OSEA is forging forward from the 2023 legislative wins to make a big impact ahead of the 2024 legislative session through the Incident Reporting Legislative Workgroup. We are fighting to increase access to incident report forms for all education employees so that the state better understands how often classified staff are hurt while supporting our students.
Our member advocacy is pushing this progress – the workgroup was convened after OSEA members shared their Work Shouldn’t Hurt stories throughout the 2023 session. The workgroup, comprised of legislators, agency representatives and other stakeholders, is exploring policy proposals to better support education professionals and has met throughout the fall.
OSEA Government Relations Specialist Susan Allen relayed key themes from many OSEA member stories to describe the barriers to accessing incident forms and gaps in the current safety committee processes while explaining how they have led to the underreporting of incidents throughout Oregon.
During the last November meeting, Senate Education Committee Chair Michael Dembrow indicated that he is interested in fixing the flaws in the current system during the February 2024 legislative session. He said he’s open to a bill that would task agency staff to develop a plan for an online form that would allow the state access to the incident report information while keeping the individual staff and student information anonymous.
"The work group discussion has been enlightening," said workgroup co-Chair Representative Ben Bowman. "I’m very optimistic we can come to a solution. Increasing access to a simple and accessible reporting form for all education staff is a critical step that will help policymakers make better decisions. This will help us improve safety conditions in our worksites while advancing educational experiences for all students.”
There will be two more meetings of the workgroup in December and January. We will continue to update you on this group’s progress.
If you want to learn more and be the first to hear about opportunities to give testimony on this important process, sign up for GRUP (Government Relations Update)!