A3
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2019
People could lose out
on food stamp benefi ts
An estimated
60,000 in Oregon
The Oregonian
About 3.1 million people
would lose food stamp bene-
fi ts under the Trump admin-
istration’s proposal to tighten
automatic eligibility require-
ments for the food stamp
program.
Nationwide, about 9% of
households that receive ben-
efi ts are expected to be cut
off. If Oregon were to be pro-
portionally affected, nearly
60,000 Oregonians could
lose food stamps.
Jennifer Grentz, spokes-
woman for the Oregon
Department of Human Ser-
vices, said the agency is still
analyzing how many Oregon
residents they expect will be
affected. Roughly 350,000
Oregon households qualify
for monthly food assistance.
The Agriculture Depart-
ment said Tuesday that the
rule would close a loophole
that enables people receiving
only minimal benefi ts from
the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families program to
be eligible automatically for
food stamps without under-
going further checks on their
income or assets.
“For too long, this loop-
hole has been used to effec-
tively bypass important eligi-
bility guidelines. Too often,
states have misused this fl ex-
ibility without restraint,”
Agriculture Secretary Sonny
Perdue said in a statement.
The proposed rule is the
latest in the Trump adminis-
tration’s efforts to cut back
on the Supplemental Nutri-
tional Assistance Program,
or SNAP, the offi cial name
of the food stamp program. It
also has proposed to tighten
work requirements for those
who receive federal food
assistance.
USDA estimates that
1.7 million households —
3.1 million people — “will
not otherwise meet SNAP’s
income and asset eligibility
prerequisites under the pro-
posed rule.” That would result
in a net savings of about $9.4
billion over fi ve years.
An unpublished version of
the proposed rule acknowl-
edges the impact, saying it
“may also negatively impact
food security and reduce the
savings rates among those
individuals who do not meet
the income and resource eligi-
bility requirements for SNAP
or the substantial and ongoing
requirements for expanded
categorical eligibility.”
Democrats in Congress
were quick to condemn the
proposal.
House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said it was “the admin-
istration’s latest act of stag-
gering callousness” while
Senate Democratic leader
Chuck Schumer said he
would “fi ght to make sure
these cuts never become a
reality.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., said the administra-
tion was trying anew to cir-
cumvent Congress and that
the effect would be to “take
food away from families,
prevent children from get-
ting school meals, and make
it harder for states to adminis-
ter food assistance.”
STATE NEWS
Oregon removes
Governor signs
assisted suicide wait bill to keep guns
for certain patients from stalkers
SALEM — Legislation and abusers
allowing certain terminally
ill patients to have quicker
access to life-ending medi-
cations under the state’s fi rst-
in-the-nation assisted suicide
law has been signed into law,
Gov. Kate Brown’s offi ce
announced Wednesday.
The law allows those with
15 days left to live to bypass
a 15-day waiting period
required under the Death
with Dignity Act, something
proponents say will reduce
bureaucracy and bring relief
to gravely ill people.
“This
improvement
will result in fewer Orego-
nians suffering needlessly at
the end of their lives,” said
Democratic state Sen. Floyd
Prozanski, who helped spon-
sor the legislation.
Some opponents argued
that the move amounted to
an unnecessary expansion of
the state’s physician-assisted
suicide law, saying the law
removes critical safeguards
meant to ensure people are
confi dent in their decision to
end their own life.
“I don’t want to make it
any easier for any individual in
any circumstance to take their
life prematurely,” Republican
Rep. Duane Stark said during
fl oor debate last month.
Those seeking life-end-
ing medications had to make
a verbal request for physi-
cian-assisted suicide, wait 15
days and then make a written
request. They then had to wait
an additional 48 hours before
obtaining the prescription.
Under the new amendment,
doctors can make exceptions
to the waiting periods if the
patient is likely to die before
completing them.
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SALEM — Oregon will
close a loophole in state law
that allowed domestic abus-
ers to illegally hold on to
their fi rearms.
Gov.
Kate
Brown
signed a measure Tues-
day that threatens further
penalties
to
domestic
abusers who refuse to
turn over their fi rearms
following a court order.
It strengthens a 2015 law
meant to keep guns from
those with convictions
for domestic violence or
stalking. Legislators had
heard complaints that abus-
ers were still holding onto
their weapons by skipping
court hearings.
Democrats were only
able to push through mod-
est gun law changes this
year despite a supermajority
in the Legislature. A more
sweeping gun reform pack-
age was cast aside as part
of a deal to convince Senate
Republicans to return from
a walkout over education
funding.
Brown and other high
ranking Democrats say
they plan to work on more
expansive gun control mea-
sures in the future.
— Associated Press
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
A cargo ship passes under the Astoria Bridge.
Other ports object to Astoria fee
Lawsuit is possible
By MALLORY
GRUBEN
The Daily News
LONGVIEW,
Wash.
— A new $300 fee the
Port of Astoria is charging
cargo vessels traveling to
or through the Port has
angered steamship oper-
ators and other Columbia
River ports, who claim it
undercuts longtime col-
laboration, might be ille-
gal and discourages cargo
vessels from doing busi-
ness here.
The Columbia River
Steamship
Operator s’
Association said it is pre-
pared to sue the Port
because it believes the fee
confl icts with the com-
merce clause of the U.S.
Constitution, said Kate
Mickelson, the group’s
executive director.
And Port of Longview
commissioners Wednes-
day unanimously voted to
oppose the fee, stating in
a letter to the Port of Asto-
ria that the fee is “in direct
confl ict with the spirit of
collaboration that built
(t he Columbia River) nav-
igation channel.”
The letter also states
that the Port of Longview
intends to “join efforts
with our partners and
member associations … to
deem this fee unlawful.”
The letter notes that
both state and federal gov-
ernments have invested
tens of millions of dollars
to deepen and maintain the
shipping channel and to
attract cargo to the lower
river.
“Now that upriver ports
are realizing the benefi ts
of their combined efforts,
Astoria is seeking to cap-
italize on the fi nancial
investments of partner
ports and impose unneces-
sary and cumbersome fees
on our customers.”
Port of Astoria com-
missioners unanimously
approved the fee in March.
It charges any trade ves-
sel that is 250-feet or lon-
ger a $300 harbor use fee
upon arriving in the port’s
jurisdiction, whether it
docks in Astoria or con-
tinues upriver. It does not
apply to government ships,
tugs or pleasure craft. Rev-
enue from the fee will fund
operation and maintenance
for Pier 1, a wharf that pro-
vides an emergency berth
to distressed vessels.
“This modest fee is nec-
essary to defray costs asso-
ciated with the Port’s ongo-
ing maintenance of Pier 1,
which provides the only
available critical emer-
gency berth for distressed
vessels at the mouth of the
Columbia River,” Port of
Astoria interim executive
director Will Isom wrote
in a letter to steamship
agents.
Port of Longview
spokeswoman
Ashley
Helenberg said 1,483
cargo vessels called on the
Columbia River in 2018.
Of those, 267 docked at
the Port of Longview.
In 2017, the Colum-
bia and Lower Willamette
river channel was used to
transport 47.5 million tons
of cargo valued at $16 bil-
lion, according to the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.
Port offi cials fear the
new fee will discourage
shippers from doing busi-
ness with Longview and
other Columbia River
ports.
“The ports along the
Columbia River compete
for the cargo with ports in
California and Gulf ports.
We work very hard to
maintain strong infrastruc-
ture to attract cargo, and
arbitrary fees are counter-
productive to the efforts of
maintaining our competi-
tiveness for cargo,” Helen-
berg said.
Even though the fee is
small, any amount of extra
money can “be the turning
point for a shipper to pick a
different port,” said Port of
Longview Chief Executive
Offi cer Norm Krehbiel. “It’s
a disincentive for shippers
to use the Columbia River.
… and that’s defi nitely not
something we want to see.”
Mickelson said the fee
could set a precedent for
other ports to follow suit.
If that happens, “the fee
assessments will ripple into
an economic calamity to
shipping in our system and
impair the lifeblood of our
regional economy. … This
additional assessment may
not only be a hindrance
to attracting new busi-
ness to our region, but has
the potential to lose exist-
ing business that the Port of
Astoria and their port part-
ners have worked so dili-
gently to attain,” she said.
The fee also makes
steamship operators pay for
an emergency berth service
they never asked for and
might not use, Helenberg
said.
“As far as we know, there
is no requirement, no man-
date, no request of the Coast
Guard (to do this),” she said.
She added that the Coast
Guard can use any dock,
wharf or pier in the Colum-
bia River for distressed ves-
sels. “The Port of Longview
takes distressed vessels all
the time here,” Helenberg
said.
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And vessels here are
only charged for emergency
docking when they actually
use that as a service, said
Port of Longview C ommis-
sion President Doug Averett.
Astoria’s fee is like “hav-
ing a driveway that you let
cars use if a tree falls in the
road … but in the mean-
time charging $50 to every
car that passes by so you can
maintain that driveway,”
Averett said.
“We will do everything
we can to fi ght this fee,”
Averett told The Daily News
after signing the opposi-
tion letter. “I’m happy we
are being proactive on this
point.”
Longview port offi cials
shared the letter with the
ports of Kalama and Van-
couver, Helenberg said,
though she hasn’t heard
back on whether those ports
will join Longview in taking
a stance on the fee.
Liz Newman, spokes-
woman for the Port of
Kalama, said the commis-
sion there discussed the
new fee at its July 10 meet-
ing. However, commission-
ers did not take action on the
matter.
“Port of Kalama is very
concerned, and we continue
to investigate this matter,”
Newman said.
Mickelson said her orga-
nization was created to sup-
port commercial activity on
the river, and, “We are con-
fi dent when we say that the
river community does not
support the Port (of Asto-
ria’s) action.”
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A STORIAN
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