Kitzhaber, Kulongoski lend voice to Momnibus Bill

SALEM, Ore. (KOIN) — A push to get state funding to help the estimated quarter-million pre-school children and their families with everything from child care to early education got a big boost at the Capitol Monday from community leaders and former Oregon governors.

The nonprofit Children’s Institute brought together several groups that will lobby lawmakers to put more money into health care, including mental health support, early childhood education and special education for little ones.

Among those lobbying for the money were former Oregon governors John Kitzhaber, 77, and 84-year-old Ted Kulongoski. Their message is that by helping young families now bigger problems will be avoided later.

Kitzhaber, who is a doctor, said it’s not a criticism of education or healthcare but rather its lack of investment in preventing problems that those systems deal with.

“The legislature has a chance to fund acute crises rather than investments that can prevent those crises in the first place,” Kitzhaber said. “Listen to the loud and powerful voices of the education lobby and the healthcare lobby over the tens of thousands of voices of children whose futures are being unnecessarily compromised.”

They plan to push for a bill by Portland lawmaker and pediatrician Lisa Reynolds — known as the Momnibus Bill — that would fund programs to help with many problems some families face during pregnancy and a child’s first year of life, from stable housing to mental illness.

A big push in the Oregon legislature is from early childhood advocates to get money for subsidized child care.