The Liftoff: Kotek appoints Supreme Court Justice and signs major legislation
PLUS: Portland city leader has been living in NV; new drama in the Holvey recall campaign; Amazon plans to install undersea fiber-optic cable; MultCo's tens of millions of unspent dollars; and more!
Welcome back to The Liftoff! Thank you to all of the firefighters who are battling the Lookout fire in Lane County and the Bedrock Fire.
1. Oregon’s elected officials were busy in August
It might be the middle of August, but Oregon’s statewide elected officials have been busy.
Gov. Kotek on Tuesday signed bills to strengthen abortion access and gender affirming care, and enact minimum nurse staffing standards for hospitals. According to Ben Botkin with the Capital Chronicle:
HB 2002 makes Oregon one of the states with the strongest reproductive health care rights in the nation, both for abortion access and access to gender affirming care.
HB 2697 sets a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio for hospitals. Under the bill, nurse-to-staff ratios are based on a variety of factors, like type of unit and type of patient.
Secretary of State Griffin-Valade announced the Elections Division will publish a monthly searchable list of campaign finance violations. Several other states already do this, but according to Willamette Week’s Nigel Jaquiss, former Sec. of State Shemia Fagan had resisted the initiative.
Gov. Kotek appointed Portland labor attorney Aruna Masih to Oregon Supreme Court. Masih, whose volunteer experience includes time with the AFL-CIO, the ACLU, and the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, will be Oregon’s first Indian American and south Asian justice, according to the governor’s office.
Amazon’s plans to install an undersea fiber-optic cable off the Tillamook County coast gained approval from state leaders during this month’s state land board meeting. Gov. Kotek and Treasurer Tobias Read both said they wanted the state to adopt more robust regulations of undersea cables, particularly after a disastrous cable installation by Meta, Facebook’s parent company, in 2020, according to OPB’s April Ehrlich.
Meanwhile, in Eugene, more drama in the Rep. Paul Holvey recall attempt by UFCW 555.
From Willamette Week: “UFCW president Dan Clay penned a letter to Holvey on Aug. 14 alleging a Holvey supporter ‘physically attacked’ a recall signature gatherer on Aug. 10.”
2. Multnomah County under pressure to spend windfall of extra money (and more Portland-area news)
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson is under increasing pressure from all sides to spend the enormous amount of extra money Multnomah County has to spend on homeless services, writes WW. The County is currently sitting on $50-$60 million in unanticipated revenue from Metro’s supportive house services measure. According to the article, here’s what each commissioner is asking for:
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards wants $6 million or $7 million for the Bybee Lakes Hope Center, a homeless shelter in the former Wapato Jail.
Commissioner Susheela Jayapal suggested helping Albina Vision Trust purchase the Paramount, a 66-unit naturally affordable apartment building.
Commissioner Lori Stegmann asked for $11.5 million to buy the Sheraton Four Points Hotel for the Rockwood Community Development Corporation.
Commissioner Sharon Meieran repeated her call for a $25 million down payment on the sprawling 241-unit Crowne Plaza Hotel, located in the Lloyd District between the Hooper Detoxification Stabilization Center and Legacy’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health.
Multnomah County has delayed the opening of a safe parking shelter site in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood, marking the county’s latest stumble in delivering desperately needed services to people living on the streets, writes The Oregonian.
More from the article: In March, officials with the city-county Joint Office of Homeless Services unveiled plans to open a site that would allow people to sleep in their vehicles and provide them with bathrooms, showers, trash pick-up and caseworkers to assist with finding housing and health care. Five months later, officials have yet to file for permits or break ground on the project.
More Portland-area headlines:
The Portland City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved an emergency ordinance to temporarily incentivize Portland police officers to work overtime shifts. The rate of pay for for those who work overtime will increase from 1.5 times their normal rate to double time for the next 60 days, reports KGW.
From WW: “Here’s a scary number: Nearly a third of Portland’s downtown office space stands empty.”
A federal judge ordered the Washington County sheriff to release criminal defendants from jail if they have been held for 10 days without a lawyer, reports The Oregonian. “Oregon is not a gulag found in a Tom Clancy novel,” U.S. District Judge Michael McShane of Eugene said from the bench.
Yikes, from Alex Zielinski at OPB: “The man appointed to oversee Portland’s top public safety programs — including gun violence prevention — has spent much of his recent time on the job living 750 miles away.”
3. Will Lathrop on why he should be Oregon’s Attorney General
Will Lathrop is a Republican running for the position of Oregon Attorney General. In this episode, Reagan and Will discuss his top priorities as a candidate as well as his perspective on some of Oregon's most hot button issues, including Measure 110, Measure 11, and non-unanimous jury verdicts. Lathrop has an extensive background as a prosecutor (he was a deputy district attorney) and believes that solving the drug crisis in Oregon should be a top priority for the AG—in addition to addressing government corruption and crime.
4. Sponsored Message from Harrang Long P.C.: Harrang Long’s Political Law Practice
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5. The Way: Civic love, PAC 12 debacle, and more!
We have three great pieces for you in the Oregon Way this week from Adam Davis, Mark Hester, and Gary Conkling. In a great piece, Davis highlights how Portland’s woes are frequently cited but the things that make it great are not. Hester discusses problems with the Capitol renovation and how lack of communication creates distrust, while Conkling argue that Oregon Ducks fans shouldn’t be cheering the University’s exit from the PAC-12.
Have questions, thoughts, or feedback for our writers? Sound off in the comments! Want to write for The Way? Send us a note!
6. OHSU and Legacy to merge, Oregon arts stiffed by the legislature, and other state agency news
OHSU plans to merge with Legacy Health—if state regulators allow the merger. According to Jeff Manning with The Oregonian, Legacy is the largest hospital chain in Portland, and owns and operates seven hospitals in the metro area. Manning reports it lost a catastrophic $172 million in its 2023 fiscal year.
What this merger means for competition, physicians, staff, and the state's insurance plans remains to be seen. OPB’s Rob Manning and Meerah Powell break down the deal.
A Multnomah County jury awarded the former civil rights director for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) $1.7 million Monday, finding she faced racial discrimination, a hostile workplace and whistleblower retaliation, writes The Oregonian. Carol Johnson was hired and supervised by Val Hoyle, who was the Oregon labor commissioner at the time. The article includes explosive comments made by both Johnson’s attorney and the DOJ attorneys representing BOLI.
From the Mike Rogoway at the Oregonian: “Data centers proliferating across Oregon will consume dramatically more electricity than regional utilities and power planners had anticipated, according to three new forecasts issued this summer.
That’s putting more pressure on the Northwest electrical grid and casting fresh doubt on whether Oregon can meet the ambitious clean energy goals the state established just two years ago.”
Even with a surplus of money, Oregon lawmakers stiffed arts groups this legislative session. On Aug. 15, Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland’s oldest professional theater company, abruptly suspended its 2023-24 season, citing the failure of HB 2459.
According to WW, State Rep. Nosse (D-Portland), the chair of the Arts and Culture Caucus, says at a minimum he will ask again for $12 million in capital funding during the legislature’s February special session.
Scoop from The Lund Report’s Nick Budnick: A second top official is leaving the Oregon Health Authority, which has gone without a permanent director since March.
Agency Interim Director Dave Baden announced to agency staff on Friday that Dana Hittle, director of Medicaid for OHA, is leaving for a job at the Oregon Department of Human Services.
Oregon’s Measure 110 drug decriminalization program is under more scrutiny. According to The Oregonian, “The manager Oregon hired in August 2021 to run its Measure 110 drug decriminalization program went on extended medical leave a year later and resigned in July with a blistering letter that accused the Oregon Heath Authority of failing to ensure the program had adequate resources to move quickly enough.”
7. News Roundup: Wildfires, unhappy Portlanders, national GOP goes after Hoyle, and more!
Gov. Kotek declared an emergency conflagration for a fire burning in the Willamette National Forest, reports the Capital Chronicle. This allows the Oregon State Fire Marshal to bring in firefighters and equipment to the Lookout Fire, one of three blazes in Lane County.
National Republicans appear to have Congresswoman Val Hoyle in their sights as the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) recently launched a “whistleblower tip line” where individuals can submit complaints—an indicator that Republicans are testing the waters. Hoyle was also the subject of a Sophie Peel piece in WW: “Val Hoyle Dined With La Mota CEO Rosa Cazares a Year Before Her Agency Awarded Key Grant”
An endearing profile on Mosier, Oregon: A group of volunteers applied for federal funds to make the Mosier Community School more energy efficient and improve air quality. According to OPB, the school won an extremely competitive grant and in total has $1.4 million to complete energy upgrades.
164,000 current and former Oregon college students or their contacts received a false email from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission saying they’d been approved for an Oregon Promise grant, reports The Oregonian.
In Axios Portlands’ decidedly unscientific online poll, 87% said they’re unhappy with the University of Oregon's decision to join the Big Ten athletic conference.
A payroll tax the Salem City Council approved will now go to city voters in November after Oregon Business & Industry got enough signatures to qualify for the November 7th ballot.
From Pamplin: “Is Oregon one of the worst states to live in? A new ranking says yes.”
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About the Authors
Ben Bowman is the state representative for Oregon House District 25 (Tigard, Metzger, and South Beaverton) and a member of the Tigard-Tualatin School Board. In his day job, he works as an administrator for a public school district. Previously, he worked as a legislative aide for former Reps. Margaret Doherty and Val Hoyle. He also co-hosts The Oregon Bridge podcast. In the newsletter and podcast, he speaks only for himself.
Alex Titus is a small business owner and consultant to businesses, nonprofits, and associations. Previously, he served as an Advisor in the Trump Administration and as a Policy Advisor to President Trump’s Super PAC. His writing has appeared in National Review, Fox News, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, and other publications.
Kristina Edmunson has been everything from press assistant for Governor Kulongoski, media advance associate for Vice President Biden, and communications director for Attorney General Rosenblum. Born and raised in Eugene, she has been involved in some of the biggest policy and legal decisions in Oregon over the last decade. Today, she runs her own communications practice. She speaks only for herself in her contributions to The Liftoff.