The Liftoff: State agency called "toxic place" by former head
PLUS: 2024 candidate announcement; tax issues for major Democratic donor; Chavez-DeRemer named to influential list, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon names interim leader; and more!
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But, now the news. Because, even though it was spring break last week—local news and the Oregon legislature didn’t stop.
1. Three months left of the Oregon Legislature
The sprint is on to finish the 2023 Oregon legislative session. With three months left, bills are moving at lightening speed. Some highlights from last week include:
Hospital Staffing: The Oregon Nurses Association, SEIU, Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, and Oregon’s top hospital group have reached a compromise on HB 2697, which would mandate patient ratios. According to The Capital Chronicle, “the ratios apply to nurses, certified nursing assistants and some licensed practical nurses…and a range of hospital settings, including emergency departments, intensive care units, labor and delivery units and operating rooms.”
Rent control: Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that could dramatically rewrite the state’s rent control policies. SB 611 would limit annual rent increases to 3% plus inflation or 8% total, whichever is lower. The current law, passed in 2019, limits rent hikes to 7% plus inflation.
Some context from OPB’s Lauren Dake: “In 2019, Oregon became the first in the nation with statewide rent control…At the time, landlords worried it would only be a matter of time before state lawmakers tried to further lower the cap. They were right. But what most people couldn’t have anticipated was the spike in inflation, which has allowed some landlords to increase rent by more than 14%.”
A fix for Measure 110? After a widely criticized rollout of Oregon’s pioneering drug decriminalization measure, state lawmakers are trying to fix Measure 110. According to OPB, HB 2513 would “retool the process for how hundreds of millions of tax dollars are allocated.”
In similar news, check out this excerpt from a story in the O: “State Sen. Floyd Prozanski on Monday publicly unveiled an extensively rewritten new bill incorporating many of the gun control regulations that voters approved under the now-stalled Measure 114, while raising the age for gun buyers and increasing the waiting period before a gun can be sold.”
Oregon’s dismal reading rates. The Oregonian’s Julia Silverman digs into a major education bill this year: “After weeks of furious, behind-the-scenes negotiations, Gov. Tina Kotek has thrown her weight — and a proposal to spend upwards of $100 million – behind a bill that aims to overhaul how Oregon’s youngest students are taught to read.”
From the article: Only 39% of Oregon’s third-graders can read proficiently, including just 21% of Latino and Black students, the most recent statewide test results (spring 2022) showed.
Amazon fights Oregon data center clean energy bill, reports The Oregonian. HB 2816 would require data centers and crypto miners to use clean energy in their big, new facilities around Oregon. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google all operate large data centers in central and eastern Oregon.
The legislature’s 17-member Black, Indigenous and People of Color Caucus released their agenda, which includes issues from equity and health care, to justice and environmental problems affecting underserved communities. The four-year-old caucus (which is now the largest its ever been), is supporting 18 bills this session, reports the Capital Chronicle.
2. National News: Rep. Chavez-DeRemer makes Politico’s “Powerlist” and Washington Post spotlights Oregon program
“The GOP Latina who flipped a key Oregon district”: Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (one of only two Latinas to ever represent Oregon) is featured in Politico’s Recast Powerlist as a congresswoman to watch. The article leads with: “Lori Chavez-DeRemer flipped the state’s 5th district, a longtime Democratic seat, in the November midterms. She won by a 2 percent margin, narrowly beating progressive Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner and was bolstered, in part, by national Republicans pouring millions of out-of-state dollars into the race.”
Also from the article: “The Latino population in Oregon, while small, is growing rapidly. She will be essential to the Republican Party’s strategy to win over Latino voters, harnessing a slow-but-steady shift to conservatism among this demographic.”
The Washington Post featured Oregon’s Hate and Bias Hotline, which the Oregon legislature funded in 2020 at the request of Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. From the article:
“Hate crimes were spiking nationwide in January 2020 when Oregon became one of the first states to launch a hotline for victims of violence, harassment or vandalism rooted in bigotry. Now the approach is gaining momentum across the country as officials grapple with a rise in prejudicial abuse with limited recourse.”
According to the article, more than 1,101 victims and witnesses called the hotline the first year, 1,687 in the second and 2,887 in 2022. Hotline advocates over that period spent more than 4,499 hours on the phone. The budget grew from $43,000 to $2 million.
3. Dave Frohnmayer, Rajneeshees, PERS, and the changing legal field with Harrang Long P.C.
Bob Steringer is the firm president of Harrang Long P.C. and Bill Gary is the firm's senior trial attorney (and former Solicitor General of the State of Oregon). Both are well-respected attorneys with deep experience in Oregon politics, law, and government. Harrang Long P.C. is Oregon360 Media's first advertising partner, and in this episode we discuss the firm's interesting position at the intersection of law, business, and policy--and what their future looks like.
Gary was Dave Frohnmayer's chief deputy when he served as Oregon's Attorney General; Steringer was an intern of Frohnmayer's 1990 gubernatorial run--both worked with him at Harrang Long P.C. later in Frohnmayer's career. They reflect on who Frohnmayer was and what made him a unique and consequential figure in Oregon history. We also talk about the Rajneeshees--a complicated and high-profile issue that Gary navigated in the AG's office. You may have seen Gary in the popular netflix documentary "Wild, Wild Country". In this episode, he discusses that experience and tells some mind-blowing stories from a wild period in Oregon politics.
To learn more about Harrang Long P.C., visit their website: https://harrang.com/
Dave Frohnmayer's prescient "New Tribalism" speech/essay
Bob Steringer on Twitter: @SteringerLaw
Netflix documentary on Rajneeshee Movement: Wild, Wild Country
4. Sponsored Message from Harrang Long P.C.: Harrang Long’s Appellate Practice
This message is from our sponsor, Harrang Long P.C.
Few law firms in Oregon match the experience and expertise of Harrang Long P.C.’s appellate practice group. Three of our lawyers have been named in The Best Lawyers in America© for appellate law, and one of our lawyers has been named in The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch© for appellate law, demonstrating the breadth and depth of our team. Our group includes two former Solicitors General for the State of Oregon, who were responsible for all of the state’s appeals, including appeals to the United States Supreme Court. Those lawyers, William F. Gary and James E. Mountain, Jr., also are members of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Collectively, our team has handled thousands of appeals before state and federal courts, including civil appeals resulting in precedent-setting decisions on business, constitutional, and public policy issues. We represent clients in appeals from trial court decisions and administrative orders, as well as initiative ballot title challenges. To learn more about Harrang Long’s Appellate Practice Group, click here.
5. State leaders making headlines
Records show that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s former director, Richard Whitman, abruptly resigned last year not for personal reasons, but because “department leaders learned he had been in a relationship with an employee he directly supervised,” reports The Oregonian’s watchdog reporter Rob Davis.
Former House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson will serve as interim Executive Director of the powerful pro-choice group Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, according to WW.
A surprising article from The Lund Report details why Oregon Health Authority James Schroeder resigned after just seven weeks into one of the biggest jobs in state government. He referred to OHA as a “toxic place”, among other things. Here’s an excerpt:
“‘The governor was not interested in working with me to improve things,’ Schroeder texted his chief of staff, Yoni Kahn, after the meeting. ‘She essentially asked me to resign.’ He later added, ‘I have never been fired before.’” Schroeder
It was just December that Kotek tweeted this:
Democratic donor and vice-chair of Emerge Oregon (a democratic training group for women), Rosa Cazares, is under scrutiny for not paying taxes for her cannabis business, La Mota. According to Willamette Week La Mota “grows weed on Oregon farms, makes extracts and vapes, and sells products at 32 La Mota-branded dispensaries…Oregon Department of Revenue has issued tax liens of more than $1.6 million against Mitchell, Cazares and La Mota companies since 2018.”
Cazares has hosted several fundraisers and political gatherings—two for Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, one for Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, and another for Kotek. During the 2022 election year, La Mota became a regular sponsor of events for Democratic Party candidates.
Sen. Tim Knopp is calling for the campaign contributions to be returned, according to WW.
Wallowa County Commissioner Todd Nash announced he will run to succeed the retiring Sen. Bill Hansell in 2024. Nash currently serves as the president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. A profile of Nash in 1859 Magazine referred to him as a “working cowboy”.
6. News Roundup: Snow, federal dollars, and the Port of Coos Bay
Snow is accumulating at higher-than-normal levels in Oregon’s mountains. The snow may help Oregon recover from drought, reports KLCC. The Cascades is at nearly 140% of normal snowpack levels, and parts of eastern Oregon are as high as 180% of normal snowpack.
From the Lake Oswego Review: “Tootie Smith’s reversal on transitional housing will cost over $3 million annually”
$50 million for homelessness in Oregon. On top of the $200 million the Oregon legislature just funded, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is sending another $50 million to Oregon nonprofits and counties to address homelessness.
Multnomah County’s population shrunk faster than any other Oregon county since 2020, according to the Census Bureau. Oregon’s largest county lost 2.5% of its population from April 2020 to July 2022.
More Oregon leaders are pushing for major shipping container project at the Port of Coos Bay. Last week, Congresswoman Val Hoyle visited Coos Bay to talk about the potential project, reports The World.
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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 Joe Biden, and communications director for Attorney General Rosenblum. Born and raised in Eugene, she has been involved in some of the biggest and most controversial policy and legal decisions in Oregon over the last decade. She speaks only for herself in her contributions to The Liftoff.