3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018
Sentencing reform case heads to state Supreme Court
Law reduced
sentences for
theft crimes
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
Supreme Court has agreed
to hear the state’s appeal of
a Clackamas County Circuit
Court decision to block sen-
tencing reforms the state Leg-
islature passed in 2017.
The hearing is set for Sept.
13.
“We have asked for an
expedited hearing in the
Supreme Court so that we
can settle this issue because
it will impact both our prison
use and our budget, if these …
well-thought-out, very spe-
cific sentence reductions are
thrown out by the court,” said
House Majority Leader Jen-
nifer Williamson during an
interview at the Portland City
Club Friday.
Clackamas County District
Attorney John Foote and two
crime victims from Oregon
City and Sandy sued the state
in November to stop enforce-
ment of House Bill 3078.
The legislation reduced
sentences for identity theft
and first-degree theft and put
more money into offender
housing, treatment and other
support services.
The intent was focused
largely on reducing the num-
ber of women sent to prison
and avoiding the expense of
opening a second women’s
prison.
Opening the mothballed
Oregon State Penitentiary
Minimum in Salem as a sec-
ond state women’s prison
would cost about $17.5 mil-
lion for startup and oper-
ating costs for the first two
years, said Jennifer Black, a
spokeswoman for the Ore-
gon Department of Correc-
tions. Incarcerating one per-
son costs an average of about
$108 per day.
“We can’t continue to
build prisons. It is an expen-
sive way to not solve a prob-
lem of community safety,”
Williamson said.
A panel of Clackamas Cir-
cuit Court judges in February
ruled that the legislation was
unconstitutional because it
was passed with only a simple
majority vote.
The
mandatory
sen-
tences for those crimes were
approved by voters in 2008
via Measure 57. The Oregon
Constitution requires at least
a two-thirds majority vote by
each chamber of the Legisla-
ture to change the voter-ap-
proved sentences, the court
ruled.
The Oregon Department
of Justice filed a notice of its
intent to appeal the ruling in
March.
During the this year’s leg-
islative session, lawmakers
passed another bill, Senate
Bill 1543, to hasten the case
to the Supreme Court.
Lawmakers said they
wanted a quick ruling on the
case so they could ensure sen-
tencing uniformity between
counties and to prepare for
any increase or decrease in the
prison population as a result
of the court’s decision.
With the agreement of
the state, Foote and the other
plaintiffs filed a motion in
March in the Court of Appeals
to certify the case to the Ore-
gon Supreme Court.
“I’m confident, our law-
yers have told us, outside law-
yers have told us everything
we did was perfectly legal,
and this is a meritless case,
but we’ll wait and get a ruling
from the Supreme Court, and
we will address the issues if
there are any addressed by the
court,” Williamson said.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Special session for small-business tax break set for May 21
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
Legislature will meet May 21
for a special session on busi-
ness taxes.
Gov. Kate Brown said
Tuesday she wants legislators
to meet that day to resolve an
“obvious inequity in Oregon’s
tax system” by expanding eli-
gibility for a state tax break to
owners of sole proprietorships.
Oregon law holds that
some owners of certain types
of pass-through businesses
— whose business income
“passes through” to their per-
sonal income taxes — can take
a lower tax rate.
Sole proprietorships can’t
take the lower rate under cur-
rent law.
The Legislative Reve-
nue Office found that about
9,000 Oregon sole proprietor-
ships would be eligible for the
rate if lawmakers tweaked the
law, initially passed as part of
a 2013 legislative package, to
include them.
Oregon largely connects to
the federal tax code.
During this year’s short
legislative session, lawmak-
ers passed Senate Bill 1528,
which disconnected Oregon
from part of the recent federal
tax overhaul — specifically,
a 20 percent deduction from
qualifying business income
for pass-through businesses.
Brown signed the bill.
Allowing that deduction
on the state level would have
benefited more business own-
ers than the governor’s pro-
posal, critics of the disconnect
bill argue.
“This so-called ‘emer-
gency’ was caused by the gov-
ernor and the majority party,”
said state Senate Republi-
can Leader Jackie Winters,
of Salem, in a prepared state-
ment Tuesday. “Their actions
during the 2018 session to take
away a small-business tax cut
is the reason we are now being
called in to a special session.”
However, Winters added
that “we are committed to
working to expand these tax
cuts so that all small busi-
nesses in Oregon receive tax
equity and fairness, just as they
would have had the governor
vetoed Senate Bill 1528.”
Proponents of the discon-
nect say that allowing the
deduction would have sud-
denly deprived the state of
hundreds of millions of dollars
in revenue for state services
and thrown the state budget for
a loop.
Observers have said law-
makers will need to stay
focused on the task at hand to
be successful, a point that polit-
ical leaders echoed Tuesday.
“Special sessions present
unique challenges,” said Sen-
ate President Peter Courtney,
D-Salem. “They require focus.
They require discipline.”
House Republican Leader
Mike McLane, of Powell
Butte, was more blunt.
“The political theater ses-
sion now has a date,” McLane
said. “Let’s hope Gov. Brown
and legislative Democrats will
limit the scope of the session
to the stated purpose instead
of allowing for the introduc-
tion of unrelated policy bills.
In the end, the tone and tenor
No added fireworks restrictions for Long Beach
Fireworks are
allowed around
Fourth of July
The Pacific Northwest
could soon become a hub of
ocean energy technology.
An Oregon State Univer-
sity project to set up a wave
energy test site is now apply-
ing for the federal permits
needed to move ahead.
Oregon has some of the
best potential in the world
to generate energy from the
motion of the waves. But
developing wave energy tech-
nology is an expensive propo-
sition. Not only do you have
to build the devices, you also
have to test them in the ocean.
This takes many years and
even more federal and state
permits.
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If someone has not been
Steve Putman
Chinook Observer
Fireworks before and after July 4 have some Long Beach Peninsula residents asking for
restrictions, while other remain committed to the status quo.
for merchants to earn tourist
dollars.
Timing may be a factor
in 2018. “This year, with the
Fourth falling on a Wednesday,
I think many will come down
the weekend prior expecting
to blow stuff up,” said one
respondent.
Another survey which gar-
nered 109 responses from a
broader geographical area
was conducted through the
Long Beach Peninsula Visi-
tors Bureau. Magen Michaud
from the Ban/Plan group
reported that 71 percent sup-
ported a reduction in the num-
ber of days. This mirrored a
survey with considerably more
respondents in 2017 that made
headlines when revealed last
September because 80 percent
of respondents wanted change.
“The results of these two
surveys demonstrate that a
strong majority of the respon-
dents who pay property taxes,
who are registered to vote,
and who own businesses, sup-
port a reduction on the Fourth
of July legal fireworks dis-
charge days,” Michaud wrote
in a widely distributed email
shared with the City Council
in April.
Mayor Jerry Phillips said
Long Beach’s rule allowing
fireworks to be shot off for
eight days around the holi-
day dovetails with regulations
inside Washington State Parks
and in Ilwaco.
Pacific County allows
eight days, also. Commis-
sioner Frank Wolfe weighed
in through an email exchange
reported to the City Coun-
cil. He thought progress has
been made during recent dis-
cussions, but the various juris-
dictions cannot have different
rules. “All jurisdictions must
speak with a single voice,” he
wrote.
Phillips said extra Long
Beach police patrols, and assis-
tance from officers from Wash-
ington State Patrol and Fish
and Wildlife officers would be
a key part of the city’s strategy
to minimize abuse.
Also, the city will continue
to enforce its rule that bans
camping on the beach during
the Fourth.
Oregon wave energy testing project looks to feds for approval
By JES BURNS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
D-Portland, said Tuesday that
she and Courtney intended to
convene a bicameral commit-
tee before the session to hear
proposed legislation.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Hughes-
Ransom
By PATRICK WEBB
Chinook Observer
LONG BEACH, Wash.
— Fourth of July fireworks
in Long Beach continue to
be controversial, but the City
Council has decided to keep
arrangements the same for
2018.
The consensus came after
the City Council heard details
of a survey conducted by
Pacific County Tourism at the
request of the grassroots group
Not a Ban/A Better Plan,
whose supporters want author-
ities to reflect the theme of
their name.
Right now, fireworks are
allowed for eight days — from
June 28 to July 5.
Residents have expressed
concerns about the noise, the
fear of fires in the dunes and
the detritus that needs to be
cleaned up afterward.
Opinions on reducing the
number of allowed days for
fireworks from eight to three
were sought in a couple of
recent surveys.
In one, answered mostly
by people in Long Beach, 29
of the 57 respondents favored
a reduction, 19 were against
and there were nine other
responses.
Comments in favor of
restrictions pointed to fire risks
and noise that scares pets;
comments against change
noted that it is a key period
of the session will be defined
by whether Democrats are able
to stick to their word.”
May 21 falls on a Monday
of a week that legislators will
already be at the Capitol for
a series of interim committee
meetings.
House Speaker Tina Kotek,
Oregon State University
project scientist Burke Hales
said wave energy technology
is about 15 years behind wind.
Part of the reason, he said,
is “because there are no utility
scale, open wave test facilities
for this. No developer would
build a device that couldn’t be
tested.”
Hales said the univer-
sity wants to help the fledg-
ling technology get into the
water faster. It’s proposing to
set up the infrastructure for a
2-square-mile, grid-connected
test plot off the central Ore-
gon Coast. Companies would
pay to test up to 20 devices at
a time.
Hales said there are cur-
rently
two
small-scale,
grid-connected, wave energy
test facilities operating — one
by the Navy in Hawaii and the
other near Scotland. Oregon
State University also operates
a non-grid-connected test site
further north along the coast.
But he said the current
project has the potential to
be by far the largest and most
versatile test facility in the
world.
“Hopefully this project
will showcase the technol-
ogy and prove that it’s an eco-
nomic source of energy for us
moving forward,” said Jus-
tin Klure, a project consultant
with Pacific Energy Ventures.
Klure said the university
worked with local communi-
ties and fishermen for several
years to decide where to site
the test facility.
The projected cost is $50
million, $35 million of which
would come from the U.S.
Department of Energy. The
rest will come from the state,
the university and as-yet-un-
identified private investors.
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