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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017
Ballot measure
Police, civil rights leaders voice
support for data collection on race would restrict
abortion rights
Information
would be taken
at traffic stops
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — After years
of disagreement, Oregon law
enforcement and civil rights
leaders voiced support Mon-
day for a bill that would
require police to record data on
race during traffic stops.
The
legislation,
pro-
posed by Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum, is aimed at
addressing racial profiling by
law enforcement.
“The legitimacy of our law
enforcement depends on pub-
lic perception, and there is no
accountability mechanism bet-
ter than sunshine,” Rosenblum
testified during a hearing in the
state House Judiciary Com-
mittee. “The experience of
other states suggests that law
enforcement is often quick
to change their policies when
confronted with data suggest-
ing disparate impact on diverse
communities.”
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum, shown here
speaking at the Columbia
Forum, is behind a bill to
address racial profiling.
The legislation also expands
mandatory bias training for
police officers and downgrades
certain drug possession crimes
from felonies to misdemean-
ors — crimes for which people
of color are disproportionately
prosecuted.
Record race
Law enforcement officers
would be required to record
the race of the person stopped
and when a citation or warn-
ing is issued, a search is con-
ducted or a person is arrested.
The Oregon Criminal Jus-
tice Commission would ana-
lyze the data for any enforce-
ment disparities and publish
any trends in an annual report.
Finally, the information would
be distributed at a public forum
in the law enforcement agen-
cy’s county of jurisdiction.
Several law enforcement
agencies already collect such
data voluntarily. Since 2000,
Oregon State Police has been
recording data on race, gender,
age, reason for contact, cita-
tion, warning or search type.
“OSP does believe data col-
lection has value in terms of
guiding good policing policy
and a critical foundation for
discussions relating to policing
concerns,” said Oregon State
Police Superintendent Travis
Hampton. “Before we have
the conversation, I think we do
need the data.”
Oregon State Police data
shows that 2.1 percent of
trooper contacts were with
people identified as black,
which is proportionate with
the population. But in Mult-
nomah County, court records
show that blacks are 10 times
more likely to be charged with
a drug-related crime, according
to a Portland Tribune report.
Racial profiling
“Though today we don’t say
that black people have to sit in
the back of the bus, we don’t
say that they don’t have access
to public education or housing
or health care, what we do say
is that black people are crimi-
nal, and we will criminalize
them at every step in the pro-
cess,” said Jo Ann Hardesty,
president of NAACP Portland.
Hardesty said the bill would
be a good step toward address-
ing racial profiling.
“Oregon is not the only
state that has disparate out-
comes for people of color
every step of the way, … but
it is the only state that pretends
it’s progressive,” Hardesty said
at Monday’s hearing. “I am
here today to encourage you to
live up to what you think you
are and actually do something
that is going to have a signifi-
cant impact on people’s lives.”
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
State lawmakers push to protect pot users’ info
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Associated Press
SALEM — State lawmak-
ers worried about a nation-
wide crackdown on legal mar-
ijuana under President Donald
Trump’s administration are
rushing to protect the personal
information of pot customers
in case federal agents try to
seize it.
A bipartisan group of law-
makers is taking one of the first
direct state actions in response
to White House spokesman
Sean Spicer suggesting a boost
in enforcement of federal
anti-marijuana laws.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff
Sessions has said the Jus-
tice Department is review-
ing an Obama-era memo giv-
ing states flexibility in passing
marijuana laws.
The committee that crafts
Oregon’s pot policies has pro-
posed legislation that requires
marijuana businesses to
destroy customers’ personal
information, such as names,
addresses and birth dates,
gathered for marketing pur-
poses, within 48 hours.
“I could see where the fed-
eral government would come
in and try to gather this infor-
mation from businesses that
have stockpiled it and retained
it in their records,” said state
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eu-
gene, a bill sponsor who is also
a prosecutor. “I think we as
legislators have a duty to pro-
tect our citizens.”
Eight states and the Dis-
trict of Columbia have legal-
ized marijuana for recreational
use. Shops that sell the drug
are open in four states and are
required to check IDs to verify
that customers are at least 21.
But many in Oregon go fur-
ther, keeping an internal log of
customers’ personal details to
promote their product, includ-
ing special deals and discounts
on birthdays. Some dealers
even log driver’s license num-
bers to track each marijuana
product a person buys and on
which dates, which helps cus-
tomers buy an item again even
if they forget its name.
Colorado and Alaska pro-
hibit retaining that private
information. It’s also frowned
upon, although not illegal, in
Washington state.
“The reason we keep that
information is to reach out to
them — it’s marketing, just
like any retailer,” said Donald
Morse, executive director of
the Oregon Cannabis Business
Council.
New initiative
would block
state funding
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Petitioners
were granted permission last
month to gather signatures
to put a measure restricting
state funding for abortions on
the ballot in November 2018.
The effort, Initiative Pe-
tition 1, would amend the
state’s constitution to pro-
hibit spending public funds
for abortions, with certain
exceptions, according to the
Secretary of State’s Office.
The petition would allow
public funds to be spent in
circumstances where federal
law requires states to provide
funding for the procedure or
when the procedure is “med-
ically necessary.”
Abortions and vasecto-
mies are excluded from cov-
erage required under the Af-
fordable Care Act, the federal
health care law that is under
threat of repeal in Congress.
A group of Democratic
lawmakers in the state House
of Representatives this ses-
sion is sponsoring legislation
— called the Reproductive
Health Equity Act — that
would require health plans,
except for those that are of-
fered by religious employers,
to cover abortions and vasec-
tomies. It would also main-
tain no-cost birth control in
the state.
The petition was ap-
proved for circulation in
February. The petition needs
117,578 signatures to get on
the ballot next year.
Similar petitions were
filed in 2012, 2014 and 2016,
but failed each time to qual-
ify for the ballot.
Supporters of the initia-
tive petition, in comments
submitted to the Secretary
of State’s Office, argue that
Oregonians who oppose
abortion should not be obli-
gated to fund the procedure
through taxes.
Mary Nolan, executive
director of Planned Parent-
hood Advocates of Oregon,
said in a statement that lim-
itations on abortion would
negatively affect low-income
women, immigrants, young
women and women of color
in the state.
“When a woman is living
paycheck to paycheck, de-
nying coverage can push her
deeper into poverty,” Nolan
said.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
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