FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Political
— Editorial —
HB3093:
Reciprocity
bill needs to
pass as is
Representatives Cliff Bentz, Kim
Thatcher and Bill Post are the Chief
co-sponsors of a Concealed Handgun
License reciprocity bill that is long
overdue.
There are 12 chief and regular spon-
sors of this bill in total—11 Republi-
cans and 1 Democrat.
We’re fully in support of their ef-
forts and praise them for this bill.
But wouldn’t you know it, the
liberal gun-grabbers who backed the
Bloomberg-funded, absolutely ab-
surd and unenforceable SB941—the
private sales registration bill that just
passed along party lines—are out to
muddy the clear waters of HB3093.
As drafted, HB3093 is a simple reci-
procity bill, mirroring laws that exist
in so many other states, which will al-
low a trained and licensed CHL holder
from another state to carry across state
lines into Oregon without breaking the
law.
The description of the bill is this:
“Provides persons licensed to carry
concealed handgun in another state
with protections provided to persons
with Oregon concealed handgun
license if other state [that has no
less stringent handgun competency
requirement than] recognizes Oregon
concealed handgun licenses and re-
quires handgun competency to obtain
license that is similar to requirement
in Oregon.”
The bill doesn’t increase revenue
or cost more to implement. With no
financial impact, it simply does what it
intends: Opens up reciprocity between
states.
The bill sailed through the House
with only one “no” vote coming from
anti-gun zealot Rep. Barbara Warner.
In a strange local twist, Warner
is the sister-in-law of former Baker
County Commissioner, Fred Warner,
Jr. Conversely, one of the “regular”
sponsors of the bill, Rep. Jodi Hack,
also has local ties in that she’s the
sister of former Baker County Clerk
Tami Green.
At the time this issue went to print,
the bill was stalled in the Senate Judi-
ciary Committee with the Democrats
voting on May 26 to keep it there and
not send it to the floor for a vote. An-
other “work session” in that commit-
tee was scheduled for yesterday. The
head of the Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee, by the way, is Sen. Floyd Prozan-
ski, the chief sponsor of SB941.
Right now the committee has a
pro tempore president, Sen. Ginny
Burdick, another staunch supporter of
SB941.
The reason for the stall is that the
anti-gun crowd is attempting to stuff
this good bill so full of legislative
bloat that is ceases to be the clean,
simple bill it was intended to be. The
proposed amendments tie it back and
forth to SB941—for some reason.
The Oregon Firearms Federation
points to one bizarre change. “Under
this amendment you can now loan a
firearm, to someone you know, for a
whole seven days! Of course, you
will still have to subject that person to
a background check, but now, under
this great compromise, you could
invade their privacy and subject them
to the failed background check system
in the privacy of your own home by
calling the State Police and register-
ing your gun to your friend over the
phone instead of dragging them to a
gun store and paying whatever fee the
dealer wanted to charge. The police
can, of course, still delay or deny with
no justification, as they do now. This
is nonsense and solves nothing.”
If SB941 so was beneficial it needed
to pass, why less than a month later,
are amendments being added to not
only correct it, but to corrupt what
would be this new common sense reci-
procity law?
Senators Chuck Riley, Susan
McLain and Val Hoyle are currently
facing recall efforts as a direct result
of their SB941 votes. Riley, in par-
ticular was heavily donated to during
his race by a gun-control group also
funded by former New York City
mayor Michael Bloomberg. More
recall petitions are rumored to be
forthcoming. We sure hope so.
In the meanwhile, it would be nice if
these apparently confused individuals in
the Oregon Senate would just pass HB
3093 as is.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Letters to the Editor —
The shell game
To the Editor:
It’s been described as a shell game,
it’s been delivered as a saving grace for
the “sustainability” of our nation, and it
is so important that is has taken at least
five forest supervisors and eight years
to complete but one thing is for certain,
they don’t want you knowing what you’re
getting in the travel management plan, and
they surely do not want you having a true
voice in the discussion.
Currently the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest is working on Subpart A
of the plan, this part is where the For-
est Service decides how many and what
roads are needed (or more importantly not
needed) to manage the forest. One would
think the supervisor’s office would hold
meetings with the residents of the region
to find out their specific uses and needs
and work that into the equation, unfor-
tunately that isn’t the case. I personally,
have a request in from September of 2014
for the draft document outlining those
minimum roads numbers, as of today, I
still have no document.
Why you might ask, well it’s pretty
simple, because they don’t want us to
know. See, it’s pretty hard to sneak some-
thing thru when everyone knows what
you’re doing, and so the Forest Service
simply keeps us in the dark until they file
the report with their regional office in
Portland. They’ll say, we asked them to
participate in the maps session and that
should count for meeting their needs, but
it doesn’t.
Currently in Eastern Oregon exists a
draft document of the Subpart A report,
and the roads it intends to identify for clo-
sure. And by the end of 2015 the WWNF
will release that plan to the regional office
for acceptance.
The question is, will you allow them to
do it without standing up and saying no?
If you have time, please send an email to
Tom Montoya, tmontoya@fs.fed.us re-
questing the draft Subpart A report and tell
him travel management planning cannot
move forward until all uses are protected
in the Subpart A report.
John George
Bates
— Guest Opinion —
Cattlemen
support TPA
Submitted by the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association
Oregon agriculture supports Trade
Promotion Authority (TPA) and well
crafted trade agreements with Asian and
European countries and asks for your
support as well. A trade agreement with
Asian countries will create huge access
to agricultural markets overseas. Oregon
exports 80% of the agricultural products
it produces and half of that goes outside
the United States, the majority of it to
Asia and the countries in TPP. As you
know, the bipartisan Congressional Trade
Priorities and Accountability Act (TPA),
creates a process for negotiating trade
deals, by instructing the administration to
follow congressional priorities on trade.
The bicameral bill includes unprecedented
new provisions to improve transparency,
boost Congressional oversight and require
stronger enforcement for existing trade
agreements, U.S. trade laws, any new
trade agreement.
These new trade agreements will make
it easier for farmers and ranchers to com-
pete by creating a level playing field with
overseas competitors.
- International trade is one of the most
important economic opportunities for
Oregon workers.
- Trade in Oregon supports over 490,000
jobs.
- Trade-dependent jobs grew 7.5 times
faster than total employment over the last
decade.
- Wages in trade-dependent jobs are 20
to 40 percent higher than non-export jobs.
Exports, now totaling nearly $21 billion,
have increased by 40% since the recession
year of 2009.
- Greater Portland was one of only four
regions in the country to double their
exports over the last decade.
Trade is vital to the growth of small
companies, which export directly and sup-
ply export-dependent large businesses.
A total of 6,001 companies exported
goods from Oregon locations in 2012. Of
Oregon’s exporting companies, 88 percent
were small and medium sized enterprises.
They generated 34 percent of Oregon’s
total exports of merchandise in 2012.
In countries where the United States
has free trade agreements, exports of
U.S. food and agricultural products have
grown significantly. Oregon’s agricultural
exports reached an estimated $2.3 billion
in 2013, up from $1.5 billion in 2009.
Oregon’s exports help boost farm prices
and income while supporting about 17,400
jobs both on the farm and in related indus-
tries such as food processing, transporta-
tion and manufacturing.
Oregon produces the best agricultural
commodities in the world. Oregon’s agri-
cultural exports include wheat, processed
fruits and nuts, fresh fruits, processed
vegetables, dairy products, wine and beef.
The State of Oregon offers domestic and
international trade assistance programs to
provide help to Oregon farmers, ranch-
ers, fishermen and companies with market
development, products development and
marketing. Some trade assistance is made
possible by the specialty crop grants pro-
vided by you through the farm bill. The
dollars the federal government provided
are being used well and are working for
Oregon.
Nationwide, U.S. food and agricultural
exports reached a record $150.5 billion in
2014, supporting more than one million
American jobs. Global demand for these
products is growing, but so is competition
among suppliers.
Trade is essential to our economy. We
live in a world where insularity is not
possible. Most nations have much higher
trade tariffs and other barriers to trade
than the United States, causing a disparity
to US producers. When trade agreements
lower those barriers and tariffs, we win.
Our economy wins. Our farmers win.
We respectfully request your continued
support by supporting Trade Promotion
Authority. If you wish to have your name
or your business’ name on a letter of sup-
port please email us at oca@orcattle.com.
FCC transparency bill takes
another step ahead
WASHINGTON, DC
- The Subcommittee on
Communications and
Technology, chaired by
Rep. Greg Walden (R-
Hood River), last week
approved seven bills aimed
at improving transparency
and process at the Federal
Communications Commis-
sion (FCC). The markup
follows two hearings by
the subcommittee examin-
ing these issues with mem-
bers of the commission and
expert witnesses.
“I am pleased that both
Republicans and Demo-
crats alike recognize the
value of increased trans-
parency at the commission
and see a need for congres-
sional action to improve
the FCC’s decision-making
process,” said Walden.
“We all realize the incred-
ible reach that technol-
ogy has in our lives. We
live in world where we
carry smartphones in our
pockets, watch connected
televisions at home, and
conduct business by video
conference in the office.
The smallest entrepreneurs
carry portable credit card
scanners, and the largest
corporations build server
farms. They store our
emails, map our vacations,
and secure our transac-
tions. The FCC’s work
doesn’t only impact the
industries that it regulates,
— Contact Us —
The Baker County Press
PO Box 567
Baker City, Ore. 97814
Open Monday-Thursday for calls
9 AM - 4 PM
Open 24/7 for emails
Office location: TBA
Phone: 541.519.0572
TheBakerCountyPress.com
Kerry McQuisten, Publisher
Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Wendee Morrissey, Advertising and Sales
Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
County Press reserves the right not to pub-
lish letters containing factual falsehoods or
incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or
detracting from specific for-profit business-
es will not be published. Word limit is 375
words per letter. Letters are limited to one
every other week per author. Letters should
be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty-
Press.com.
Advertising and Opinion Page Dis-
claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
the opinions of The Baker County Press, any
of our staff, management, independent
contractors or affiliates. Advertisements
placed by political groups, candidates,
businesses, etc., are printed as a paid
service, which does not constitute an
endorsement of or fulfillment obligation
by this newspaper for the products or
services advertised.
David Conn, Advertising and Sales
David@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Published weekly every Friday.
Subscription rates per year are $29.95 all areas,
e-mail delivery. $39.95 print issue, home delivery,
Baker City city limits only. $49.95 print issue,
mail delivery, outside Baker City city limits only.
Payment in advance.
A division of
Black Lyon Publishing, LLC
Copyright © 2014
but as daily consumers of
communications services,
our own lives as well. This
is why it is so important
to make sure that the FCC
functions in an effective,
transparent manner.”
“These bills all go to the
same purpose – to tighten
up an agency, where only
insiders know how to work
the levers; to shine light
into the dark corners of the
FCC. Sunlight is nonparti-
san and will show up bad
behavior on either side of
the aisle. These bills are a
good way to instill lasting
reform at an agency that
impacts us all so deeply,
regardless of who sits in
the chair,” Walden said.
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
President Barack Obama
202.456.1414
202.456.2461 fax
Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
503.326.3386
503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
US Sen. Ron Wyden
541.962.7691
Wyden.Senate.gov
US Rep. Greg Walden
541.624.2400
541.624.2402 fax
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
541.523.8201