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any particular legislation, at any level. Information provided
on our website is presented without comment, merely as information
for those in the adoption community.)
The following
information is from attorney Scott Adams:
As you probably know,
until 2005 Oregon
had an approximately $1500 tax credit to go along with the Federal
Tax Credit for adopting a child. This
Oregon
credit was lost by not being renewed and this year House Bill 2363
was introduced to try and reinstate it. Attorney Robin Pope, along
with many of you, did a huge amount of work to get this through and
then, a short while back it died in committee. In fact you may have
even heard that it was dead for good. Well, there is a very special
legislator who would just not accept this and it has received a few
last opportunities for a breath of life.
It has/will clear the House side and be presented to the Senate side
for approval. The problem is that NEXT WEEK IS THE LAST WEEK to do
anything and the Senate is not happy about just now receiving bills
from the House. This bill, HB 2363, will land on the desk of:
Senator Ryan Deckert
Party: D District: 14
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1714
Interim Phone: 503-986-1714
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE., S-219,
Salem, OR,
97301
Interim Address: PO Box
2247,
Beaverton, OR,
97075
FAX: 503-986-1080 (General Fax - Send Attn: Senator Deckert)
Email: sen.ryandeckert@state.or.us
Website:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/deckert
Senator Deckert will control whether HB 2363
survives and we need all of the encouragement we can to his office
(as well as to your Senator to put pressure on Deckert) to get this
moving. Especially if you live in his District (Beaverton
area From Scholls Ferry Road on the South to TV Highway on the
North, and Garden Home area on the East and approximately 175th on
the West - see the link above for an exact map)
but even if you don't, please contact Senator Deckert (and your own
Senator) to let them know you want HB 2363 passed! You can find
your own Senator at:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/
Faxes would be most influential, followed by phone calls and then
emails.
You should be aware that the original HB 2363 reinstated the tax
credit as it has always existed. There have been a couple of last
minute house amendments (one to make it again Sunset (stop) in 2015
and another to limit it to Adjusted Gross Incomes below $60,000).
Obviously the income limit is not what we would like and you can
share that in your correspondence with your legislators, but the
bill with the amendments is better than no bill at all. If we don't
get this passed now it is very likely that we won't be able to
revive it in the future.
Please share this with as many people as you can that have a
legitimate interest in seeing a tax credit passed. And please share
your interests with your legislators (and Senator Deckert)
AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
TODAY WOULD BE GOOD. THIS COULD ACTUALLY GET SOME ATTENTION THIS
AFTERNOON OR TOMORROW (SATURDAY). MONDAY
OR TUESDAY NEXT WEEK COULD STILL HELP. With your help we CAN make
this happen.
Personal experiences are great, but for those that do not know what
to say I will enclose the text of a few of the "suggested" support
letters that have been put out over the last several months. Please
modify them to fit your personal situation AND PLEASE SPECIFICALLY
ASK THAT THIS BILL BE GIVEN A CHANCE TO PASS THE SENATE. I don't
know that there will be much time to answer any personal questions,
but if you have them please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
-Scott Adams
www.attorneyadams.com
503-324-0111
More information:
Click here to
email
Robin Pope
Click here to
email
Scott Adams |
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More Information, Provided By
Our Friends At NAFA
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HB 2363 -
Oregon
Adoption Tax Credit Update from Robin Pope |
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First, my sincere thanks to everyone who wrote
letters of support, and thanks also to those who
went to
Salem
and testified. Your efforts definitely made a
difference. I also want to thank NAFA for sending
out the informational e-mails, with additional
thanks to Scott Adams for getting those to NAFA for
distribution.
Next, I want to correct a possible misperception
about the Oregon State Bar (OSB) that was in Scott's
last e-mail. HB 2363 exists because I asked the
Oregon State Bar to sponsor this piece of
legislation. The OSB has made significant efforts on
my behalf, and ultimately on yours, to get the
Oregon
Adoption Tax Credit reinstated. The OSB had the bill
drafted and submitted to the Oregon Legislature in a
timely manner. The OSB legislative affairs office
has tracked the bill and quickly notified me when it
appeared a hearing would not be held, then promptly
notified me over a weekend when the March 14th
hearing was set. An OSB legislative staff person
attended the March 14th hearing and had valuable
suggestions to make as to our next steps, with the
goal being passage of HB 2363. She also met with
House Revenue Committee members prior to the hearing
to try and garner support for our bill. The OSB will
continue to monitor HB 2363 for me and be supportive
of our collective efforts to reinstate the Oregon
Adoption Tax Credit.
Third, and most importantly, we need to start
another letter writing campaign. The OSB legislative
staff person has strongly recommended that we write
to each and every member of the Oregon House of
Representatives and ask them to support our bill. It
is imperative we let them know there is
no fiscal impact to HB 2363,
which was a major emphasis of my testimony on March
14th. While the House Revenue Committee understood
the testimony and appeared supportive of reinstating
the tax credit, as well as making it retroactive to
2006, there are some fiscally conservative members
of the House who will not want to vote yes if they
believe there is a fiscal impact.
Click here for a draft letter to your
legislators. Your letter should be sent directly to
your legislators. Please feel free to send me a
copy. However, due to time constraints, it will be a
challenge for me to get them to the correct
legislators. Thanks!
Here is the link for finding your legislator:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/
Here is a link for checking the status of HB 2363:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measpdf/hb2300.dir/hb2363.intro.pdf
I will be out of town over Spring Break, and look
forward to moving HB 2363 closer to passage upon my
return.
With thanks again to all of you,
Robin Pope |
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Journeys of the Heart is a full service, non-profit, certified and licensed adoption agency providing adoption and relief services. Our offices are in Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, Washington, and Honolulu, Hawaii, and we can work with people from any state in the United States. If you are looking for an adoption agency then please look into our philosophy and our dedication. If domestic adoption, international adoption, or open adoption is in your future then let your journey begin here. Journeys of the Heart Adoption Services is a non-profit organization, described as a 501 (c) (3) organization, by the Internal Revenue Service, EIN 94-3184018. If you wish to make a donation to Journeys and require a copy of our letter of determination from the IRS please email website@journeysoftheheart.net |
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