6A — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2021
STATE/SPORTS
State tax collections buck
pandemic unemployment trends
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
The Observer, File
Eastern Oregon University volleyball players Madison Pi-
lon (4) and Cambree Scott (12) jump to attempt a block
during a November 2019 match against Southern Oregon
University. EOU’s volleyball team is off to a 4-0 start. The
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics on Tues-
day, Feb. 23, 2021, named Scott its National Defensive
Player of the Week.
EOU’s Cambree Scott
earns National Player
of the Week honors
The Observer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
Following an impressive
weekend that saw Eastern
Oregon University vol-
leyball go 4-0 to start the
season, the National Asso-
ciation of Intercollegiate
Athletics tabbed Cam-
bree Scott as the National
Defensive Player of the
Week.
The NAIA released its
list of players of the week
on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
Scott was a key con-
tributor on both sides of
the ball for No. 9 EOU,
tallying 34 kills and 24
blocks in the team’s 4-0
opening weekend, the uni-
versity reported.
The 6-foot tall junior
had a near double-double
in the season opener
against Multnomah Uni-
versity with nine kills and
10 blocks. She fi nished
with nine kill outings in
both wins against Mult-
nomah University.
Against Oregon Insti-
tute of Technology, Scott
helped anchor a front-line
defense that held OIT to a
.159 hitting percentage in
the fi rst match and a .153
mark in the second match,
according to EOU. For the
weekend, Scott and East-
ern’s defense held oppo-
nents to an average .106
hitting. Scott ranks fi fth
in the Cascade Colle-
giate Conference in hitting
at .338 and is second in
blocks with 24.
For Scott, she earns
her fi rst national weekly
honors after receiving the
CCC Defensive Player of
the Week. The CCC has
named her its player of the
week three times now. She
picked up the honor twice
in 2019, earning offensive
and defensive player of the
week honors.
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity also reported for head
coach Kaki McLean
Morehead, this is the fi rst
player to receive NAIA
Player of the Week honors
in 14 years of leading
the volleyball program.
CCC crowns Azure
as Men’s Wrestling
Coach of the Year
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A
jury of his peers elected
Eastern Oregon Universi-
ty’s Dustyn Azure as the
2020-21 Cascade Colle-
giate Conference Men’s
Wrestling Coach of the
Year.
The conference
on Tuesday, Feb. 23,
announced
Azure’s fellow
head men’s
wrestling
coaches voted
on him to earn
the honor.
Azure
CCC Commis-
sioner Robert
Cashell in a written state-
ment congratulated Azure.
“This has indeed been
a challenging season for
all of our teams,” Cashell
stated, “and Dustyn has
done a wonderful job
with his team, as well as
serving as our conference
and national rater.”
This is Azure’s fi fth
year at the helm for EOU,
and fi ve Mountaineers
qualifi ed for the NAIA
National Champion-
ship, scheduled for March
5-6 in Park City, Kansas
— the second-most in
the CCC. Under Azure,
EOU boasts a 34-34 dual
record, including an
impressive 15-5 mark last
season.
According to EOU,
Azure in the past four sea-
sons produced four indi-
vidual All-Americans,
two top-20 fi nishes at the
NAIA National Tourna-
ment, two top-10 NWCA
Scholar All-American
team awards, along with
six Individual Scholar
All-Americans.
EOU is Azure’s fi rst
head coaching assignment
at the collegiate level. He
came to Eastern from the
highly successful wres-
tling program at Montana
State University-Northern,
where he spent four years
as the head assistant wres-
tling coach, along with
being the strength and
conditioning coach for the
Lights.
In addition to his
coaching duties, Azure
served as the senior
admissions specialist
for the university, which
allowed him to recruit
potential MSU-Northern
students.
Azure and his wife,
Jennifer, who is a teacher
in the La Grande School
District, have four daugh-
ters — Kierstyn, Sydnee,
Mackenzee, and Hallie.
The Mountaineers head
to the Midwest in two
weeks after having com-
peted in one event during
the strange 2020-21 reg-
ular season.
EOU competed at the
Nampa Collegiate Invite
in Idaho back on Feb. 6
and each of the fi ve
qualifi ers — along with
EOU’s alternate —
posted solid results, with
a combined 19-0 record
heading into nationals.
SALEM — More
than 150,000 Oregonians
remain out of work as a
result of the coronavirus
pandemic, but income tax
collections that support
state services and public
schools are likely to exceed
pre-pandemic forecasts.
State economists told
lawmakers on Wednesday,
Feb. 25, that is good news
for the current two-year
state budget — but not so
good for the next couple
of budget cycles, including
the spending plan law-
makers are putting together
now.
State Economist Mark
McMullen likened it to
what happened in 1990,
when Oregon underwent a
relatively mild economic
downturn, but growth in
tax collections slowed for a
few years afterward.
“We have a couple of
years with fl at growth
… without any gains in
revenue, which is good
for a recession, but bad
for keeping up with the
spending side,” McMullen
said at a quarterly presen-
tation to House and Senate
revenue committees.
He and senior economist
Josh Lehner had projected
a $2 billion drop in tax col-
lections right after the start
of the pandemic last spring.
But in their latest forecast,
they said lawmakers will
have about $800 million
more in collections avail-
able for the current budget
period and the next, which
starts July 1. Even with
lawmakers tapping it on
Dec. 21, the ending balance
and two state reserves will
have about $3.1 billion at
the start of the new budget
period.
Largely as a result of
billions in federal aid to
individuals and businesses,
McMullen said, Oregon’s
overall income levels were
up 5%, not down, despite
the sharpest one-month
nosedive in Oregon’s
unemployment rate from a
record-low 3.3% in March
2020 to 14.2% in April
2020. The December rate
was 6.4%.
“You see employ-
ment down around 6%
in Oregon over the past
year, which is the same
as the worst year of the
Great Recession, when
our income tax revenues
fell by 20%. Here you see
much less,” McMullen
said. “If you extend this for
our preliminary numbers
for 2021, the revenues will
be back to where they were
last year.”
Lehner said Oregon has
benefi ted from $12 billion
in unemployment benefi t
payments that are taxable,
$11 billion in Paycheck
Protection Program for-
givable loans to businesses
that are deductible, and $8
billion in federal rebates.
(One round paid $1,200 to
individuals, and a second
round paid $600; Congress
is considering a third plan
for $1,400.)
“That is keeping income
up, this far into the reces-
sion, that we have not
seen before in decades —
this level of income sup-
port coming from the fed-
eral government,” Lehner
said.” If we were to take
out all the direct aid …
that underlying income
would take us all the way
back before the pandemic.
The economy has proven
more resilient than we fi rst
feared.”
Predictably, Demo-
cratic legislative leaders
welcomed the news, but
Republicans talked about
the downside of so many
people still unemployed or
underemployed.
Democratic Gov.
Kate Brown said the
cheering is premature.
“Even with this good
news, it is important to
move forward cautiously,
as the road ahead remains
unpredictable,” she said
in a statement. “We also
know that many Orego-
nians are still struggling
with job losses, underem-
ployment, and making ends
meet.”
Lawmakers will base
their decisions on Brown’s
$25.6 billion budget,
drawn from the tax-sup-
ported general fund and
lottery proceeds, after the
next economic and rev-
enue forecast now sched-
uled May 19. Lawmakers
and Brown herself concede
it falls short of maintaining
some state service and aid
to public schools.
But the U.S. Congress is
working on President Joe
Biden’s $1.9 trillion pan-
demic recovery plan, which
offers more aid for Oregon
and other states.
“If passed, this bill
would provide another
round of much needed aid
for states and direct bene-
fi ts for Oregonians in the
form of essential services
such as unemployment
assistance, nutrition assis-
tance, housing aid, and tax
credits for families and
workers,” Brown said.
Bill would allow more Oregon schools
and public buildings to ban guns
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — A bill that
would allow local gov-
ernments, school districts
and universities to prohibit
handguns in public build-
ings is on its way to the
Senate fl oor, following a
tense committee hearing
Thursday, Feb. 25.
Senate Bill 554 is the
fi rst gun control bill of the
2021 legislative session to
move toward a fl oor vote.
And in normal fashion,
the measure drew intense
opposition from gun
owners.
Currently, anyone with a
concealed handgun license
in Oregon can legally bring
their weapon into build-
ings, such as city halls,
public university buildings,
or public schools. SB 554
would not change that, but it
would allow governments,
school districts, ports and
other entities to create their
own rules banning fi rearms
in their buildings.
Those bans would need
to be made clear with sig-
nage and online notices.
Anyone violating the rules
could be subject to a class
C felony.
SB 554 also would
increase fees for applying
for a concealed handgun
license from $50 to $100,
and the fee for renewing a
license from $50 to $75.
In committee hearings
and hundreds of pieces of
written testimony, oppo-
nents of the bill argued
that it amounted to an
FBI tracks active shooter
incidents in the U.S., along
with how those events end,
and typically fi nds a rela-
“I’ll be darned if I’m going to be a
sitting duck for a person who wants
to come in and start shooting. It’s
just not right.”
— Senate Minority Leader Fred Girod,
R-Lyons, who said he and his wife routinely
carry guns into the state Capitol
unnecessary infringe-
ment on gun rights. Many
pointed out concealed
handgun licensees need to
pass background checks
and must meet a range of
requirements, including
not having misdemeanor
convictions within four
years and no outstanding
warrants.
Those requirements,
opponents say, mean CHL
holders tend to be law-
abiding citizens. Many
people referred to claims
that concealed handgun
licensees are less likely to
be convicted of a crime
than police offi cers, though
the data surrounding that
comparison is fuzzy.
Others have argued
people with con-
cealed-carry licenses are a
last defense against crimi-
nals and mass shooters. The
tively small percentage are
stopped by armed citizens
and unarmed citizens alike.
The numbers behind the
FBI reports are sometimes
disputed by gun rights
advocates.
“There’s confusion
about CHL holders and
violent crime,” Senate
Minority Leader Fred
Girod, R-Lyons, testifi ed in
a hearing Feb. 22. “There’s
a huge difference between
the two.”
Though SB 554 did not
contemplate the state Cap-
itol, Girod said he and his
wife routinely carry guns in
the building, and would not
stop. “I’ll be darned if I’m
going to be a sitting duck
for a person who wants to
come in and start shooting,”
he said. “It’s just not right.”
More generally, oppo-
nents of the bill have
argued it will not make
public buildings any safer,
because people planning
to commit violence would
disregard any weapons
ban. Gun rights advocates
say the proposal instead
will needlessly put law-
abiding gun owners at risk
of committing felonies as
they encounter a patchwork
of varying restrictions on
where they can carry.
“This law will have
the effect of inviting an
emboldened criminal ele-
ment,” said state Sen. Kim
Thatcher, R-Keizer. “It will
make our communities less
safe.”
Proponents of SB 554
say it should be up to local
governments and school
districts to decide if guns
are acceptable in their
buildings. They point to a
Supreme Court decision
penned by late conserva-
tive Justice Antonin Scalia
in 2008 that suggested
such limitations were per-
missible under the Second
Amendment.
“As an elected offi cial,
I believe it’s incumbent
on me and my colleagues
to welcome the public,”
Multnomah County
Commissioner Sharon
Meieran said. “Our sense
of safety is increasingly
threatened as our public
buildings have become
focal points for anti-
democratic extremists.”
Aaron Cooper, PA-C—Adam Heisinger, DO—Stacy Iles, DPM—Ben Olson, DO—Arie Trouw, MD—Clay Hill, NP-C
Surround yourself with the best team in town.