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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2020)
4A TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2020 The Observer OUR VIEW Ezra’s law worth Legislature’s attention Some crimes leave their victims so damaged they’ll never fully recover. Then, as if to pour salt in their wounds, the very people who hurt them are given relatively light prison sentences. Ezra’s Law, House Bill 4122 in the 2020 Legislature, aims to change that. Lawmakers should pass it. The proposed law is named for Ezra Jerome Thomas of Madras, 4, who was beaten by his mother’s then-boyfriend when the child was only 2. He ueses a wheelchair and is unable to breathe on his own, among other things. The boyfriend, Josue Jair Mendoza-Melo, received a 12-year prison sentence with the possibility of parole. That punishment in such cases would change if HB 4122, sponsored by Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, who represents Jefferson County, Rep. Carla Piluso, D-Gresham, and others, becomes law. It would require a mandatory 25-year sentence for someone found guilty of committing assault or at- tempted murder that left a victim with permanent physical damage. The person would not be eligible for parole during that time. There are exceptions, and that’s a good thing. A judge may choose not to impose the 25-year sentence if the criminal has not been sentenced for a similar crime and if there are signifi cantly mitigating circum- stances. He or she also may make it clear the person being sentenced is eligible for early release. Oregon’s Measure 11 law, approved by voters in 1995, sets mandatory sentences for a variety of felonies, ranging from murder to compelling pros- titution. Persons convicted of those crimes are not eligible for parole. This bill gives judges at least some discretion where sentencing is concerned, and that makes sense. After all, judges are chosen because, presum- ably, voters or the governor who appointed them be- lieve they understand the law and are wise enough to apply it correctly. There should be harsh punishment for those whose criminal acts permanently injure another. That said, judges must be allowed to use their discre- tion under some circumstances. This bill accomplish- es both. Write to us LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. Letters are limited to 350 words and must be signed and carry the author’s address and phone number (for verifi cation purposes only). We edit letters for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We will not publish poetry, consumer complaints against businesses or personal attacks against private individuals. Thank-you letters are discouraged. Letter writers are limited to one letter every two weeks. Email your letters to news@lagrandeobserver.com or mail them to La Grande Observer, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande, Ore., 97850. MY VOICE Revision is akin to ‘lipstick on a pig’ I t’s no secret that my Democratic col- leagues in the state Senate want to pass a cap-and-trade bill this year (Sen- ate Bill 1530). They tried last year with House Bill 2020, but were unsuccessful. They’ve been working since then to try to come up with a better version of the proposal. We got the fi rst real look at their new version this past week, and while there are some improvements, I’m sorry to say it’s closer to putting lipstick on a pig — no disrespect to pigs — than anything that deserves the Legislature’s support. One of the biggest issues with last year’s cap-and-trade proposal was the signifi cant increase in gas prices that would come as a result of the program. Estimates provided by the nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Offi ce showed the program would raise prices by 22 cents per gallon in the fi rst year of the program alone. For rural communi- ties such as ours, such a signifi cant increase would have had a negative impact. Rural residents travel sig- nifi cantly more miles per year than urban residents, and our farmers and ranchers need fuel to run their opera- tions. There’s no question these cost increases would have been devastating for many in our area. Supporters of cap-and-trade, to their credit, have attempted to ad- dress this concern in the latest draft of the bill, but I’m afraid they’ve come up short. Their solution amounts to an empty exemption for rural Oregon. It’s more likely to create a bureaucrat- ic headache for fuel companies, and it’s not clear the fuels scheme in the cap-and-trade bill would even work in the fi rst place. We can’t afford to roll the dice with this. The stakes are just too high. I’m also worried about the impact cap-and-trade would have on pro- pane prices. Many families in our communities rely on propane to heat their homes and run their farms. The latest version of the cap-and-trade bill About the author Sen. Bill Hansell grew up on a farm north of Athena. He and his wife, Margaret, chose to return to Eastern Oregon to raise their six children in rural Umatilla County. His Senate district, the size of the state of Maryland, is the leading agricultural producing Senate district in Oregon. My Voice columns should be 500-700 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships. We edit submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We reject those published elsewhere. Send columns to The Observer, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande 97850, fax them to 541- 963-7804 or email them to news@ lagrandeobserver.com. would have increased propane rates by a minimum of 16 cents per gallon in year one. While the bill includes some protections for natural gas and electricity customers, it includes no protections for propane customers. And there’s no question families will see their utility bills increase steadily over time. Can you imagine forcing our friends and neighbors, particularly those who are struggling to make ends meet, to pay higher heating bills in the middle of winter? It’s unconscionable. The latest bill also made changes to some key governance administra- tion provisions of the program. More specifi cally, the new proposal would transfer authority over the program to unelected bureaucrats at the Depart- ment of Environmental Quality. These SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION STAFF Phone: SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE NEWSSTAND PRICE: $1.50 You can save up to 34% off the single-copy price with home delivery. Call 541-963-3161 to subscribe. Subscription rates per month: Union & Wallowa Co. .......................................$11.80 By mail, all other U.S. ....................................... $15 A division of unelected representatives would be given tremendous regulatory author- ity over huge sectors of our economy with almost no accountability for their decisions. What’s worse, the cap-and- trade program would raise hundreds of millions of dollars on the backs of busi- nesses and workers with no detailed plan for how those dollars would be managed. As a member of the Legisla- ture’s Ways and Means budget commit- tee, this is troubling to me. I believe we have a responsibility to Oregonians to manage taxpayer dollars with extreme discretion. This latest proposal clearly fails in that regard. Finally, short sessions such as the one beginning in February were explicitly created so lawmakers could make minor budget fi xes and policy tweaks to laws passed in previous years. That’s it. There is not enough time in a short session for lawmakers to adequately review complex legislation or ensure there are no critical mistakes. There also is no way someone from Pendleton can make it all the way to Salem on one hour’s notice to testify on the bill. That’s just plain wrong. While growing up, my family owned one of the largest hog ranches in the country. I raised and showed pigs in 4-H and FFA. I like pigs, and I am uncomfortable using a pig to illustrate the cap-and-trade bill because it insults the pig. You can train, scrub and spruce up a pig for the show ring. You can shave the tail, trim the ears and clean the hooves. But that beautifully clean pig is still a pig and by nature it will wallow every chance it gets. You can’t change the nature of the pig. And you can’t change the nature of this piece of legislation. SB 1530 is fl awed, and it would be incredibly expensive for Oregonians. The changes from HB 2020 now in SB 1530 is putting lipstick on a pig. SB 1530 is the same animal. This bill does not have my support, and I will defend Oregonians from it through any means necessary. 541-963-3161 An independent newspaper founded in 1896 (USPS 299-260) Periodicals postage paid at La Grande, Oregon 97850. Published Tuedays, Thursdays and Saturdays (except Dec. 25) by EO Media Group, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande, OR 97850 (USPS 299-260) COPYRIGHT © 2020 THE OBSERVER The Observer retains ownership and copyright protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising copy, photos and news or ad illustrations. They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. 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