3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2017
Four laws that made an impact in 2017
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Many of the hundreds of
laws Oregon legislators pass
each year may go largely
unnoticed by the public.
Here are four recent laws
that left a palpable mark on the
lives of Oregonians in 2017.
Distracted-driving
restrictions
Oregon’s new distract-
ed-driving law closed loop-
holes in a preexisting ban on
holding a cellphone while
driving and enhanced penalties
for violations. House Bill 2597
expanded the ban to include
holding any mobile electronic
device while driving, even
while waiting at a stoplight.
Drivers face a fine of up to
$1,000 for their first offense.
Less than a month after the
law took effect Oct. 1, Rep.
Julie Parrish, R-West Linn —
who voted for the law — was
pulled over and fined $265
for using her cellphone while
driving.
She was using the phone
to get directions to the KATU
studio in Portland, where she
was scheduled to give an inter-
view, she said.
“Old habits die hard for
those of us who were intro-
duced to cellphones before
there were specific laws related
to distracted driving and phone
use,” Parrish said. “It might be
difficult for people to break a
years-long habit of driving and
using a cellphone, but it’s a
Some of Oregon’s hundreds of new laws were more pal-
pable than others in 2017.
habit I never want my kids to
start.”
Nearly 3,500 people were
killed and about 391,000
injured in motor vehicle
crashes involving distracted
drivers in the United States
In 2015, according to the
most recent statistics from
the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration.
“We all share the roads, and
we have an obligation to keep
each other safe,” Parrish said.
Pumping your own gas
in Eastern Oregon
Oregon is one of only two
states in the nation where res-
idents are prohibited from
pumping their own gas. While
this may seem to be a luxury
for some urban dwellers, it has
been a source of consternation
for motorists and gas station
owners in rural parts of East-
ern Oregon.
In Heppner, for instance,
there is only one gas station
U.S. hops set records
By DAN WHEAT
EO Media Group
YAKIMA, Wash. — U.S.
hop growers set new records
in acreage, volume and value
in 2017 and for the first time
Idaho surpassed Oregon in
annual production.
While the rate of growth of
craft breweries has been slow-
ing and inventories of hops
have been increasing, the 2017
totals may not be peaks.
Acreage likely will increase
slightly in 2018, more fields
planted in recent years will
come into production and
some acres will shift from
aroma into high alpha variet-
ies at generally much higher
yields, said Pete Mahony, vice
president of supply chain man-
agement and purchasing for
John I. Haas, a major proces-
sor and grower in Yakima.
“It’s simply difficult to
slow a fast moving train. It
might take a couple of years
yet for the brakes to engage,”
Mahony said.
Growth of craft brewer-
ies has fueled the increase of
aroma variety hops in recent
years but inventories have
been increasing reflective
of supply catching up with
demand as the rate of craft
brewery growth has slowed.
On Sept. 1, U.S. hop stocks
were 98 million pounds, up 15
percent from a year earlier.
In 2017, U.S. hop produc-
tion totaled a record 104 mil-
lion pounds, up 20 percent
from the 2016 crop of 87.1
million pounds, according to
a U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture National Agricultural Sta-
tistics report issued Tuesday.
Acres harvested were a
record 53,282, up 5 percent
from the prior record of 50,857
in 2016. Value of production
was a record $618 million,
up 24 percent from the record
high of $498 million in 2016.
Harvested acres increased
24 percent in Idaho, 3 percent
in Washington state and 1 per-
cent in Oregon. U.S. yields
were 1,959 pounds per acre up
from 246 a year ago.
The industry anticipated a
large crop given June acreage
estimates and good growing
conditions and ample water
contributed to above aver-
age yields in most varieties,
Mahony said.
The
104-million-pound
record surpassed No. 2 Ger-
many which had 91 million
pounds and below average
yields, he said.
Washington state remains the
U.S. hop gorilla with 75 percent
(78.6 million pounds) of pro-
duction, 38,438 acres and $498
million in production value.
Idaho accounted for 13 per-
cent (13.7 million pounds) of
production, 6,993 acres and
$68.7 million in value.
Oregon was 11 percent
(11.9 million pounds) of pro-
duction, still led Idaho in acres
at 7,851 but trailed in value at
$59.5 million.
“The U.S. crop was nearly
all contracted at good prices
still in place from the craft
bull market,” Mahony said.
While production costs, partic-
ularly labor, continue to rise,
2017 contract prices remained
strong, he said.
in town, and it isn’t open 24
hours a day.
During hunting season, the
line of motorists waiting for
the gas station to open some-
times extended four blocks
down Main Street, said Hep-
pner resident LeAnn Wright,
an office support specialist for
the Morrow County Juvenile
Department.
Two years ago, the Leg-
islature passed a bill to allow
self-fueling between 6 p.m.
and 6 a.m. in certain rural
counties, to prevent travelers
from being stranded overnight.
Earlier this year, lawmak-
ers expanded the timeframe
for self-fueling to 24 hours in
15 Eastern Oregon counties,
with populations of less than
40,000. The expansion of the
law was primarily designed to
keep solo gas stations such as
Heppner’s in operation. Some
stations were in jeopardy of
going out of business because
owners couldn’t afford to hire
enough pumping attendants,
said Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, the bill’s sponsor.
Stations are still required
to have at least one attendant
between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., but
customers could pump their
own gas if the attendant is
busy and a cardlock machine
is available.
“Now, I think a lot of that
impact is off because (motor-
ists) don’t have to sit and wait
for someone to pump their gas
so they flow through a little
better,” Wright said.
Minimum wage
The state’s landmark law to
increase in the minimum wage
for seven consecutive years
was enacted in 2016, but the
greatest jump in wages hap-
pened in 2017.
Minimum hourly pay in the
Portland metro area climbed
from $9.75 to $11.25 in July
of this year, after a 50-cent
increase last year. The min-
imums were lower in other
parts of the state, an acknowl-
edgement from lawmakers of
the variety of economic reali-
ties and cost of living in differ-
ent parts of the state.
Rep. Janelle Bynum,
D-Happy Valley, who owns
four McDonalds franchises in
the Portland area, supported
the minimum-wage hike,
despite the added cost to her
business.
“I’m going to be honest
here. It is hard,” Bynum said of
balancing the increase in pay-
roll with her family expenses.
“Life in the Portland metro
area continues getting harder
for people with entry- to mid-
level wages, so it’s good that
raising the minimum wage
helped give some relief to
working families.”
However, Bynum said rais-
ing the minimum wage fails to
address the root cause of why
so many families are strug-
gling to make ends meet:
the cost and availability of
housing.
Full-day kindergarten
Full-day kindergarten began
in Oregon in 2015, thanks to
funding approved by the Leg-
islature, but the law continues
have to ripple effects, both for
children’s long-term education
and families’ short-term finan-
cial outcomes.
For instance, students in
full-day kindergarten are more
likely to read proficiently in the
third grade, a critical bench-
mark for reaching on-time
graduation in high school, Sen.
Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, has
said.
Plus, the longer children
are in school, the less childcare
parents have to pay for or work
they have to miss.
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
H APPY
N EW
Y EAR
The Daily Astorian will be CLOSED
Monday, January 1, 2018
CLASSIFIED
DEADLINES ARE
New Years Eve
1 1am on Friday, Dec. 29
fo r Monday, Jan. 1 editio n
1 p m on Friday , Dec. 29
for Tuesday, January 2 edition
Happy New Year 2018!
THUNDER ROAD BAND
Awesome Classic Rock & Roll! FROM 9 PM TILL 1 AM !
Prime Rib or Salmon Dinner
Only $25* • Served from 5 to 8pm
* - Advance ticket purchase ($30 @ the door)
First come first served. Dinner guest will be provided with a stamp that entitles them to free party favors
& a champagne toast at midnight! NO DINNER? Just Party Favors & Champagne Only $5
Annual Fundraiser • NO DOOR CHARGE • 21 or older
PUBLIC WELCOME • EVERYONE CAN ENJOY!
SEASIDE AMERICAN LEGION
1315 Broadway • 503-738-5111
Usual delivery of the Newspaper
T HE D AILY A STORIAN
C onsult
a
PROFESSIONAL
my Windows up to
Q: Is date?
LEO FINZI
Astorias
Best.com
25 % off all
clearance
monitors
( thru 12/31/17)
M-F 10-6 Sat . 11-4
77 11th Street, Suite H
Astoria, OR
503-325-2300
question. Support for early
A: Good
versions of Windows 10 recently
ended and PCs running these versions
no longer receive security updates.
If you haven’t updated your PC in
a while — or don’t know if you’re
running the latest version of Windows
— Microsoft offers a simple (and free)
solution: go to
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/
software-download/windows10
Once there, click on the Update Now
button.
Visit us on Facebook, Astoria’s Best
Computers, for a link you can click on.
Q: Does the
Oregon Health
Plan cover
chiropractic
care?
The Oregon
ASTORIA A: Yes!
Health Plan does cover
CHIROPRACTIC
Barry Sears, D.C.
503-325-3311
2935 Marine Drive
Astoria, Oregon
chiropractic care with
referral from your primary
care physician.
Call us today for more
information or to schedule
your appointment.
Now accepting new patients.
is the best
Q: What
way to transport
live crab?
It depends on when you plan to
cook them. If you want to cook
them right when you get home,
have the vendor bury them in ice. This puts
the crab into a dormant state, which will
guard against shock, and prevent them
from losing their legs, when dropped in
the boiling water. If you plan to cook the
crab at a later time, don't put ice directly on
them. The ice can melt and kill them. It is
better to put them in a cooler with either a
frozen gel pack or ice enclosed in a plastic
bag. Never put them in water, unless you
have a salt water aquarium. Once home,
keep them cool, but not iced until about a
half hour before you cook them. If one of
your crab dies during transport, be sure to
cook it within 24 hours after death. We
offer free waterproof boxes for those who
forget their coolers.
A:
Amanda Cordero
Northwest Wild Products
Fresh Seafood Market
354 Industry St, Astoria
503-791-1907
Daily 9 am- 7 pm
On the docks of the West Mooring
Basin, by the Riverwalk Inn