Friday, February 14, 2020
CapitalPress.com
3
Oregon wine industry sees
Oregon hemp tracking
proposal stirs opposition leadership shuffle to begin 2020
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
County governments
willing to forgo new
hemp requirements
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon’s county govern-
ments have backed off from
a cannabis tracking pro-
posal that met with opposi-
tion from the state’s hemp
industry.
Changes to Oregon’s
hemp laws are being dis-
cussed during the 2020 leg-
islative session in reaction to
the USDA’s new nationwide
regulations for the crop.
To comply with the fed-
eral requirements, lawmak-
ers are considering vesting
the Oregon Department of
Agriculture with additional
authorities over hemp.
Without these provisions,
the state’s hemp farmers
would come under the direct
jurisdiction of the USDA
later this year.
The revisions included
in one proposal, House Bill
4072, are supported by Ore-
gon State University, the
Oregon Farm Bureau and
the Oregon Industrial Hemp
Farmers Association, which
claim they’re necessary to
preserve the state’s position
as a top hemp producer.
“This bill is exceedingly
important for us to main-
tain our own oversight and
regulation of this indus-
try and as a result continue
our national leadership in
this important sector,” said
Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clats-
kanie, chief sponsor of of
HB 4072.
Specifically, HB 4072
would allow ODA to con-
duct criminal background
checks of hemp growers
and to conform the state’s
hemp rules with federal
regulations required under
the 2018 Farm Bill, which
effectively legalized the crop
nationally.
The Association of Ore-
gon Counties supports an
alternative proposal, House
Bill 4158, that would
include these provisions but
would also require hemp
farmers to submit proof
they can legally irrigate
their crops.
Capital Press File
The Association of Oregon Counties is willing to strip
away controversial hemp-related provisions from a
bill the organization supports after encountering op-
position.
Under the bill, identifica-
tion tracking tags would also
have to be attached to ship-
ments of cannabis, which
includes hemp as well as
marijuana, a variant of the
plant that contains psycho-
active levels of THC.
Law enforcement officers
would be able to seize can-
nabis that violates the track-
ing tag requirement.
The Oregon Industrial
Hemp Farmers Association
objected to these additional
requirements during a Feb. 5
legislative hearing, arguing
they’re unnecessarily oner-
ous for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture as well
as growers.
“We do want to collabo-
rate with law enforcement,”
said Courtney Moran, the
association’s president.
However, it’s unaccept-
able to bring hemp under
the same regulations as
marijuana without exam-
ining the higher costs for
farmers and other issues,
she said.
Water rights should
remain under the jurisdic-
tion of the Oregon Water
Resources Department and
hemp shouldn’t be singled
out under the law, since the
need for enforcement isn’t
limited to any one commod-
ity, Moran said.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture already
wants to shift a portion of
its hemp license fees to
OWRD for a water master
to investigate hemp-related
violations, she said.
The
Oregon
Farm
Bureau agreed that HB
4158’s concept of placing
hemp transportation under
the jurisdiction of the Ore-
gon Liquor Control Com-
mission wasn’t properly
vetted.
“Our members don’t feel
OLCC tracking is appropri-
ate for a legal agricultural
commodity,” said Mary
Anne Cooper, vice presi-
dent of public policy for the
group.
Submitting information
about water rights to the
ODA wouldn’t be useful
in terms of enforcing water
rights, which should stay
under the OWRD’s author-
ity, Cooper said. “It’s not
something the ODA should
get in the middle of.”
The Association of Ore-
gon Counties recognizes
that hemp is a significant
new crop with a vibrant
future, said Rob Bovett,
the group’s interim execu-
tive director and legal coun-
sel. The association sim-
ply wants to prevent it from
providing cover for the ille-
gal transportation of mar-
ijuana to other states, he
said.
“We seem to be leaking a
lot of THC out of the hemp
program into the interstate
black market,” Bovett said.
Even so, the Association
of Oregon Counties wants
to move forward with other
revisions in HB 4158 spe-
cific to marijuana law, so
it’s willing to strip away the
elements opposed by the
hemp industry, subject to
further discussions, he said.
“We want that out of this
bill ,” Bovett said.
PORTLAND — Mem-
bers of the Oregon Wine-
growers Association will
likely elect a new board of
directors sometime in 2020,
pending changes to the orga-
nization’s bylaws.
The leadership shuffle
comes as the OWA seeks to
differentiate its role from
the Oregon Wine Board, a
semi-independent govern-
ment agency whose direc-
tors are appointed by the
governor.
OWA is the primary trade
group representing Oregon
wineries and vineyards, lob-
bying on behalf of the indus-
try in Salem and Washing-
ton, D.C. It is separate from
the OWB, which was created
by state lawmakers in 2003
to promote wine research
and marketing funded by a
$25-per-ton winegrape tax.
Until
recently,
the
two groups shared the
same administrator, Tom
Danowski, and continue to
share the same board. Some
winemakers, however, worry
the overlap creates con-
flict and confusion, unfairly
benefiting OWA members
by having the same people
decide how to spend their tax
dollars.
Kevin Chambers, OWA
board president and owner of
Koosah Farm in Amity, Ore.,
said the association previ-
ously decided to combine
boards with the OWB due to
the smaller size of the indus-
try at the time. There were
simply not enough inter-
ested, qualified candidates to
fill two boards, he said.
But as the number of Ore-
gon wineries has increased
nearly fourfold from 201 in
2013 to 793 in 2018, Cham-
bers said now is the time for
change. He spoke during the
annual Oregon Wine Sympo-
sium on Feb. 11 at the Ore-
gon Convention Center in
Portland.
OREGON WINE
ASSOCIATION
The Oregon Winegrowers
Association currently
shares a board of direc-
tors with the Oregon
Wine Board, whose mem-
bers are governor-ap-
pointed.
Jana McKamey, executive
director of the Oregon
Winegrowers Association.
Members include:
“Sometimes when you
speak truth to power, power
listens and acts,” Chambers
said. “Your OWA board lis-
tened to these criticisms, and
we have taken action.”
Danowski stepped down
as executive director of the
OWA in December after
eight years, though he will
continue to serve as presi-
dent of the OWB. Jana McK-
amey, former vice president
of government affairs and
operations for OWA, took
over as executive director of
the association on Jan. 1.
The next step, Chambers
said, will be electing a new
board for the OWA. First he
said the organization needs
to change its bylaws to set
up an election down the
road.
“Presently, our bylaws
just say the board of the
OWA shall be the same of the
governor-appointed OWB,”
Chambers said. “So we have
to make some changes.”
An ad hoc bylaws com-
mittee formed in November,
and includes 13 OWA mem-
bers from around the state.
Chambers said he expects
they will come forward with
a recommendation later this
year.
McKamey, who also
spoke at the symposium, said
both organizations see this
move as a positive. “It allows
us to be laser-focused on our
distinct but interconnected
missions,” she said.
She hopes that, in turn,
will help to rebuild trust and
• Bob Morus, Phelps
Creek Vineyards, Hood
River.
• Kevin Chambers, Koo-
sah Farm, Amity.
• Donna Morris, Winder-
lea Vineyard and Winery,
Dundee.
• Eugenia Keegan,
Jackson Family Wines,
McMinnville.
• Bertony Faustin, Abbey
Creek Vineyard, North
Plains.
• Hilda Jones, Abacela
Vineyards and Winery,
Roseburg.
• Justin King, King Estate
Winery, Eugene.
• Barbara Steele, Cow-
horn Vineyard & Garden,
Jacksonville.
• Jason Tosch, Stoller
Family Estate, Dayton.
unity within the industry
after an especially combat-
ive 2019 legislative session
marked by several contro-
versial wine-related bills —
most notably Senate Bill 111,
which would have stiffened
penalties for labeling vio-
lations. Opponents argued
SB 111 would have crippled
their businesses by deterring
out-of-state wineries from
buying Oregon grapes.
An industry coalition
came together to defeat
SB 111, and then went on
to form its own trade asso-
ciation, the Oregon Wine
Council, with its own board
of directors in opposition of
the OWA.
o
T
r
u
!
o
t
s
Y
i
L
Do
Date: 00/00/00
Time:
d
a
o
l
n
w
o
D
þ
w
2020 AMMO Farm Management Training Programs are underway!
Breaking Barriers in
Agriculture
with Lesley Kelly
Tuesday, February 18
The Wild Side of
Weather & Markets
with Eric Snodgrass
& Kevin Duling
10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Thursday, February 20
Northern Quest Casino
10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Northern Quest Casino
For full details & registration information visit: wawg.org/ammo-workshops
WAWG members admitted free of charge. $25 for non-members. Lunch provided & prizes
available! Registration is requested 3 days prior to session.
S172156-1
e
n
-
l
l
a
the ress app
P
l
a
t
Capi
ff
þ
u
t
s
r
e
Oth
DON’T FORGET —
Download the all-new
Capital Press app
for FREE!
GET THESE
BENEFITS
•Quickly scroll through the latest
headlines while on the go.
•Customize your news feed with
the topics that interest you.
NEWSPAPERS
SUPPORT LEARNING.
•Easily save articles for reading later.
•Share articles with the tap of a finger.
Call us at 800-882-6789
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
1-800-882-6789
S172152-1
•Content can be viewed offline when
out of service range.
S172155-1
You Can Support Ag Newspapers in
Our Community’s Classrooms
•Receive breaking news alerts.