PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 7, 2021
Post's bills for police
dog rescue, veteran's
benefi ts taking shape
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Rep. Bill Post has a number of bills that are making their
way through the Legislature this year, but he said the most
unusual thing is simply the climate in which everything takes
place. Committee meetings, public hearings and most inter-
actions between legislators are all virtual because of pandemic
restrictions.
“It’s just very strange from the way we’ve done business in the
past,” Post said. The pressure from some constituents to stage a
walkout and prevent work from getting done is also high.
“Here’s the thing, which bill do we walkout on? Is it for gun
bills? Is it for prescription bills? Is it for timber tax? Pick one,” Post
said. In 2020, Republicans in the Legislature staged a walkout
over proposed cap-and-trade regulations on harmful emissions,
the same tactics are being called for presently over other issues.
“We walked out because cap and trade would have fundamen-
tally changed the economy of Oregon forever, but it’s a nuclear
option and it should be used wisely and carefully,” Post said.
Of the bills he sponsored that are continuing apace, Post
said one has garnered surprising levels of support while another
addresses an oversight for veterans.
The bill garnering surprising support is HB 2650, which would
permit emergency services to emergency transport for police
dogs injured in the line of duty. Services would only be off ered
to canines if there are no humans requiring transport. The bill
cleared House hurdles with a unanimous vote of all members
aside from 13 who had excused absences.
Post is hopeful House Joint Memorial (HJM) 2, the memo-
rial would recognize U.S. Armed Forces service members who
participated in the clean-up from nuclear testing on Enewetak
ALLERGY,
Continued from page A1
Cactus Crater on Runit Island in Enewatek Atoll holds 110,000 cu-
bic yards of radioactive contaminated soil and 6,000 cubic yards
of contaminated debris. Rep. Bill Post sponsored a bill advocating
for service members who participated in the clean-up to receive an
expansion of their Veterans Administration benefits. Submitted photo
Atoll. About 6,000 service members, between 1962 and 1980, were
exposed to radiation-contaminated soil, concrete and military
equipment while living on the islands for six-month stretches.
Because those who participated in the clean-up are not consid-
ered “atomic veterans’’ they are not eligible to receive compensa-
tion for their exposure.
The memorial action calls for recognition of the soldiers’
clean-up eff orts by the U.S. Congress and urges the body to extend
“atomic veteran” status to those that took part.
Hoping not to jinx the bill’s chances,
Post isn’t planning any celebrations just
yet.
Oregon is the last state in the nation
to require prescrip-
tions for medication
containing
pseudo-
ephedrine. Mississippi
was the other holdout
and it reversed course
last month.
Oregon’s path to
Rep. Post
this point began in
2005 when the federal
Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic
Act of 2005 was incorporated into the
Patriot Act signed into law in 2006. The
act imposed limitations on the amount of
pseudoephedrine in a pill and instituted
electronic tracking of purchases.
At the same time, Oregon was in the
midst of a heightened methamphet-
amine crisis. Pseudoephedrine and other
similar medications could be converted
into methamphetamine though a dan-
gerous chemical process.
To combat the number of metham-
phetamine labs cropping up in the state,
Oregon lawmakers began requiring pre-
scriptions for drugs that could be used to
produce meth. While the eff ort curbed
production in Oregon and other states,
Mexican cartels picked up the slack with
more potent and cheaper versions of the
addictive drug.
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