Javadi looks to build on first term successes

With two legislative sessions under his belt, State Representative Cyrus Javadi hopes voters will give him a chance to continue promoting solutions for north coast issues in Salem.

In a recent interview with the Headlight Herald, Javadi touted his work securing funding for projects in his district and building relationships, which he said he believes will boost his efficacy going forward.

“You realize right away that being loud isn’t very effective,” Javadi said, “and so kind of developing those relationships means a lot to getting stuff done.”

In his first term in office, Javadi, a practicing dentist in Tillamook, learned the lay of the land in Salem and fought to have his district’s concerns heard and addressed by lawmakers.

Javadi said that he had pushed to cut red tape that had previously restricted the development of affordable housing in coastal areas with flooding, landslide or other emergency concerns as part of Governor Tina Kotek’s housing legislation package.

Javadi also lent his voice to the chorus of district voices opposing the implementation of a new habitat conservation plan (HCP) for western Oregon state forests. Despite that plan’s passage in March, Javadi said that he believed his efforts had helped to increase legislative awareness of the financial crunch the new HCP will cause for counties receiving state forest revenues.

“While we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, I think we shone a nice light on the impact it’s going to have so that lawmakers and the governor are aware that we’ve got some problems that we’re going to have to deal with as a result of it,” Javadi said.

To help ensure the financial health of the counties, Javadi said that he plans to introduce a piece of legislation that would require that 66 cents of every dollar directed to the Oregon Department of Forestry to make up for lower revenues go to the impacted counties.

In addition to advocating for his district’s interests on those issues, Javadi pointed to funding allocations of $2 million to the Nehalem Bay Health District to support the construction of its new health center and $1.3 million to Tillamook County for the Shiloh Levee project as successes.

Javadi said that those allocations had come because of his relationships with members of the ways and means committee and that he would continue to push for more project funding if reelected.

“We’re going to have to continue to push for it and I think a lot of that is going to come from and where I think I’ll be most effective next time is I’ve built those relationships with our ways and means members,” Javadi said.

Beyond fighting for funding, Javadi said that promoting solutions to challenges facing health and childcare providers in rural settings and finding ways to increase county revenues would be focuses of a second term.

Javadi said that he would support extending tax credits for doctors who practice in rural communities and that he would like to exempt Medicare and Oregon Health Plan income from the corporate activity tax. He also said that he would like to see the approval process for new hospitals and healthcare facilities in rural areas streamlined.

“We need to look at if you’re a community under a certain size and a certain distance away from a major metro area what can we do to make it a lot easier to get the resources we need,” Javadi said.

Javadi also said that he supported increasing funding for childcare personnel and facilities around the state and reevaluating licensing requirements to make becoming a provider easier, while still maintaining safety for children.

To boost county revenues, Javadi said that he thought the logical answer was tourism. Javadi said he wanted to explore the possibility of allowing a special zone of recreation districts where 70% of the revenues generated by transient lodging taxes would not have to go to tourism promotion.