was in Washington, DC at a Secretaries of State conference. He asked me to come back to Oregon as soon as possible to speak with him in person and alone. I got on a plane yesterday morning and arrived at 3:40 in the afternoon. I was escorted directly into a meeting with the Governor. It was a brief meeting. He asked me why I came back early from Washington, DC, which I found strange. I asked him what he wanted to talk about. The Governor told me he was not resigning, after which, he began a discussion about transition. This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation. I informed the Governor that I am ready, and my staff will be ready, should he resign. Right now I am focused on doing my job for the people of Oregon. ” —The Oregonian, (2015) Candidate sues Brown over changed election date (2012) In her role as secretary of state, Brown was involved in a court case that centered on an altered election date. Bruce Starr (R), candidate for commissioner of labor and industries, accused Brown of moving the date to improve the incumbent's chances out of party favoritism. He demanded the decision to push the election to November be reversed and that the election occur in May. In March 2012, Starr filed suit in Marion County Circuit Court against Brown, claiming that she had failed to inform all parties involved in the race of the correct election date. The race was moved from May to November, something candidate Starr said he was not made aware of until 10 days after the filing deadline. The suit contended that both of the candidates in the race had been operating under the assumption that the election was to be held in May when it was in fact scheduled to coincide with the other statewide office elections in November. Starr claimed he learned of the change only because one of his campaign staffers made a routine call to the Elections Division, and the incumbent, Brad Avakian, found out in a similar fashion. Brown responded by citing a bill passed by the legislature in 2009 that addressed the matter of the election cycle of the office in question, arguing that it had been explicit in laying out the election date. Starr's request was eventually denied.
In her role as secretary of state, Brown was involved in a court case that centered on an altered election date. Bruce Starr (R), candidate for commissioner of labor and industries, accused Brown of moving the date to improve the incumbent's chances out of party favoritism. He demanded the decision to push the election to November be reversed and that the election occur in May. In March 2012, Starr filed suit in Marion County Circuit Court against Brown, claiming that she had failed to inform all parties involved in the race of the correct election date. The race was moved from May to November, something candidate Starr said he was not made aware of until 10 days after the filing deadline. The suit contended that both of the candidates in the race had been operating under the assumption that the election was to be held in May when it was in fact scheduled to coincide with the other statewide office elections in November. Starr claimed he learned of the change only because one of his campaign staffers made a routine call to the Elections Division, and the incumbent, Brad Avakian, found out in a similar fashion. Brown responded by citing a bill passed by the legislature in 2009 that addressed the matter of the election cycle of the office in question, arguing that it had been explicit in laying out the election date. Starr's request was eventually denied.
