STATE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020
THE OBSERVER — 7A
Lawmakers set aside $20 million for schools aff ected by wildfi res
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon law-
makers have set aside $20
million to help schools
damaged in the Labor Day
wildfi res.
The action Monday, Oct.
12, by the legislative Emer-
gency Board will enable the
Department of Education to
aid up to 33 school districts,
three education service dis-
tricts and a public charter
school. The districts will
have to furnish estimates to
the agency, which then will
report back to lawmakers
about how much needs to
be drawn from the state
emergency fund.
The districts likely to
be hardest hit are Santiam
Canyon, McKenzie and
Phoenix-Talent. All of them
have set up relief funds to
help families affected by
the Beachie Creek, Holiday
Farm and Almeda wildfi res.
Todd Miller, the Santiam
Canyon superintendent,
said the wildfi res resulted in
smoke damage he estimates
at $2.5 million.
“I have teams ready to
start cleaning,” Miller told
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley on their
Sept. 26 visit to Gates and
Mill City. “I do not have an
answer to who pays for it.”
Most of the buildings
Emergency Management
Agency. But reimbursement
could take months, even
years, and FEMA requires a
25% local match.
State money also could
be spent on reopening
schools that have been
closed because of the coro-
navirus pandemic. Schools
“When these schools are cleaned of smoke and safety
hazards, the schools and their educators provide more
than education; they are safe spaces for students who
experienced trauma during the fi res.”
— Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod, who lost his home in Lyons to the fi res
at the former Gates Ele-
mentary School, which the
district sold in 2014 after
moving the school to Mill
City, were destroyed in the
fi re. But the historic 1927
building survived.
State money could
be loaned to districts for
cleanup costs until they get
reimbursed by the Federal
can serve as a gathering
place for students without
homes or without the broad-
band communications they
need for distance learning.
Senate Republican
Leader Fred Girod, whose
house in Lyons was
destroyed in the fi res, was
among the lawmakers who
voted for the set-aside.
Oregonians to receive $5M from
unclaimed property program
By Phil Hawkins
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — If you
receive a letter in October
stating you will receive
a check from the state of
Oregon in November, don’t
throw it out — it’s not a
scam.
Beginning this week,
qualifying current and
former Oregonians will
begin receiving notifi ca-
tions from the state that
they will be mailed checks
in November ranging from
between $50 and $2,500.
The funds are part of
a historic distribution of
unclaimed funds through
the unclaimed property
program, which is dis-
bursing approximately $5
million this fall.
The checks are funds —
referred to as unclaimed
property — that have been
“When these schools
are cleaned of smoke and
safety hazards, the schools
and their educators provide
more than education; they
are safe spaces for students
who experienced trauma
during the fi res,” Girod
said in a statement after the
vote. “These school dis-
reported to the state by
companies and organiza-
tions that do business with
Oregonians and have been
unable to return the money
to the correct owner.
Common examples
of unclaimed property
include uncashed checks,
forgotten bank accounts,
security deposits, tax
refunds, credit balances,
investment accounts, pay-
roll checks, refunds and
more.
Typically, people need
to fi le a claim with the
unclaimed property pro-
gram to receive the funds
they are owed.
However, given the
unprecedented fi nancial
uncertainties and diffi -
culties many are facing,
the state has determined,
for the fi rst time ever,
the funds will be directly
mailed to the correct
owner.
The unclaimed property
program holds more than
$700 million in unclaimed
funds for 3 million owners.
To recover funds not
distributed this fall, prop-
erty owners can fi le a
claim at unclaimed.oregon.
gov.
The unclaimed property
program advises people
who receive letters about
the forthcoming checks
to wait for the checks to
arrive, as fi ling a claim
may delay processing by 6
to 7 months.
Questions about
unclaimed funds can be
directed to the Oregon
Unclaimed Property Pro-
gram by email (claims@
dsl.state.or.us) or phone
at 503-986–5251 or
503-986-5200.
tricts lacked insurance cov-
erage to tackle wildfi re and
smoke damage, and the $20
million available for fi nan-
cial assistance will help
reopen their doors.”
The Legislative Fiscal
Offi ce, which does budget
analyses for lawmakers,
recommended that the
agency assess the cost of
wildfi re damages before
the board approves the $20
million outright. Its report
concludes:
“This sends the message
to districts that the Legis-
lature, through the Emer-
gency Board, supports and
anticipates addressing the
issue, but will wait a short
period until suffi cient infor-
mation still outstanding is
collected and assessed to
determine the proper mix of
fi nance alternatives.”
In a separate action, law-
makers heard a report on
how $1.6 million in federal
funds were spent on extra
pandemic-related expenses
of county elections offi cials.
Twenty-eight of Oregon’s
36 counties, including the
three Portland area coun-
ties, received money for
expenses related to the May
19 primary and Nov. 3 gen-
eral election.
All but $100,000 of the
money came from the coun-
ties’ share of $1.4 billion
Oregon received in state aid
from the federal CARES
Act. The other $100,000
went to the state Elections
Division, and that amount
was not charged to the
counties.
Multnomah County got a
total of $524,979 for a new
extraction desk that auto-
matically opens the ballot
envelopes returned by
voters, an image scanner,
changes in election facilities
and voter education.
Clackamas County got
$124,082 for personal pro-
tective equipment and
upgraded hardware and
Washington County got
$19,324 for personal protec-
tive equipment and laptop
computers.
The Emergency Board
plans to hear a report, pos-
sibly on Oct. 19, on how
Oregon has spent the
$1.4 billion in federal aid
from the CARES Act that
was signed by President
Donald Trump on March
27. The state must spend
the money by Dec. 31.
Court rules press, others still
exempt from dispersal orders
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Jour-
nalists and legal observers
will be exempt from fed-
eral offi cers’ orders to
disperse during Portland
protests as federal agen-
cies appeal a lower court’s
preliminary injunction, a
federal appeals court panel
ruled Friday, Oct. 9.
The panel of the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, in a split 2 to 1
ruling, declined the emer-
gency motion by the U.S.
Department of Homeland
Security and U.S. Mar-
shals Service, The Orego-
nian/OregonLive reported.
The motion sought to put
on hold the injunction
that U.S. District Judge
Michael H. Simon granted
on Aug. 20.
“Having considered the
parties’ complete briefi ng,
and after hearing oral
argument, we conclude
that the Federal Defen-
dants have not shown a
strong likelihood of suc-
cess on the merits,” the
ruling said. “The Federal
Defendants also failed to
demonstrate they are likely
to suffer irreparable injury
if the preliminary injunc-
tion is not stayed pending
appeal.”
The ruling comes as
the city marks over four
months of protests against
police violence and sys-
temic racism that have
drawn people to Portland,
often ending with confron-
tations between police and
some protesters who have
set fi res, thrown fi reworks
and other objects at offi -
cers and vandalized gov-
ernment buildings.
Simon granted the
injunction after the ACLU
submitted 34 separate
statements from journal-
ists, photojournalists and
legal observers who said
they suffered shots to the
back, neck and legs from
impact munitions fi red by
federal offi cers outside the
Mark O. Hatfi eld United
States Courthouse in
downtown since early July.
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