Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2015)
February 20, 2015 CapitalPress.com 3 Farm groups oppose merging state agencies Proposed legislation would examine consolidation By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — Legislation that would examine merging natural resource agencies in Oregon is opposed by farm and timber groups as a “solu- tion in search of a problem.” Under Senate Bill 24, a task force appointed by leg- islative leaders and the gover- nor would “study the benefits of abolishing or consolidat- ing” 14 state agencies charged with managing natural re- sources. Aside from the possibili- ty of saving money, consol- idation could improve the state government’s efficiency in analysis and permitting, said Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland. However, the task force may decide that Oregon is bet- ter off with the current struc- ture, Dembrow said during a Fed. 16 hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. The Oregon Farm Bureau is confident the agencies are already functioning smoothly and doesn’t think it’s neces- sary to spend time contem- plating alternatives, said Katie Fast, the group’s vice president of public policy. Promoting agriculture is an important part of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s mission but may get swamped by other priorities if it was merged with other agencies that are solely focused on reg- ulation, she said. The boards and commis- sions that oversee state agen- cies have also developed expertise that’s specific to natural resource industries, Fast said. These governing bodies are already asked to handle many complex issues, said Heath Curtiss, director of govern- ment affairs for the Oregon Forest Industries Council. If boards or commissions were merged to oversee a broader regulatory sphere, their members would struggle to develop expertise and would have little choice but to defer to agency officials, he said. It would be possible to merge natural resource agen- cies without eliminating de- partment directors or com- missions, but at that point the added efficiency is question- able and consolidation may just amount to another layer of government, Curtiss said. A larger bureaucracy is undesirable because it could encumber the resolution of regulatory questions or seek to overrule the decisions of state agencies, said Mike Freese, vice president of Associated Oregon Industries. The committee also consid- ered two other bills character- ized as “agency consolidation light” by Richard Whitman, natural resources policy direc- tor for Gov. John Kitzhaber. Senate Bill 201 would cre- ate “natural resources align- ment coordinators” to work with regional teams and help agencies make regulatory de- cisions, while Senate Bill 203 would establish a “natural re- sources partnership coordina- tor” to find cooperation oppor- tunities with private interests as well as other government entities. Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, asked why new positions are necessary since state agencies are already trying to coordi- nate with each other. “We are doing it on an ad hoc basis and leaving oppor- tunities on the table that we should be taking advantage of, frankly,” said Whitman. Obama immigration action creates pitfalls for employers By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Judge stalls Obama’s executive action on immigration WENATCHEE, Wash. — So you’re an employer and an employee asks for your help in applying for a work per- mit granted under President Obama’s controversial immi- gration executive actions. By law, you should fire the employee because he just gave you “constructive knowledge” that he’s an illegal worker, said Tom Roach, a Pasco immigra- tion attorney. Constructive knowledge is when people know facts that indicate they should know an- other fact. As far as the govern- ment is concerned, constructive knowledge is as good as factual knowledge, Roach said. In this example, if the employee asks for help applying for a work per- mit it indicates he is in the coun- try illegally and cannot remain employed. Most employers will prob- ably say they didn’t hear what the employee said and that they can’t help, he said. But if the employee doesn’t admit he’s illegal and doesn’t say why he needs his employ- ment records, the employer can provide them, Roach told at- tendees of a recent Washington Farm Labor Association labor conference in Wenatchee. It’s even better for the em- HOUSTON (AP) — The White House promised an appeal Tuesday after a federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked President Barack Obama’s executive action on immi- gration and gave a coalition of 26 states time to pursue a lawsuit aiming to permanently stop the orders. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s de- cision late Monday puts on hold Obama’s orders that could spare from deportation as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally. Hanen wrote in a memorandum accom- panying his order that the lawsuit should go forward. Without a preliminary injunc- tion, he said, the states would “suffer ir- Dan Wheat/Capital Press Tom Roach, a Pasco, Wash., immigration attorney talks about President Obama’s executive action for illegal immigrants at the Washington Farm Labor Association’s annual meeting, in Wenatchee, on Feb. 12. ployer if the employee simply uses his paycheck stubs as proof of employment to apply for the permit, he said. Three years ago, under his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Obama gave deporta- tion deferrals to 600,000 immi- grants under age 30 if they had come to the U.S. illegally before age 15. In November, he extend- ed that action to 300,000 more immigrants. Obama also issued the De- ferred Action for Parents of Americans for an estimated 4.5 million adults, who have illegal- ly been in the U.S. for at least five years and who have chil- dren who are U.S. citizens. A federal judge in Texas has issued an injunction blocking im- plementation of that program as a lawsuit filed by 26 states claim- ing Obama has overstepped his authority makes its way through the courts. The administration is set to appeal the injunction. About 90,000 to 100,000 people in Washington state quali- fy for DAPA, Roach said. If the program is allowed to proceed, when people meet DAPA requirements they will be issued a temporary work permit and a Social Security card valid only with the permit. At that point, Roach said, employers could fire employees for previously lying to them about their legal status, but they don’t have to. Employers should treat everyone consistently and not single out employees they don’t like, he said. reparable harm in this case.” “The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle,” he wrote, adding that he agreed that legalizing the presence of millions of people is a “virtually irreversible” action. In a statement early Tuesday, the White House defended the executive actions issued in November as within the president’s legal authority, saying the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress have said federal officials can estab- lish priorities in enforcing immigration laws. “The district court’s decision wrongly prevents these lawful, commonsense pol- icies from taking effect and the Depart- ment of Justice has indicated that it will appeal that decision,” the statement said. It’s best to fill out new I-9 forms using the work permit as the sole document proving em- ployment eligibility, he said. Leon Sequeira, a Washington, D.C., labor attorney, said he’s not sure a lot of people will apply for a permit because they may not want to risk exposure to the fed- eral government for a three-year permit if they’ve already gone undetected for many years. Paula McKay, manager of Mar-Jon Labor, an Othello la- bor contractor, said most farm- workers are making more mon- ey than they were five years ago but if they obtain permits they may move on to higher-paying non-agricultural jobs. 8-4/#4X By DAN WHEAT Capital Press The USDA has deregulat- ed two genetically modified apple varieties from British Columbia for propagation and sales in the United States. But the company that de- veloped the varieties, Okana- gan Specialty Fruits of Sum- merland, B.C., may have a hard time finding growers in- terested in growing the apples in the U.S. because of public concern and opposition to ge- netically modified foods. “We’re super excited. It’s been 57 months of waiting, so it’s very good news for us,” Neil Carter, president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, told Capital Press. The company’s Arc- tic-brand Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples have been engineered to silence a gene that causes browning when sliced. The company is working on other varieties. Carter believes non-brown- ing and GM apples with other attributes could increase apple consumption and returns to growers. He says biotechnol- ogy is needed to help agricul- ture meet an ever-expanding global food demand. While supportive of the science, the Washington ap- ple industry has opposed de- regulation of the GM apples because it believes it could damage apple sales. Chris Schlect, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council in Yakima, said that’s still the case. He noted plant- ing orchards is expensive and that growers will be unlikely to invest time and money into varieties that are controversial and risky. Two years ago, John Rice, co-owner of Rice Fruit Co. in Gardners, Pa., the largest ap- ple packer on the East Coast, said he wanted to plant the GM apples. Ten years earlier, he lost peach orchards to a vi- rus that potentially could have been saved by GM rootstock had it existed. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Neal Carter, president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Summer- land, B.C., is shown with the Arctic Golden and Granny apples at the Washington State Horticultural Association annual meeting in Wenatchee, Wash., in 2013. The USDA has deregulated the genetically modified apples. But now Rice no longer wants to plant GM apples. “My position has evolved, driven by what seems to be an increasingly militant point of view adopted by consumer groups and the national media that seems to make GM foods seem like part of an evil con- spiracy to make people un- healthy by selling foods more profitable to the grower,” Rice said. “That was never my idea. I’ve always looked at it as the same as breeding to improve apples for the con- sumer by making them more flavorful or crisp or nutritious or requiring less pesticides.” Rice expressed admiration for Carter but said he thinks Carter will have a hard time finding people in the U.S. willing to plant Arctic apples. He said the processing coop- erative he uses — for apples for juicing, sauce and pie filling — has already said it won’t use any GM apples. He said he doubts food service distributors will want to go there either. Carter said he sees the food service industry as a greater market for his non-browning apples than the fresh market. Arctic apples could lessen costs and boost sales of the sliced-apple snack business, he has said. But a leader in that business, Crunch Pak of Cashmere, Wash., has said it has no intention of using them. In deregulating Arctic ap- ples, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Ser- vice said it found the apples are unlikely to pose a risk to plants or the human environ- ment. Carter said consumers can be confident in rigorous re- view of the apples and that the USDA found them just as safe and healthy as any other apple. “All we’ve done is reduce the expression of a single enzyme. There are no novel proteins in Arctic fruit and its nutrition and composition is equivalent to conventional counterparts,” he said. rop-6-26-5/#17 USDA approves GM apples developed in Canada • Garages/Shops • Commercial • Agricultural • Industrial 503-668-7211 • 855-668-7211 www.WSBNW.com • Sandy, OR Buy Factory Direct & SAVE! 8-2/#8 8-4/#4N