Legislation Sponsored by All 30 Senators, Bi-Partisan Support in House
SALEM, OR – Today, Representative Anna Scharf (R-Amity) joined Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) in sponsoring Senate Bill 853 to ban taxpayer dollars from funding out-of-state travel reimbursements for state workers. This legislation has been sponsored by all 30 Senators and has bi-partisan support in the House.
This policy states that “employees who work under the full-time remote work model must be reimbursed by the agency for travel to and from the central workplace.” The policy allows state workers to work remotely from states with no income tax and have their travel to Oregon reimbursed using taxpayer dollars.
“It is wrong that my legislative staffers drive to the Capitol nearly every day from neighboring communities and cannot be reimbursed for their travel or expensive daily parking – while simultaneously, state workers living out-of-state, not paying Oregon’s steep income tax, get paid for traveling back to Oregon for meetings or other tasks they can’t do remotely,” said Representative Scharf. “One of the House Republican Caucus’ top priorities this session is fiscal responsibility. I believe this starts by taking a close look at where our taxpayers hard-earned dollars are going.”
Once active on Oregon’s Legislative Information System, the full text of Senate Bill 853 can be found here.