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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2019)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2019 Oregon Court of Appeals halts Brown’s fl avored vaping ban Ruling applies to tobacco products By SAM STITES Oregon Capital Bureau Oregon Education Association Teachers marched in Salem this year for more education funding. Teachers union latest to push back over pension reform By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — A third Ore- gon union says it won’t endorse or contribute to pri- mary campaigns for legisla- tors who voted for reforms to the state’s costly public pension system earlier this year. The announcement by the Oregon Education Asso- ciation, the state’s largest teachers’ union, on Wednes- day followed similar with- drawals this fall by the Ore- gon American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Oregon AFL-CIO. That may put dozens of Democrats , many of whom receive a high share of dona- tions from unions, in a tricky spot. Labor groups gave about $3.6 million to Oregon leg- islative candidates in the two years leading up to the 2018 election, according to the National Institute on Money in Politics, which tracks campaign donations. Over- all, state H ouse and S enate candidates raised nearly $29 million in that election cycle. Democrats will try to maintain their grip on their large majority of legislative seats they secured last year, that, in theory, allows them to pass tax increases without any Republican votes. In a statement, Rebecca Levison, the chair of the edu- cation association’s political action committee, said that Senate Bill 1049 cut “hard- earned benefi ts for tens of thousands of educators.” “Lawmakers must answer for their votes,” said Levison, who teaches English as a second lan- guage in Portland. “Educa- tors work hard for our ben- efi ts and still make 22% less than folks in the private sec- tor with similar education. We won’t spend our hard- earned dollars to re elect peo- ple in the primary who don’t understand that.” There is no race for gov- ernor next year, but there will be an election for state treasurer, as well as for sec- retary of state. State Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, Rep. Jenni- fer Williamson, D-Portland, and 2018 Democratic can- didate for Congress, Jamie McLeod Skinner, have announced they’ll run for the Democratic nomina- tion for secretary of state, making that a competitive primary. Both Hass and William- son voted for the pension reforms, which were aimed at saving the state money on employee retirement bene- fi ts while it wrestles with bil- lions in pension debt. The Oregon Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group and Salem Reporter. SALEM — The Ore- gon Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a tempo- rary stay on Oregon Health Authority rules enforcing a six-month ban on the sale of fl avored nicotine and medical marijuana vaping products. The temporary ban against the sale of recre- ational fl avored marijuana vaping products, regulated by the Oregon Liquor Con- trol Commission, remains in force. The ruling came in response to two petitions for injunctions fi led with the court against Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority seeking judicial review of the ban. Brown had previously issued an executive order directing the agencies to implement the ban. Canby attorney J. Ryan Adams fi led one of those petitions Wednesday on behalf of No Moke Daddy LLC, which operates two e-cigarette shops in down- town Portland under the name Division Vapor. “We believe the governor overstepped her authority by directing (the OHA and OLCC) to enact this ban,” Adams said. “Essentially what we asked the court to invalidate the rule.” According to Adams, his client decided to fi le for the injunction because they were worried about the employment impacts the temporary ban would have on what they consider a booming industry that employs thousands of Ore- gonians across the state. Brown’s executive order followed an outbreak of acute lung injuries that are being tracked across the country and linked to the use of both marijuana and nico- tine vape products. As of last week, more than 1,300 cases had been reported with 26 deaths, two of those happening in Oregon. Last week, the state approved temporary rules that took effect Tuesday that would take all fl avored vape products off the shelves of approximately 4,000 retail- ers across the state. On their website, Divi- sion Vapor had posted a message saying they would be effectively out of busi- ness as of Monday, ahead of the ban . “This is their entire busi- ness,” Adams said. “One of the requirements to enact an emergency rule is the agency has to state a need for the rule and how the rule meets that need. The OHA stated the need for the rule was based on the gov- ernor’s executive order, but nowhere in the rule did it say the rule meets the need. That was the basis for us asking the court to stay the rule.” Adams said his client is excited they will get to remain in business. “The employees of the shop are the biggest winners here today,” he said. The ruling will essen- tially force the state via the Oregon Health Authority and Gov. Brown’s offi ce to prove that the rule hasn’t violated state statute in exceeding their boundaries . Charles Boyle, Brown’s press secretary, said in a statement that “the court’s decision to enter a tempo- rary stay today is unfortu- nate due to the ongoing pub- lic health threat posed by vaping-related illness.” Boyle maintains that in light of the nationwide out- break of vaping-related injuries, a temporary ban under the state’s emergency rule-making process is the best path forward available to Gov. Brown and state agencies under Oregon law to protect public health . “Gov. Brown will con- tinue to work with the Vap- ing Public Health Work- group, state agencies, stakeholders, and the Leg- islature to fi nd long-term solutions that will pro- tect the public health from vaping-related illness,” he said. “Gov. Brown contin- ues to urge Oregonians to heed the public health warn- ing of the Oregon Health Authority and to stop vap- ing immediately.” John Harper owns four tobacco retail stores, includ- ing Under the Bridge Smoke Shop in Astoria and Seaside Smoke and Vape Shop. He said he will have to lay off 20% of his staff as a result of the ban. Harper employees 20 to 25 people in Clatsop County. “The e-liquids take a lot of labor,” Harper said. “They’re labor-intensive to manage the customers and educate them so ‘yes,’ we have extra staff employed just for that sector of our business.” Harper said he began running one employee light after the news broke of the ban because of the sub- sequent downturn in the market. “I feel that some of this is a knee-jerk reaction to what’s going on,” he said. “But the worst thing you can do is ban it and force the profi tability onto the open market on the black side where they can buy all these different chemicals and it’s not regulated — and that is a tragedy in itself.” The Oregon Capi- tal Bureau is a collabora- tion between EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group and Salem Reporter. Nicole Bales of The Astorian contributed to this report. Opening in December! We’re hiring! Grow your career with us Find us at the co-op job fair Wednesday, October 30 10 am–2 pm & 4–7 pm Fort George Lovell Showroom 14th & Duane Astoria, OR To apply early: Send a short statement of interest along with your resume to jobs@astoria.coop, or pick up an application at the store or online. We look forward to meeting you at the job fair! Pick up an application in the store today. Find job openings at www.astoria.coop