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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.
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