Biography
Representative Lisa Fragala was elected in November 2024 and is currently serving in her first term as a state legislator in the Oregon House of Representatives. She serves as Vice Chair of the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, and as a member of both the Labor and Workplace Standards Committee and the Housing and Homelessness Committee.
Lisa has called Eugene, Oregon home for over 30 years and lives there with her husband, Tibor Bessko. Before being elected to the Oregon Legislature she worked as an educator – first as an elementary classroom teacher and then at Pacific University's College of Education on teacher licensure and workforce development. Lisa served on the Lane Community College Board of Directors from 2018 until 2024, including serving as chair for two years during the COVID pandemic. She was appointed as a member of the City of Eugene Planning Commission in 2017 and served until this past year working to help identify housing solutions for our community.
Lisa ran for the state legislature because in her role as an elementary educator she saw first hand the struggles families face and because her service in local government provided her with the understanding that it is possible to make a difference. She is honored at the opportunity to serve House District 8 in the Oregon State Legislature and committed to making sure our community is a great place to live, work, play, learn, and raise a family for everyone.
Legislative Prioritities
Strengthening Conservation Efforts: Environmental preservation, smart management of resources, mitigation of forest fires, and air & water quality all go hand-in-hand. As a state representative, I’m passionate about preserving and protecting Oregon’s natural resources for generations to come. One of my priority bills, HB2256, relates to the land use process of buying privately owned land for conservation purposes. Due to an array of barriers, conservation groups often face significant delays which can also result in the loss of important funding. The goal of HB2256 is to remove obstacles for conservation work and to make it easier for land trusts in their conservation efforts. I’m grateful to be working with the McKenzie River Trust and its executive director, Joe Moll, on this bill.
Climate Science Education:
I am also proud to be the chief sponsor for HB3365, an effort to add interdisciplinary climate science and resiliency goals into the state’s academic content standards. Climate change impacts Oregon Communities across a wide variety of issues and has implications across numerous subjects taught in schools. This Climate Education bill is an opportunity to address this critical issue with a cost-effective, interdisciplinary approach utilizing already established practices at the Oregon Department of Education. I’m proud to be working with several local Eugene educators on this bill: Sarah Ruggerio, Jenoge Khatter, and Darin Henry who represent a larger coalition of students, educators & climate advocates statewide.
Pay Parity for Community College Faculty:
One of the ideas I spoke about frequently in my campaign last year was that our state-wide economy needs to support working families. As your state representative I’m committed to making Oregon an affordable place to live, learn, work, raise a family, & retire. This means ensuring working people have access to good paying jobs. HB2669, for which I am a chief co-sponsor, aims to address the current disparity in pay for part-time faculty at community colleges. Currently, part-time faculty aren’t paid the same rate as full-time faculty, even if the effort and time spent is exactly the same. This bill seeks to change that inequity and ensure that part-time faculty no longer need to struggle with food and housing insecurity. Thank you to the faculty members from Lane Community College who showed up to testify in support of HB2669.
