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Cannabis, well water, senior health care, mattress recycling fixes among Lane Co. legislators 2020 proposals

Register-Guard - 1/25/2020

The upcoming 2020 Oregon legislative session is approaching, and representatives statewide will be bringing their priority bills to Salem.

This session, as in past even-numbered years, will be a short session just 35 days long. During short sessions, legislators are limited in the number of bills they can introduce: two for each state representative and one for each state senator. Other bills are introduced through legislative committees.

The session convenes Feb. 3.

The Register-Guard contacted Lane County's state representatives and state senators and asked them to briefly outline the bills they'll introduce during the session. Many state representatives and state senators said their bills are expected to undergo revision before final versions are brought to the floor.

Below is an early look at legislative priorities for Lane County representatives:

Wage theft, cannabis social equity

State Rep. Julie Fahey (D-West Eugene and Junction City) wants Oregon'sWage Security Fund, used to protect workers from wage loss when their company folds, to likewise cover workers after making verified claims for unpaid wages.

House Bill 4087 would create a mechanism for workers to get paid through the Wage Security Fund if, after going through the Bureau of Labor and Industries process, their employer is unwilling or unable to pay their claim. The bill also proposes additional resources for technical assistance for employers to help them follow employment laws.

"This would be a limited expansion of the use of the Wage Security Fund to include workers who have gone all the way through the wage claim process, gotten to the end when we would be sending that to collections at (the Oregon Department of Revenue), then we will pay the worker out of that fund. Then BOLI will pursue reimbursement from the employer," Fahey said.

Fahey's second bill, HB 4088, proposes establishing a statewide cannabis social equity program to help people who have been disproportionately affected by the criminalization of marijuana.

It would mirror the program that exists in Portland, which offers discounts for cannabis business licenses, as well as a grant program that improves access to technical assistance and small business capital, Fahey said. Fahey said she expects this bill to serve as a starting point on addressing the issue.

"We're a little behind other states on this front," Fahey said. "It's an important conversation to have."

Specialty plate price, water well tests

If Rep. John Lively (D-Springfield) gets traction on HB 4061 in the upcoming session, the cost of the specialty license plate that Oregonians voluntarily purchase to support the Oregon Cultural Trust will rise from $15 to $25. The increase will bring the Cultural Trust plate's cost up to about the median of all other specialty plates that are available, said Lively legislative aide Andrew Hickerson.

The Cultural Advocacy Coalition supports the bill, he said.

Lively's second bill, HB 4077, would require an accredited lab to electronically report well water test results to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and allow them to communicate results with the Oregon Health Authority, Hickerson said. This bill would create a foundation for future sessions to deal with well issues by collecting more information on them, he said.

Hickerson said the bill reflects concerns that people are unknowingly using Oregon wells with arsenic, nitrates and other naturally forming contaminants.

Apprentice programs, urban search and rescue

State Rep. Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene) is concerned about the rise of "industry-recognized apprenticeship programs," or IRAPs.

Proposed federal changes would allow for the formation of IRAPs, which Nathanson believes would "undermine the quality of the current system of registered apprentice programs" because they "don't have state or federal oversight and lack the same quality standards and review process," her legislative aide James Ellsworth said in an email.

Nathanson's bill, HB 4143, would prevent public investment in IRAPs, Ellsworth said.

"HB 4143 will encourage investment in registered programs, not new, un-regulated ones," Ellsworth said. "It will help protect working Oregonians from having to pay out of pocket for an unregistered training and end up with a certification that's useless anywhere else."

Nathanson also wants to put $5 million back into the the State Preparedness and Incident Response Equipment Grant program through HB 4144. The money would allow communities to support urban search and rescue teams by providing equipment.

The federal government funded the grant program after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, establishing eight teams across the state. The program since has been disbanded, leaving teams only in Clackamas, Salem and Eugene, Ellsworth said.

"Those local departments bear the burden of funding the program to serve anywhere in the state," Ellsworth said in an email. "Our office has been collaborating with the City of Eugene and Eugene-Springfield Fire as well as state agencies and organizations on this proposal."

Chlorpyrifos, health premium grace periods

State Rep. Paul Holvey (D-Eugene) will introduce HB 4109 to ban aerial application of Chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to serious health problems in humans. Efforts to enact a federal ban on the product so far have failed despite concerns from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"I've been working with the farm workers on this particular pesticide since last session, and they've been trying to get this product out of circulation because it's dangerous," Holvey said. "House Bill 4109 would immediately ban the aerial application of pesticide products containing Chlorpyrifos and it puts a buffer zone around schools for spraying that chemical as well. It gives a two-year phase out, so by Jan. 1, 2022, it would completely phase out the use, sale or purchase of pesticide products containing Chlorpyrifos."

His second bill, HB 4110, would extend the grace period for missing Affordable Care Act premium payments from 10 days to 30 days.

"It's not real complicated, but it should have some good impacts on people who didn't get their premium, for whatever reason, paid on time," he said.

Mattress recycling

A bill from State Sen. James Manning Jr. (D-North Eugene, West Eugene, Santa Clara and Junction City) would add a $10 recycling fee to new mattress sales. The fee would work like Oregon's paint recycling fee, which was designed to cover recycling costs and support collection centers.

The money from Manning's fee would support as many as 100 jobs at mattress recycling programs such as the one run by St. Vincent de Paul, Manning said.

"I've gone down the road and seen used mattresses tossed out on the sides of the road, and trying to put those in the landfill is a very, very difficult thing to do," Manning said. "It creates zero waste, and it's a good bill."

Distillery tasting rooms

State Sen. Lee Beyer (D-Springfield) will present a bill in session this year aimed at reducing the markup craft distilleries pay to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission on their first $250,000 in sales. He said he hopes the money they save will allow them to invest in establishing tasting rooms.

"It allows them, on the first quarter of $1 million in sales, to keep all but 5% that OLCC would normally keep," Beyer said. "It says to the craft distillers, and I think we have eight of them in the central Lane County area who produce very high quality products, that instead of having to send their product to OLCC up in the Portland area and get it back, they can dispense it in their tasting rooms to help market their products."

Similar mechanisms already exist for beer brewers and wine makers, Beyer said.

"The problem is, if you're a small guy, you probably can't afford to have a tasting room and develop a demand for your product," Beyer said. "The hope is we're going to create a few jobs and create a preference for Oregon's fine craft distilled spirits like we have for wine and cider and beer."

Freezing seniors' property taxes, K-12 oral health programs

State Rep. Cedric Hayden (R-Roseburg) hopes to establish a freeze on property tax increases for people older than 67.

Hayden said upward-inching property taxes are an issue he hears about regularly, and House Joint Resolution 201 would allow seniors to contact county governments to keep those costs from rising.

"It doesn't take away their property tax. It would just lock it in," Hayden said. "I'm taking an approach to combat the housing crisis, because the housing crisis also includes our seniors."

Hayden, a dentist, said his second bill would require oral health be added to Oregon schools' K-12 curriculum by 2025. HB 4127 also would add four oral health coordinator positions to the Oregon Health Authority to spearhead adding that education to school programs.

Water rights, veterans' benefits

State Rep. Marty Wilde (D-Central Lane and Linn counties) will introduce a bill that would quicken the pace of court rulings in water rights cases.

Wilde hopes HB 4086 will reduce the impact of an "automatic stay," which takes effect when junior water rights holders file a lawsuit after the Oregon Water Resources Department limits their water usage in favor of senior rights holders during dry years.

Critics of the automatic stay rule claim those junior water rights holders file suit so they can keep using water throughout litigation.

"The court system is not adjudicating these quickly enough," Wilde said. "The bill pretty much says that if you file one of these after your water rights get cut off in a dry year, then you get a hearing within five judicial days."

Wilde also will introduce HB 4085, which would add three Office of Public Guardians positions focused on assuring veterans have access to resources, especially concerning housing. Those positions would be funded through the state Department of Veterans' Affairs.

"Accessing those benefits is very difficult if you're living on the street or if you're mentally ill," Wilde said.

Cannabis fixes

SB 1561, a bill by State Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-South Lane and North Douglas counties), still is being modified with input from players across the state cannabis industry. But Prozanski called the bill a "catch-all" that will allow for rule fixes and clarifications concerning medical marijuana, recreational marijuana and hemp.

"It is a work in progress," Prozanski said. "What I'm trying to do is work with the industries of all three areas to ensure that we continue to move cannabis forward in our state as an industrial economic driver for our state."

Extracurricular transportation, transportation electrification

State Rep. Caddy McKeown (D-Coos Bay) hopes to establish the Extracurricular Student Transportation Grant Program with HB 4136, which would reimburse small and rural school districts for non-school fund eligible transportation such as college visits, off-campus classes and extracurricular activities.

"The grant is designed to target school districts, and their students, who otherwise might not be able to participate in after-school and off-campus activities due to unwalkable distances and the lack of public transit," according to a summary of the bill provided to The Register-Guard.

A second bill, HB 4135, would require all electric utilities to increase their investment in transportation electrification through the reinvestment of Clean Fuels Program revenues and the investment of a small portion of revenues. Both parts of the bill requirements would sunset after five years.

Ocean emergency

Proposed legislation from State Sen. Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) appropriates money from the General Fund to Oregon Ocean Science Fund, State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Higher Education Coordinating Commission and the Oregon Department of Administrative Services.

The bill would invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into ocean acidification and hypoxia monitoring and research for the preservation of shellfish. Passage of the bill also would declare an emergency in Oregon because its tenets are "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety."

Follow Adam Duvernay on Twitter @DuvernayOR or email aduvernay@registerguard.com.

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