The Associated Press released a story today saying that my CIM repeal bill, HB 3162, once presumed dead on arrival in the senate, just might have a heartbeat after all.
Sen. Vicki Walker has crafted some amendments to the bill, which will be released on Thursday. She is trying to get clearance from Democrat leadership for her changes.
Will her version of the bill do everything I would hope? Of course not. In fact, I cannot say for sure precisely what parts of her amendments will get the nod from Senate Democrat leadership.
But I can say this: the fact that she is even trying to draft amendments to the bill in order to deal with Oregon's deeply flawed testing system when few in her caucus are pushing her to take on this issue says a lot about her. According to the AP article, she was inclined to just bury the bill at first.
But after looking into the issue, reading the many emails she received, and talking with people involved, she concluded that something should be done. This speaks volumes about her. It is not just politics. She's trying to do what she thinks is right after considering the arguments from both sides.
Look - I might hate what the Senate D's end up deciding is acceptable for her to pursue. I might even end up opposing what comes out of the Senate. But I can't for one second claim that Sen. Vicki Walker didn't in good faith consider the arguments we made for doing something about this failed reform, and actually change her own initial opinion on the issue in some significant respects.
I probably agree with Sen. Walker on issues about 10% of the time. But I wish 10% of elected officials - on either side of the aisle - had her integrity.
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