The Senate Committee on Rules heard testimony on Senate Bill 47, a governor-request measure intended to streamline Oregon’s boards and commissions by sunsetting inactive or duplicative entities and adjusting appointing authority for certain commissions.

Brandy Hemsley, executive appointments adviser to Governor Kotek, told the committee the bill "aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our board and commission system by eliminating boards that are inactive, obsolete, or duplicative." Hemsley said the executive appointments team worked with the secretary of state's office to review more than 270 governor-appointed bodies and concluded the bill should eliminate the jobs plus advisory board; the spinal cord injury research board; the poison prevention task force; and the employee suggestion awards commission. Hemsley said an inclusion of the Oregon Community Power board in the introduced bill was an error and the administration will seek an amendment to remove that board from the sunset list.

The bill would also move appointment authority for the Family Services Review Commission from the governor to the director of the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) or designee, and remove the requirement that gubernatorial appointments to the Mental Health Advisory Board and the Disability Issues Advisory Committee be approved by the governor; instead those appointments would be the responsibility of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) director or designee, Hemsley said.

Valerie Harmon, executive director of the Oregon Patient Safety Commission, testified about the proposal to sunset the Task Force on the Resolution of Adverse Health Care Incidents (the EDR task force). Harmon said the EDR program has moved from a start-up phase into regular operations within the Patient Safety Commission, and that board oversight would cover the evaluative role formerly played by the task force. Harmon noted the task force had provided valuable guidance and said an advisory group could be used to retain voices not represented on the board, such as trial lawyers, if the task force is sunset.

Senators asked questions about which specific duties and funding streams would move as a result of the sunset provisions, how often reviews of boards and commissions occur (Hemsley said the last comprehensive review took place in 2012), and whether the administration plans regular future reviews (Hemsley said no plan has been set). Hemsley and Harmon confirmed the bill is intended to reduce duplication and preserve program accountability through existing agency structures.

No committee action (vote) on SB 47 was recorded in the transcript of this meeting.