Pamplin Media Group - Oregon Legislature wrestles big issues ahead of September session pamplinmedia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pamplinmedia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Summer is normally a relatively quiet time in Oregon politics.
But 2021 has been about as abnormal as a year can be. The Legislature adjourned June 26, a day before Salem recorded a record-shattering high temperature of 117 degrees.
Politics remains broiling as well, with a special session in September to decide Oregon s political map for the next decade, electioneering for 2022 gearing up, and the reopening of the Oregon Capitol to the public.
Some of the front-burner issues in the weeks ahead:
Clock running on gun initiative: A gun control bill approved by the Legislature this year becomes law 91 days after the adjournment â Sept. 25. A proposed ballot measure to overturn the restrictions needs to gather 74,680 signatures by Sept. 24 to put the law on hold until a vote in the November 2022 general election.
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
Originally published on June 29, 2021 12:15 pm
Oregon lawmakers pledged to increase taxes on the timber industry and rein in its influence during this year’s legislative session. Instead, they handed the companies an unexpected gift another tax break.
As the session wrapped last week, lawmakers gutted the remaining $15 million annual harvest tax paid by timber companies for cutting down trees. The move eliminated about $9 million in annual revenue that helps fund Oregon State University’s forestry research and the Department of Forestry’s enforcement of state logging laws. Money for the programs will temporarily come from the state’s general fund, forcing the costs onto taxpayers.
Oregon Passes Landmark College Athlete Law Published: 29 June 2021
SALEM, Ore. - Today, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 5 into law, allowing college athletes at Oregon s public and private universities to receive compensation for use of their name, image, and likeness. The bill, championed by Senate President Peter Courtney and Senator James Manning Jr., was created with input from the Oregon college athletes and universities.
An athlete s sacrifice This bill is historic. I wish Oregon was the first to do it, said Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem). Our college athletes have not been treated fairly. They sacrifice everything for their universities. their bodies, their relationships, their academics. Meanwhile, the NCAA and universities are making millions off their hard work. from tickets, merchandise, and concessions, all the way to college enrollment.
The founders of Reimagine Oregon say change was incremental rather than transformative.
By
Julia Silverman
6/29/2021 at 4:33pm
Black Lives Matter protests around Oregon in summer 2020, like this one in Eugene, ignited Reimagine Oregon and its legislative agenda. A year later, they say they ve made some gainsâbut nowhere near enough.
Eleven months ago, the leaders of some of Oregonâs most venerable Black-led organizationsâcommunity groups, activists, nonprofits, and protest leadersâdecided it was time to seize the moment.Â
In the wake of the massive protests over the murder of George Floyd, and with the fresh memory of how quickly emergency funding and policy were passed when COVID hit in spring of 2020, there was, as Urban League of Portland President and CEO Nkenge Harmon Johnson put it, âan opportunity for catalytic change.. Incremental change does not have to be the norm. We can move mountains to make sure that our communities are doing a