As a part of my job with Senior and Disability Services, I spend time in Salem participating in advocacy work on behalf of the people we serve through our programs. Most of the year, I work with the Department of Human Services, our statewide partners and work in collaboration with my peers who operate programs similar to ours across the state.

During the time that the Oregon Legislature is in session, I try to spend additional time in Salem talking to legislators from across our region about the issues, community concerns and the impact that certain pieces of legislation may have on our system of care for older adults and people with disabilities. And of course we talk about the future and what it will mean to Oregon to have one of the oldest populations in the nation come the year 2025.

This year our state association worked to develop an agenda that we could carry forward this legislative session in Salem. Our agenda was based on what we know has worked in the past, as well as several new investments in our system of services for older adults and people with disabilities.

We looked to reinvest in programs that have been reduced or eliminated during the last several years. Because the last several years have been unkind, to say the least, because of Oregon's economy, we believe that we had developed a positive investment strategy that would begin to reinvest in our programs as well as set the stage for building the infrastructure we will need for the future.

Here is a summary of our agenda:

• We have proposed bringing back the General Assistance Program for younger adults with physical disabilities.

• We would like to bring back Medicaid service levels to address the needs of older adults and people with disabilities who need a smaller amount of help in their own homes or in community based care.

• We have requested an expansion of the Oregon Project Independence Program (OPI) to support older adults before they become eligible for Medicaid, and to add younger people with disabilities to the program, making OPI an age-neutral resource across the state.

• We are looking for the creation of an Older Oregonians Act to help our state develop the infrastructure and funding base for programs that will help Oregonians plan for their health and well-being throughout their lives.

• We are also supporting a statewide planning effort to look comprehensively at the needs of people with disabilities across the age spectrum.

You might say that it sounds like an ambitious agenda, creative, pie in the sky or even a ridiculous amount of time and money spent on people who should figure out a way to take care of themselves. I have heard it all before.

One of the experiences I have had through spending time participating in the legislative process is that I get to listen to the testimony addressed to various committees. I also get to listen to hallway conversations before and after hearings and talk to legislators individually to hear their perspective and to offer my professional opinion as requested.

In all of this talking and listening, the presentations of facts and figures and offering of opinions, I wonder at times about what the "voice of reason" would be for a particular issue and where it fits in this democratic process.

In a magical, reasonable world there would be no hunger, no poverty or disease left untreated. We would have enough money to educate our children from their early years through their young adulthood. We would support our economy and industry to provide jobs and living wages as well as eliminate waste, pollution and toxins to protect the planet on which we live. In a magical, reasonable world, we would have no need to make the difficult choices - education versus human services, public services versus private industry, and tax cuts versus more revenue in the form of taxes.

Sometimes the voice of reason is the voice that demands the most attention by being the loudest. At times the voice of reason is the voice that counsel's compassion and empathy. Maybe the voice of reason is the voice that makes a winning case through logic and factual debate, or maybe the voice of reason is the voice of compromise and an effort to raise all citizens to an equal standard of health and well being. I have heard all of these voices during my 30 years in public service.

Our statewide agenda for services for older adults and people with disabilities might or might not meet any of the legislative conditions that would move these ideas from paper to policy and on to funding from the legislature and the governor.

My personal "voice of reason" tells me to counsel support for a clear destination, a clear vision of the goal we wish to achieve. My personal "voice of reason" tells me that we need an equitable approach that reflects a balance representing all the needs and interests of the citizens of Oregon. My personal "voice of reason" hopes that we can find the courage to plan for and embrace the future for all our citizens. I hope that we will demonstrate through our actions that nobody will be left behind in Oregon, and in particular, vulnerable older adults and people with disabilities.

Scott Bond is the director of Senior and Disability Services for Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments, the Area Agency on Aging for Benton, Linn, and Lincoln counties. He can be reached at

541-812-6008 or by e-mail at sbond@ocwcog.org.