Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2018)
2A ܂ WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2018 ܂ APPEAL TRIBUNE Governor pushes for May 21 special session Connor Radnovich Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced April 24 there will be a one-day special legislative session May 21 to make the state’s tax code more fair to small busi- nesses. “We have an obvious inequity in Ore- gon’s tax system that is prejudiced against thousands of small Oregon businesses, and a simple change can fix it,” Brown said in a statement. The governor is proposing that law- makers adapt the state’s current pass- through entity tax break to include sole proprietorships. The policy effectively allows some small business owners to be taxed at a reduced rate. Around 9,000 sole proprietorships could qualify for a reduced tax rate if her proposal were to go into effect. There are an estimated 260,000 sole proprietorships in the state. “Nine thousand may seem like a small number to some in Salem, but to these business owners and their em- ployees, it makes a big difference,” she Backlog The audit called the new streamlined process a “best practice” outlined by the National Institute of Justice. Audit division officials also found crime lab analysts are now incorporat- ing another best practice called the Di- rect-to-DNA method using a practice called Y-screening, which allows ana- lysts to only detect presence of male DNA without having to test for specific types of bodily fluids. If no male DNA is found, analysts save time on preparing the SAFE kits for DNA analysis and move on to another sample. Biology unit staff has also started us- ing Excel worksheets to complete stan- dardized case notes and the DNA unit standardized reporting language for re- ports, which allows analysts to com- plete reports faster and makes reports easier to understand for law enforce- ment officials. Both units are also under a manage- ment and organizational review that identifies areas for improvement and provides recommendations to increase productivity. The audit states a similar review helped yield a reduction at a Louisiana state crime lab, and believes the review will yield similar results in Oregon. Prioritization of SAFE kits Oregon State Police officials have es- tablished guidelines for prioritizing SAFE kits above property crime evi- dence. Analysts prioritize cases with: a pending trial date or cases where public safety is a concern; homicide or at- tempted homicide cases; assault cases involving a weapon or injury requiring medical attention; and cases where the victim is under 14 years old or older than 65 years old or a victim that suffers from a mental disorder. State police suspended DNA analysis for property crime evidence in Decem- ber 2015, which has allowed analysts to process more kits per month, according to the audit. In the first quarter of 2018, OSP com- pleted an average of roughly 220 kits a month — an increase from an average of 89 per month in 2017. The agency also completed 197 tech- nical reviews of the kits outsourced in January 2018 — almost double the num- ber completed in previous months — under the $2 million grant funding grant said. Brown first declared her intention to call for a special session in early April when she announced she would sign Senate Bill 1528, which disconnects Oregon’s tax system from some aspects the federal tax code. The federal tax reform that passed late last year created a provision that would grant pass-through entities — in- cluding S corporations, LLCs and vari- ous business partnerships — an addi- tional 20 percent deduction off Oregon income taxes. Republicans said a disconnect amounts to a 20 percent increase in tax- es for those businesses, while Demo- crats said the federal law gives some pass-through entities an additional, un- fair tax break on top of what the state already gives them. The law will go into effect June 2. “This so-called ‘emergency’ was caused by the governor and the majority party,” Senate Republican Leader Jackie Winters, R-Salem, said in a statement. “Their actions during the 2018 session to take away a small business tax cut is the reason we are now being called in to special session.” But, Winters said she is committed to expanding the tax break to those small businesses, even though it “doesn’t help nearly enough Oregon small business- es.” Senate President Peter Courtney, D- Salem, and House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, announced Tuesday they would appoint a joint committee that will meet prior to the special session to hear the bill. The committee would also receive public input on the measure. “The House stands ready to work col- laboratively to consider reasonable im- provements to our existing small busi- ness tax break,” Kotek said. Lawmakers were already expected to be in Salem on May 21 for legislative days. Courtney said the session would be run “simultaneously.” His spokesman added that the schedule for legislative days would have to be adjusted, but since there will only be one bill, not everyone will be busy at the same time. Brown said that scheduling the ses- sion for legislative days also allows the state to keep additional costs at a mini- mum. “Special sessions present unique challenges,” Courtney said in a state- ment. “They require focus. They require discipline.” Republicans were quick to call the special session a political ploy to gain an advantage in an election year. Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, took to Twitter to call the move “pandering” and a “ridiculous attempt to pretend she’s pro business.” Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, called it a “Re-elect Kate Brown session.” “The political theater session now has a date,” House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said in a statement. “Let’s hope Gov. Brown and legislative Democrats will limit the scope of the session to the stated pur- pose instead of allowing for the intro- duction of unrelated policy bills.” Brown said that the reason for having the session this year was to ensure these businesses would be able to take advan- tage of the reduced rate on their 2018 taxes. Contact the reporter at cradnov- ich@statesmanjournal.com or 503- 399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich by the New York County District Attor- ney’s Office. The grant sent nearly 3,000 SAFE kits dating back to 2014 or older from Multnomah, Lane and Marion counties to a private forensic lab in Utah for test- ing. In early 2018, roughly 335 from 14 other counties were sent to the private lab using the same grant funding. The grant was planned to run until Septem- ber 2017 but has been extended to Sep- tember 2018. Police officials believe their analysts will be able to fully eliminate the SAFE kit backlog by the end of 2018. The prioritization of processing SAFE kits has it’s drawbacks, however. Oregon law enforcement officials told auditors that suspending property crime DNA testing has made property crimes investigations more difficult and drawn out. They told auditors that while other forensic units can still process property crime evidence, fingerprint analysis and other evidence analysis can be time intensive. OSP will resume DNA analysis of property crime evidence once the SAFE kit backlog is eliminated. essing, adjudication and where they are retained with local law enforcement agencies. In January 2017, OSP received about $1 million to acquire a SAFE kit tracking system, but the agency is still determin- ing how to spend that money. Gardner said officials have reached out to the Portland Police Bureau upon learning of their “SAMS” tracking pro- gram. The two agencies are working to- gether to determine the most efficient and cost-effective way to launch a simi- lar program at Oregon State Police. Officials hope to deploy their own “SAMS lite” program before the end of 2018. OSP has until January 1, 2019 to im- plement tracking practices. Finally, auditors recommended the OSP create a plan to reintroduce DNA analysis for property crime evidence. Auditors also recommend OSP offi- cials collect information from local law enforcement agencies regarding un- processed property crime evidence to determine how best to allocate lab re- sources in the future. Gardner said its labs are not staffed to manage Oregon’s high volume of felo- ny property crime cases. “Property crime requests will remain subordinate to work on violent crimes,” Gardner said. “Prioritization within the property crime pool will be based on multiple considerations, including a public safety risk assessment, custody status of the defendant and the request date.” Gardner said state lab analysts are focused on eliminating the backlog by the end of the year, but said staff should have more than enough experience jug- gling DNA analysis and the increasing volume of felony cases by the time the backlog is eliminated. “Assuming we remain on our current trajectory, we could be accepting some DNA work on property crime investiga- tions in early 2019,” Gardner said. Email Lauren Hernandez at leher nande@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6743 or follow on Twitter @LaurenPorFavor. Recommendations for improvement State auditors made three recom- mendations for Oregon State Police, all of which the agency agreed to. First, the audit recommended OSP post SAFE kit processing status reports on its agency website on a regular basis “so that progress can be monitored by the public and policymakers.” At this time, the agency does not reg- ularly report SAFE kit performance on its website. Within a week of discussing such a status report with auditors, OSP started modeling its website to mirror Hous- ton’s crime lab website. Police officials agreed to incorporate updates to its website by April 30. Alex Gardner, director of Oregon State Police’s Forensic Services Divi- sion, said additional enhancements may be made to the website over the next few months. Second, audit officials recommended examining options for tracking SAFE kits in Oregon. It was recommended that police ex- amine how Washington and Idaho crime labs track their SAFE kits, where they are tracked when they are pur- chased, when they travel through proc- Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309 To Place an Ad Phone: 503-399-6773 Classifieds: call 503-399-6789 Retail: call 503-399-6728 Legal: call 503-399-6791 Fax: 503-399-6706 Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com Staff News Director Don Currie 503-399-6655 dcurrie@statesmanjournal.com Advertising Terri McArthur 503-399-6630 tmcarthur@Salem.gannett.com Deadlines News: 4 p.m. Thursday Letters: 4 p.m. Thursday Obituaries: 11 a.m. Friday Display Advertising: 4 p.m. Wednesday Legals: 3 p.m. Wednesday Classifieds: 4 p.m. Friday News Tips The Appeal Tribune encourages suggestions for local stories. Email the newsroom, submit letters to the editor and send announcements to sanews@salem.gannett.com or call 503-399-6773. Missed Delivery? Call: 800-452-2511 Hours: until 7 p.m. Wednesdays; until 3 p.m. other weekdays To Subscribe Call: 800-452-2511 $21 per year for home delivery $22 per year for motor delivery $30.10 per year mail delivery in Oregon $38.13 per year mail delivery outside Oregon Main Statesman Journal publication Suggested monthly rates: Monday-Sunday: $22, $20 with EZ Pay Monday-Saturday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Wednesday-Sunday: $18, $16 with EZ Pay Monday-Friday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Sunday and Wednesday: $14, $12 with EZ Pay Sunday only: $14, $12 with EZ Pay To report delivery problems or subscribe, call 800-452-2511 Published every Wednesday by the Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. USPS 469-860, Postmaster: Send address changes to Appeal Tribune, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID: Salem, OR and additional offices. Send letters to the editor and news releases to sanews@salem.gannett.com. We’re more than just a great rate Bank-issued, FDIC-insured 2.15 % LOCAL ADVISORS Salem Area Minimum deposit $1000 Vin Searles Garry Falor FINANCIAL ADVISOR Mission | 503-363-0445 FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-588-5426 1-Year APY* Michael Wooters Chip Hutchings FINANCIAL ADVISOR South | 503-362-5439 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Lancaster | 503-585-4689 Caitlin Davis Tim Sparks LOW COST CREMATION & BURIAL FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-585-1464 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Commercial | 503-370-6159 Simple Cremation $595 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Liberty | 503-581-8580 Jeff Davis NO Hidden Costs TUALATIN SALEM 8970 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd 412 Lancaster Drive NE (503) 885-7800 (503) 581-6265 TIGARD PORTLAND 12995 SW Pacifi c Hwy 832 NE Broadway (503) 783-6869 (503) 783-3393 MILWAUKIE EASTSIDE 17064 SE McLoughlin Blvd 1433 SE 122nd Ave (503) 653-7076 (503) 783-6865 Privately owned cremation facility. A Family Owned Oregon Business. OR-SAL0008016-05 www.ANewTradition.com Keizer Area Sheryl Resner Mario Montiel www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC FINANCIAL ADVISOR FINANCIAL ADVISOR Keizer | 503-304-8641 Keizer | 503-393-8166 Surrounding Area Bridgette Justis Kelly Denney FINANCIAL ADVISOR Sublimity | 503-769-3180 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Dallas | 503-623-2146 Tim Yount FINANCIAL ADVISOR Silverton | 503-873-2454 *Annual Percentage Yield (APY) effective 04/30/2018. CDs offered by Edward Jones are bank-issued and FDIC-insured up to $250,000 (principal and interest accrued but not yet paid) per depositor,per insured depository institution, for each account ownership category. Please visit www.fdic.gov or contact your financial advisor for additional information. Subject to availability and price change. CD values are subject to interest rate risk such that when interest rates rise,the prices of CDs can decrease. If CDs are sold prior to maturity, the investor can lose principal value. FDIC insurance does not cover losses in market value. Early withdrawal may not be permitted. Yields quoted are net of all commissions. CDs require the distribution of interest and do not allow interest to compound. CDs offered through Edward Jones are issued by banks and thrifts nationwide. All CDs sold by Edward Jones are registered with the Depository Trust Corp.(DTC). OR-SAL0008133-05