Oregon Senate Passes Bipartisan Bill Allowing In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students

In this era of political polarization, it is rare treat to find true bipartisanship in favor of a piece of progressive legislation. But that is exactly what the Oregon State Senate delivered yesterday when it passed SB742, the Tuition Equity Bill.

The two major sponsors of the Senate version of this measure are Republicans Frank Morse (Albany) and David Nelson (Pendleton). They were joined by Democrats Suzanne Bonamici (Portland/Beaverton), Jackie Dingfelder (Portland), Rod Monroe (Portland), Chris Edwards (Eugene, Santa Clara, and Junction City), Chip Shields (Portland) and fellow Republican Chuck Thomsen (Hood River).

The particularly intriguing story behind this surprising bit of leadership by GOP state senators is that Frank Morse has done a complete 180 on the issue of tuition equity over the past eight years. When this bill first came before the legislature in 2003, Morse voted against it.

What changed his mind was a personal experience with the naturalization process as his daughter's Chinese fiance sought to emigrate to this country.

When procedural difficulties started arising, Morse soon discovered that the United States has “a lack of rational immigration law.”

Today, Morse calls the battle with obstacles in the naturalization process “a horrible experience.”

When the tuition equity bill — SB 742, which would allow college students to pay in-state tuition regardless of immigration status — came up in 2011, Morse found himself morally obligated to sponsor it.

Morse's family experience left him more open to the plight of undocumented students who were brought to this country as children, young people who have never known any country but the United States and who have graduated from Oregon high schools only to find their path to a college education blocked by exorbitant out-of-state tuition requirements. This tends to relegate even the brightest, most talented undocumented students to a permanent underclass status.

Morse asks, “What really is in the best interest of Oregon? Keeping them [at a low economic] level or helping these youths to be the best they can be?”

After considering those questions, supporting SB 742, Morse said, “became a pretty easy thing to do.”

Oregon's legislature is about as close to evenly divided between the parties as you can get, with the House split 30-30 and the Senate 16-14 in favor of the Democrats. So the fact that SB742 passed the Senate 18-11 with one abstention is encouraging. The bill now goes to a committee in the House before it can reach the floor for a vote, but there are two Republican representatives who already openly support it. I'd say the outlook is cautiously optimistic for this to hit Gov. Kitzhaber's desk eventually.