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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017 Republicans submit signatures for provider tax referral Voters could decide fate of tax in January By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE and PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — Pending fi nal verifi cation of about 84,000 petition signatures by state elections offi cials, Oregon vot- ers will have a chance to weigh in on parts of the state’s Med- icaid funding plan in January . Medicaid provides health care coverage to the poor and other qualifying groups, and is jointly funded by the state and the federal government. About 1.1 million people — a quarter of the state’s population — are on the Oregon Health Plan, the Medicaid program. Health care advocates, unions and many Democratic legislators argue that as many as 350,000 may see reduced benefi ts, or may be cut from the program altogether if vot- ers reject the parts of the fund- ing plan that got a step closer to the Jan. 23 ballot Thursday. The Legislature passed a bill this year to increase fed- Paris Achen/Capital Bureau Patty Wentz, spokesperson for the Coalition of Communi- ty Health Clinics, answers questions during a press con- ference on Referendum 301 Thursday in Portland. eral Medicaid matching fund- ing by collecting assessments from the state’s hospitals, insurers and coordinated care organizations — the regional networks of providers serving Medicaid patients. A group of Republican law- makers — s tate Rep. Julie Par- rish, R-Tualatin/West Linn, Rep. Cedric Hayden, R-Rose- burg, and Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford — want voters to weigh in on parts of that plan, referred to as the “provider tax.” According to fi nancial impact estimates approved for the ballot last month, state rev- enues could decline anywhere between $210 million and $320 million if voters reject parts of the legislation in question. Since the state uses those revenues to get federal match- ing funds, the total effect on the state budget could be upward of $840 million. The federal Affordable Care Act allowed states to extend eligibility for Medic- aid to people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s about $16,642 for a single person and $33,948 for a family of four. That income group would likely face cuts in part because the federal govern- ment requires states to cover pregnant women and people with disabilities, but not peo- ple who, but for the Affordable Care Act, would not qualify for Medicaid, said state Sen. Richard Devlin D-Tualatin. And the state must cover all or none of those people. Devlin said that it’s unlikely that health care fund- ing lost by a partial repeal could come from another part of the budget. For example, it took months for legislators to approve an $8.2 billion funding pack- age for education, an amount many on both sides of the aisle argued should be higher. “We don’t have that much in dollars sitting on the side that we could use,” Devlin, who chairs the Legislature’s budget committee, said. “It would be beyond the current resources that we have.” The petitioners say that they don’t want to cut people from the Oregon Health Plan — Hayden is a dentist who sees Medicaid patients, and Par- rish says she grew up receiv- ing Medicaid and other gov- ernment programs — but they want to force a conversation at the L egislature about how the state pays for the system. In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Parrish and Hayden maintained that the money could come from elsewhere in the budget. Par- rish argues a proposal to move public employees onto plans in the exchange, for example, could save the state money. “Budgeting is about choices,” she said. But other alternatives pro- posed by Hayden during the session were criticized as “part logic and part fantasy” in August by the chairman of the House Committee on Health C are, Rep. Mitch Greenlick, a Democrat in Portland. The petitioners have labeled the legislation — which allows the state to col- lect payments from insurers, CCOs and the Public Employ- ees Benefi ts Board as well as the state’s hospitals — as a “sales tax on health care.” Coos Bay sues over restrictive fl ood regulations Associated Press COOS BAY — Coos Bay has fi led a lawsuit in federal court against the National Marine Fisheries Service over its rec- ommendation for more restric- tive fl ood plain regulations, which would restrict develop- ment in most of downtown. The World reported the suit was fi led Thursday objecting to land use restrictions recom- mended by the fi sheries ser- vice to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s fl ood insurance program in an opin- ion issued last year. Damien Schiff, an attorney with the Pacifi c Legal Founda- tion, which is representing the city, said the biological opin- ion from the fi sheries service is an improper expansion of both FEMA and the agency’s authority. Fisheries is asking FEMA A coalition of more than 50 organizations is campaign- ing to keep the law in place and prevent cuts in the Ore- gon Health Plan that would likely result from a repeal, said Meg Niemi, president of Service Employees Interna- tional Union Local 49. The union is a member of the Coa- lition of Community Health Clinics. The coalition held a press conference in downtown Port- land Thursday to highlight what is at stake if the referen- dum makes it on the ballot. “Together, we’re going to fi ght to protect health care for families, for kids and for the most vulnerable people in Oregon,” Niemi said. The law reduces health insurance premiums for those who purchase their own insurance but could mean increases for others of about $5 per month in 2018, said Patty Wentz, a coalition spokesperson. “We need people to vote ‘yes’ on Referendum 301 because it will protect health care coverage for a million people who are on Oregon Health Plan and lower pre- miums for hundreds of thou- sands more,” Wentz said. Volunteer Pick of the Week to place high-risk fl ood plains off-limits to development because it says it will better protect endangered species such as salmon and steelhead. Flood plains are areas along rivers, stream and shorelines that are regularly inundated with water. Snoopy 11-Year Old Female Staffy/Pit Terrier Blend Bring a new meaning to family living and playing. Feds remove habitat protections for threatened sage grouse By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Interior Department said Thursday it is withdraw- ing protections for 10 mil- lion acres of federal lands used by the threatened sage grouse to open it up for energy development. The plan would allow min- ing and other development in areas where it now is pro- hibited in six Western states: Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. The Bureau of Land Man- agement, an Interior agency, said a recent analysis showed that mining or grazing would not pose a signifi cant threat to the sage grouse, a ground-dwelling, chicken-like Oregon might add protections for the marbled murrelet Coming Saturday, October 14, 1:00 pm Blessing of the Animals Bring Your Pet to be Blessed Dog Training & Agility Shows Pet Adoption Donations Support Clatsop County Animal Shelter Sunday Services 10:00 am Children’s Ministry begins October 15, 10:00 am ✦ 503-861-2421 ✦ pioneerchurchpcusa.org 1315 SE 19 th Street, Warrenton • 861 - PETS www.dogsncats.org Noon to 4pm, Tues-Sat WE’LL SAVE YOU A BUNDLE AND QUITE A FEW LAYERS. Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Please come join us By JES BURNS Oregon Public Broadcasting Pioneer Presbyterian Church ( Next to Camp Rilea) (See more on Petfinder.com/ ) C LATSOP C OUNTY A NIMAL S HELTER Sponsored By W A NTED Threatened bird has lost habitat A new report from the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows that despite previous protections, the marbled murrelet is still in trouble. And now, the state is con- sidering whether to list the sea bird as endangered under the state’s endangered species act. “Overall, it’s an imperiled species, but ultimately the question of whether to up-list or not, that’s a commission decision,” says Christina Donehower of the Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife. The Fish and Wildlife Commission is expected to make that decision in February. The murrelet was listed as threatened federally and by Oregon in the 1990s. Environ- mental groups are now asking for the change in status. Donehower says chang- ing the status would force the state to develop an offi cial plan to protect the bird. “Really the most direct effects of listing … would be for state owned or leased lands,” she says. bird that roams across vast areas of the West. The proposal would affect less than one-tenth of 1 per- cent of sage grouse-occupied range across 11 states from California to the Dakotas, offi - cials said. Another way we make you feel better. for a Celebration of Life — RECEIVE UP TO — 1,600 $ in honor of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marbled murrelets are a threatened species. Gabe Anastasiadis Private forest lands could be affected as well. Changes in management of murrelet habitat could curtail timber harvest. Marbled murrelets nest in mature coastal forests of the Pacifi c Northwest. Over the past 25 years, they’ve lost habitat on state and private lands at a much higher rate than on federally managed land. 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Warrenton KIRBY (Ken) 1158 SW Pine Dr., Warrenton CHATEAU (Camp Rilea) S. Oregon St., Warrenton ZUNKEL 1236 SW Pine Dr., Warrenton Autio Company & Englund Marine & Supply Dr. & Mrs. Miller Dr. & Mrs. R. Keiser RESTAURANT FLORIST Fort George Mimi’s Florist Warrenton Deep Sea Bloomin’ Crazy TOTEM Realty El Compadre Erickson Floral Bayshore Animal Hospital Clemente’s Bloomin’ Crazy US Bank Dough Dough Bakery Mimi’s Florist Bigby Tree Service Mo’s Restaurant Erickson Floral
