Dear Friends and Constituents,
This short session has two topics of legislation that have gained an army of objectors - and rightly so. The first topic is Cap and Trade which brought a Timber Unity rally to the capitol with 1,200 semi-trucks and 8,000 – 10,000 protesters. The second piece is legislation on Second Amendment rights, and opponents of this bill also joined the TU supporters at the podium.
“Making good people helpless won’t make bad people harmless.”
HB 4005
is a gun control bill that requires guns, when not in use, to be locked up in gun safes, have trigger locks on, cabled down, or be in a locked gun room. If passed, this either will neuter your ability to defend yourself in your home or it will turn you into a lawbreaker. It will do nothing to stop people who actually commit crimes apart from emboldening them even more.
Cap and trade is still alive and ready to move forward at any time. In my opinion there is no “cap” on the tax dollars “traded” from the private sector that then allow the public sector majority party to do as they please. According to the
International Energy Agency
, Oregon produced only 0.13 of 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2019. A billion dollar increase in taxes for .13 of 1%! "Noted economist Malik, higher carbon prices mean a harder hit to consumers' wallets."
*
During the House Energy and Environment committee, the bill was voted to move on to Rules where it will stay alive until the end of the session. The Republicans in that committee walked out in protest right before the vote. It can be worked in rules and come to the floor at any time. In the Senate, SB 1530 was moved to Ways and Means so that it can also be voted on at any time and moved to the floor.
We were just informed that Thursday, February 20
th
, in the Rules Committee, Speaker Tina Kotek will present a new bill:
HB 4167
which is 92 pages and mirrors the amended
SB 1530 A
Cap and Trade bill. So the House and the Senate are pushing from both sides the same bill. An emergency is declared on this bill so referral to the voters not is allowed!
All of this has happened in two weeks. Week two has finished, and as we head into week three of the five-week short session, the committees will now thin down as House and Senate bills that have passed will move from chamber to chamber. Senate bills move to the House after they have been voted on the Senate floor and vice versa. Last Thursday was the deadline for both chambers to have bills worked in policy committees. Bills that were already in Rules, Revenue, or Ways and Means, or were sent to these committees from the other policy committees, stay alive until the end of session. So of course, the cap and trade bills along with
HB 4005 A,
gun storage bill, were moved in order to stay alive until the majority party decides to work them and send them to the floor for a vote.
Once again, the short session that was originally intended for budget tweaks and fixing unintended consequences from the last session is now a fast-moving train, ramming through major legislation. Now, this last week, an herbicide spraying bill HB 4109 was passed on a strictly partisan vote out of Health committee, not Agriculture and Land Use which would have been more applicable. It will more than likely be heard on the House floor this week. This bill will affect both agriculture and forestry. The bill states that it will prevent health impacts from chlorpyrifos, which is harmful to human health. As I looked up this chemical, it seems like the jury is out on if and how much is harmful. Studies seem incomplete in their analysis that it is a actually a health concern when used properly. But sometimes, emotion and utopian ideals trump science and the real world. In recent years it seems that many in politics as well as chemicals and drugs are guilty until proven innocent. Unless that drug is cannabis, Oregon’s dream remedy for economic development. Then, any science or studies be tossed to the wind. The battle for rationale and logic continues.
Pendleton suffered a huge setback on the 6
th
of February when floodwaters from the Umatilla river took out the dyke that protected one of the main industrial areas and decimated the properties of Keystone RV and Colby Mountain Pipe. Both companies had extensive damage. 350- 400 workers have been displaced and are looking at an indeterminate amount of time to clean up before business resumes. To add to that, some of the displaced workers had their homes flooded too. Around 200 families will not be able to return to their homes because of the water damage. Riverview mobile home park had four feet of water come through and flood the park. The National Guard did a tremendous job of rescuing folks caught in the flood and deserve a huge thanks for their work. The flood came quickly and allowed little time for folks to prepare. The whole Northeast Oregon region was hit with flooding from the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Grande Ronde. Damage is never fully realized until you see it firsthand. It was tragic. Recovery and dyke repair are being expedited as the snows continue and spring runoff will come soon. The Governor declared an emergency and emergency funding for recovery is hopefully on its way.
Thanks too to all those who have worked endlessly on repairing roads, power lines, and delivering goods and services where they are needed. Those are the unsung heroes! My hats off to the communities that come together and help each other in their time of need.
Sincerely,
