PARTIES
Some calling for
annual sessions
Continued from page A1
else for Democrats and
Republicans to quibble over.
GOP lawmakers complain
that the even-year sessions
have become unruly, with
consequential new laws
pushed through with inade-
quate time for the public to
have its say.
The next of these maligned
“short sessions” begins
Feb. 3. Sen. Ginny Burdick,
D-Portland, who leads
Democrats in the Senate, told
reporters last week that short
sessions are intended “primar-
ily for budget issues.”
Legislators write the state’s
two-year budget during its
longer sessions, then use the
even years in between for
touch-ups.
But in her next breath,
Burdick said the session is
also time to address issues of
an “urgent nature,” such as
reducing the state’s emissions.
A similar proposal stalled
last session after Senate
Republicans fled the state.
During the 2016 short ses-
sion, for example, lawmakers
raised the minimum wage, in-
tended to stave off a potential
ballot measure that Burdick
said wouldn’t have been as
carefully crafted.
“I think you’re always going
to have that tension, you
know, what is an emergency?”
she said. “What is urgent?”
With a plan to enforce emis-
sions restrictions on green-
house gases expected to domi-
nate the session, Republican
lawmakers have complained
that the public won’t have
time to give input as the legis-
lation is shepherded through
the House and Senate with a
tight 35-day deadline.
Democrats counter that
time is running out to tackle
climate change and that ballot
measures on the horizon,
pushed by environmental
groups, mean lawmakers
should use the session to craft
a more careful plan.
Some lawmakers say the
short session isn’t used as
intended. Sen. Kim Thatcher,
R-Keizer, has proposed doing
away with it altogether.
“Ever since it was instituted,
as I live through each of these
short sessions, I think, ‘Wow,
this is not what was sold to the
voters,’” Thatcher said. “I think
it needs to be reevaluated as
to whether it’s working or not
and make some changes.”
Thatcher’s proposal—
Senate Joint Resolution 202—
would eliminate the short
session but keep the current
160-day limit on regular ses-
sions in odd-numbered years.
Lawmakers could extend that
session by five days at a time
by a two-thirds majority vote
in each chamber.
“I would even say that (reg-
ular sessions) could be made a
little shorter,” Thatcher said.
While proposing to get rid
of the short session, Thatcher
said she also is open to looking
at ways of limiting what could
be done in a short session.
She thinks that could restore
the short session to what she
believes lawmakers intended.
What’s particularly frustrat-
ing, according to Thatcher, is
that the Legislature can call
itself into special session for
emergencies and budget fixes
anyway. She recalls special
sessions between her election
to the House in 2004 and
when the short session was
implemented first in 2010.
The short session’s archi-
tect, Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, wasn’t
available to comment on
his creation. (Courtney was
absent for a week of meetings
lawmakers held at the Capitol
Jan. 13-17 due to hospitaliza-
tion for a hip injury).
Previously, Courtney said
one session every other year
was not enough to complete
lawmakers’ work.
“Society is so dynamic
Wednesday, January 29, 2020 A5
The Dalles Chronicle
TheDallesChronicle.com
and so diverse,” he told The
Oregonian in 2010. “There
are so many more people
than when they first designed
this structure that it cannot
respond the way it should.”
The Legislature held
record-length sessions in
2003 and 2005, followed by
a special session in 2006.
The saga renewed interest in
annual sessions.
In 2006, a nonpartisan
citizens’ commission recom-
mended that the Legislature
move to annual sessions to
better attend to the state’s
business.
Two years later, the
Legislature held a special ses-
sion that was billed as a test
run for a permanent annual
session. During the 19-day
session, lawmakers adjusted
budgets, approved bonds for
an arena at the University of
Oregon and tightened toy
safety.
But other key proposals
didn’t advance, including
help for distressed home-
owners and changing the
handling of teacher mis-
conduct. Some lawmakers
complained that the session
was too short to accomplish
all that should have been
addressed.
Then, in 2010, lawmakers
referred the issue to voters
with what The Register-
Guard described as “scornful
opposition from minority
Republicans.” Later that year,
voters approved the change.
In the pamphlet distrib-
uted to Oregon voters in
November 2010, unions ar-
gued that an annual session
would allow lawmakers to
better respond to economic
issues as the state recovered
from the 2008 recession.
A group of bipartisan
lawmakers argued that an
annual session would im-
prove government efficiency
and responsiveness.
“Since 1999, the
Legislature has had to call
eight special sessions to
resolve urgent issues that
couldn’t wait,” they wrote in
the Voter’s Pamphlet. “This is
an ineffective and inefficient
way of doing the people’s
business. Oregonians de-
serve better.”
Proponents said annual
meetings of the Legislature
would save taxpayer money
by cutting down on lengthy
sessions in odd-numbered
years.
There was no organized
opposition to the ballot mea-
sure, but Sen. Brian Boquist
was a vocal critic.
In a recent interview, the
Dallas Republican said that
voters were told the session
would be used for budget
adjustments and technical
fixes to laws.
Boquist still opposes the
way the short session is
structured. He said that the
session’s schedule requires
bills to clear hurdles during
the first week, which cuts off
opportunities for public par-
ticipation. Boquist said that’s
particularly problematic for
complex legislation, such as
the plan to enforce emissions
caps.
He also attributed the
short session to growing
animosity in the Capitol.
(Boquist made national
headlines last year for threats
against state police and now
must give Capitol admin-
istrators 12 hours’ notice
before entering the building).
Having a legislative session
every other year gave law-
makers a chance to cool off
after a confrontation, Boquist
said, but the Legislature is
now essentially full time
and lawmakers struggle to
hold down jobs while being
responsive to Salem.
“We have created this
beast that is not capable of
supporting itself,” he said.
But instead of abolishing
the short session, Boquist
said that Oregon should have
a longer session in even years,
similar to Washington.
Oregon Bureau reporters
Jake Thomas and Sam Stites
contributed to this report.
Students to sing in New York
Six local students from the
Lutz Music Studio, taught
by Shawn Lutz, have been
selected as finalists for the
Honors Performance Series
Honors Choir and Young
Adult Honors Choir. They
will be heading to New York
City this week and will be
under the direction of world
renowned choral conduc-
tors. Along with other stu-
dents from across the globe,
they will be performing in
one of the most famous con-
cert halls—Carnegie Hall.
Nominated by the vocal
instructor, they have been
selected from among thou-
sands of students who were
also nominated by their
teachers. The students ar-
rive in NYC and will spend
three full days in rehearsals,
see a Broadway musical,
and attend a dinner cruise
by the Statue Of Liberty and
the skyline of New York.
The culmination of this
trip is an experience they
will never forget...singing
in Carnegie Hall. Lutz was
also selected as a chaperon
for this event and will be
chaperoning fifteen high
school students from across
Six voice students of Shawn Lutz’s Lutz Music Studio were nominated and selected to be finalists in
the Honors Performance Series Honors Choir. Pictured above are, left to right, front row, Alex Rector,
Savannah Ezelle and Zora Richardson. Back row, Shawn Lutz, Noah Holloran, Jacob Vallie and Tayor
Beeks.
Contributed photo
and talented in their own
the nation.
The students selected this right and are looking forward
to the opportunity.
year are Alex Rector, Noah
Holloran, Jacob Vallie, Taylor
Beeks, Zora Richardson
and Savannah Ezelle. The
students must have all of
their music rehearsed and
memorized before arriving
in New York. All of these
students are musically skilled
The event is put on by
Honors Performance Series/
WorldStride.
OBITUARIES
DEATHS
Maurice Odeal
Mallonee, 96, a resident of
The Dalles, Ore., died Jan.
23, 2020. The family is plan-
ning services to be held at a
later date; information will
be posted on the Spencer,
Libby & Powell website
once plans are finalized.
Ronald Herbert Reynier,
Sr., 95, died Jan. 21, 2020,
at Brookside Manor in
Hood River, Ore. He was
born Dec. 4, 1924, in
Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Arrangements under the
direction of Anderson’s
Tribute Center, 1401
Belmont Avenue,
Hood River. Visit www.
AndersonsTributeCenter.
com to leave a note of con-
dolence for the family.
James Ishizaka, 86,
died Jan. 25, 2020, at the
Mid-Columbia Medical
Center in The Dalles, Ore.
He was born April 2, 1933.
Arrangements under the
direction of Anderson’s
Tribute Center, 1401
Belmont Avenue, Hood
River, Ore. Visit www.
AndersonsTributeCenter.
com to leave a note of con-
dolence for the family.
Marjorie Thompson, 95,
died Monday, Jan. 24, 2020.
She was born in Portland,
Oregon, and grew up in Hood
River, Ore. Arrangements
are under the direction of
Anderson’s Tribute Center,
1401 Belmont Avenue,
Hood River. Visit www.
AndersonsTributeCenter.
com to leave a note of condo-
lence for the family.
George Lee Williams
II, 66, died Dec. 30, 2019,
at his home in Hood River,
Ore. He was born Aug. 23,
1953. A celebration of his
life will be held at 2 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, at
the Hood River Alliance
Church, 2650 Montello Ave.,
Hood River. Arrangements
under the direction of
Anderson’s Tribute Center,
1401 Belmont Avenue,
Hood River. Visit www.
AndersonsTributeCenter.
com to leave a note of condo-
lence for the family.
Karen E Slaughter, 83, a
resident of The Dalles, Ore.,
died Jan. 27, 2020. Private
family services will be held.
Spencer, Libby & Powell
Funeral Home in care of
arrangements.
without ODFW gathering
data through GPS collaring.
Rosenberg added that
Data also helps removing
carcasses from the
identify conflicts roadside minimizes waste
and protects scavengers from
Continued from page A1 also being hit later.
“A lot of our eagles that get
Checking a deer for CWD hit on the road are hit while
requires biologists to remove scavenging, so a lot of that
a lymph node at the base of volume is being taken out to
the skull. For elk, the lymph be consumed by humans,”
Rosenberg said.
node is taken alongside
Thompson and Rosenberg
“something called the obex,
which is basically the base of said the annual movement
patterns of blacktail and
the brainstem,” Rosenberg
mule deer affect how likely
said.
they are to be hit. Mule deer
Thompson said permit-
become more concentrated
ting roadkill harvest has
at lower elevations during
also given ODFW data on
where animals are being hit the winter and blacktails
tend to be hit most during
frequently.
“There’s a massive move- their breeding cycle, they
said.
ment throughout the west
Of the 18 deer salvaged
at identifying movement
locally, Rosenberg had good
corridors and potential
conflict zones on highways,” news for hunters.
“Most of them were
Thompson said. He said
younger deer. Not very many
the roadkill salvage data
helps identify “critical pinch mature bucks—I think only
points” where wildlife cross- one that I can remember,”
Rosenberg said.
ing structures are needed
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