Oregon redistricting mess could be headed to court February 23 2021
Delayed federal Census data is gumming up the works for state lawmakers, other legislatures across the nation.
Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature are uniting to push the reset button on delays that would cut them out of drawing political maps for the 2022 election.
Citing the overwhelming challenge of counting heads during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau says the data due April 1 won t arrive until Sept. 30 six months late. We are going to blow by all the deadlines at this point, said Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Lake Oswego, chair of the House Redistricting Committee, on a press call Monday, Feb. 22.
Lawmakers will seek outside help for redistricting questions
Lack of census data, tight deadlines spur Legislature to consider its limited options.
Oregon lawmakers bowed to the inevitable Friday, Feb. 19, on what to do next about redistricting.
A committee voted to hire outside lawyers to advise them how they can proceed with redrawing legislative and congressional district lines without having the necessary census-block data in hand.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced Feb. 12 that such data will be delivered to Oregon and other states around Sept. 30, three months after Oregon s legal deadlines for completing the remapping. The census-block data is only the first step toward redrawing the maps to make district populations as equal as possible.
National Guard assigned to Clackamas, Marion counties
The troops will help provide relief in counties still hit hard by the winter storm.
Portland General Electric crews continued working Saturday, Feb. 20, to restore power to the thousands of people still affected by a wicked winter storm that hit the area beginning Feb. 11.
Although the vast majority of people have had their power restored, tens of thousands of PGE customers remain without electricity.
Officials with Clackamas County and the Oregon National Guard are partnering to go door to door to conduct welfare checks on residents affected by the winter storm and ongoing power outages Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20 and 21. Marion County officials said guard members may start helping as early as Monday morning, Feb. 22.
Applications now open for $150M Oregon landlord relief fund
Oregon Housing and Community Services is now accepting applications online for Landlord Compensation Fund program.
Oregon landlords whose tenants stopped cutting rent checks can apply now for a slice of state relief funding.
The one-time-only funds, carved out in a bill by Oregon Speaker of the House Tina Kotek, offers $150 million in funding for landlords whose tenants filed official declarations of financial hardship during the state s ongoing eviction moratorium.
Landlords must forgive 20% of their tenants back rent in order to receive state compensation for the other 80%.
Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state agency administering the funds, will dole out as much as $50 million each month to landlords until June 2021 or whenever the money runs out.