SALEM – On Monday Speaker of the House Tina Kotek appointed Representative Dan Rayfield (D – Corvallis) to Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. This new role will make Rayfield one of the state’s two chief budget writers.
The Joint Committee on Ways and Means is the legislative appropriations committee that writes the state’s budget and is comprised of both House and Senate members. As Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, Rayfield will be responsible for developing Oregon’s budget for the 2019-21 biennium.
“It’s an honor to have been chosen to serve in this new role by Speaker Kotek,” said Rayfield. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in Oregon over the last few years, and I’m excited to build on that progress in the years to come.”
During his first two terms Rayfield has had the unique opportunity to co-chair three different Ways and Means Subcommittees, giving him a broad range of experience working with state budgets. During the 2015 legislative session as a freshman legislator, Rayfield played a central role as Co-Chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Natural Resources shoring up a $40 million budget shortfall for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. More recently, during the 2017 session, as Co-Chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services, Rayfield was one of several legislators that helped craft a plan to fill a roughly $900 million budget hole to fully fund Oregon’s Medicaid program that provides health care to one out of every four Oregonians.
Rayfield was first elected to office in 2014 and currently serves as the House Majority Whip. Rayfield will replace Representative Nancy Nathanson (D – Eugene) as Co-Chair of the Joint Committee, whom was appointed as Chair of the House Revenue Committee. The last legislator to serve as Co-Chair of Ways and Means from the Albany/Corvallis area was Senator Cliff Trow in 1993. The 2019 legislative session will begin on January 22nd.
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