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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, ApRIl 20, 2021
OPINION
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GUEST COLUMN
Civics lessons go beyond books
O
regon high schoolers may soon
have to learn about their gov-
ernment. So today, I offer a
primer on what goes on behind the
scenes … the stuff that might not show
up in textbooks.
The state Senate overwhelmingly
passed Senate Bill 513, adding a one-se-
mester class in civics to the require-
ments for earning a high
school diploma. The bill
would take effect in the
2025-26 school year.
The Legislature
is more than half-
way through its 160-
day session and the
DICK
civics requirement is
HUGHES
likely to become law,
now that House Dem-
ocrats and Republicans have reached
agreement on how the session will pro-
ceed. The chief sponsors of SB 513 are
state Senate Republican Leader Fred
Girod, of Lyons, and Rep. Paul Evans,
D-Monmouth.
During the floor debate, sena-
tors pointed to Americans’ dismal lack
of awareness about how government
works. Legislators experience that lack
of understanding firsthand. Constituents
frequently contact them about matters
that actually are the purview of federal,
county or city governments and school
districts.
Still, there is a vast difference
between the basics of government as
recounted in textbooks and what really
goes on. Here are lessons from the Sen-
ate, as well as the House:
Oratory doesn’t matter
Legislators spend considerable time
making floor speeches. Although they
please supporters and make good mate-
rial for campaign ads, rarely do they
change anyone’s mind.
Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland,
acknowledged that rarity in explaining
why he voted for SB 16, sponsored by
Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, and Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena. The bill gives Mal-
heur County more flexibility in convert-
ing farmland to housing. It barely passed
the Senate 16 to 12, with most Demo-
crats voting “no.”
“I voted differently after hearing
the floor debate than I thought I would
going in; that’s rarer in the Legislature
than it probably should be,” Golden told
gon Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.
Afterward, Senate Democrats sent a
press release headlined, “Senate Demo-
crats protect workers against retaliation
for reporting wrongful conduct.”
Senate Republicans responded
with, “Senate Democrats look to over-
turn principles of fairness in the work-
place, pass ‘guilty until proven innocent’
legislation.”
Most legislative
work is bipartisan
Chris Lehman/KLCC
Oregon legislators are considering a bill that would require civics education in high school.
constituents.
Results are determined
beforehand
Bills generally don’t reach the Sen-
ate or House floor unless they have suf-
ficient votes for passage. That is one rea-
son why a bill that handily passes in one
chamber might disappear in the other
chamber.
It was another rarity when the Sen-
ate rejected a mandate that vehicles
have their headlights or running lights
on during daylight travel. This is a con-
cept that Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield,
has tried before. His SB 166 failed 13 to
16, in part because some senators were
unfamiliar with it.
Golden again: “Hearing about this
kind of bill for the first time on the Sen-
ate floor almost never happens. Usually
the sponsor will flag it for the majority
office and Democrats will meet ahead of
time for discussion and a vote count. As
the carrier (Beyer) started explaining the
bill I saw more than a couple of senators
looking as surprised as I felt.”
The public must talk fast
The Legislature’s budget writers
— the Joint Committee on Ways and
Means — are conducting a virtual state
budget hearing for residents in each of
Oregon’s five congressional districts. At
the first two-hour hearing, on Wednes-
day evening, testimony was strictly
limited to two minutes per person and
legislators were not permitted to ask
questions.
I have no idea how legislators will
absorb all the spoken and written testi-
mony. Every comment — each appeal
for money — sounded the same, regard-
less of content.
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward,
D-Beaverton, apologized that there
wasn’t time to hear from all who asked
to testify. A co-chair of Ways and
Means, she said there’s never enough
time in these budget hearings.
Among the budget details, the Leg-
islature plans to divvy up $780 million
from the latest federal pandemic relief
package. Oregon’s 30 senators sub-
mitted more than 300 requests for how
they’d like the money spent. Their ideas
added up to $5 billion. The 60 state rep-
resentatives submitted more than 900
requests, totaling $30 billion.
Headlines tell only
part of the story
On a 18-12 party-line vote, the Sen-
ate passed SB 483 to protect work-
ers from retaliation if they report a
workplace safety violation to Ore-
For example, Sen. Tim Knopp,
R-Bend, and Sen. Lew Frederick,
D-Portland, co-sponsored Senate Bill
458 to increase housing opportunities. It
passed 25 to 4, with two Democrats and
two Republicans voting “no.”
In the House, the staff of Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland, issued these
statistics: Of the 115 bills that the House
had voted on, 70 passed unanimously
and 12 had only one dissenter. Nine
times that dissenter was a Republican
and three times a Democrat. Unlike the
Senate, which is moving faster, no bill
passed a pure party-line vote.
Statistics don’t tell the whole story,
which is why House Republicans —
until an agreement was reached Wednes-
day night — were slowing the legisla-
tive process so as to stall the Democrats’
agenda. Republicans were refusing to
suspend the rule that bills must be read
aloud word-by-word before a floor vote.
Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, explained
why in a newspaper op-ed: “While most
bills will have bipartisan consensus like
the budget, there are still about 10%
of the proposals that are partisan, and
I believe could make life far worse for
Oregonians. This bipartisanship is some-
thing Oregonians can be proud of but
unfortunately the media does not often
report on this important fact.
“The media constantly reports on the
10% or so of the bills that are controver-
sial. When one party is in a majority or
even more a supermajority, those 10%
can be very contentious. I am asked
often by my colleagues from across the
aisle why we won’t suspend the rules
when what we are voting on is not con-
troversial. It is precisely the 10% that
creates the need for a way to ‘slow down
the process.’”
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Cadre
ther letter-writers have commented on
the wonderful job the Clatsop County
Public Health Department has done in the
administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.
I echo that praise, not only for the pro-
fessional health care workers but also for
the volunteers who are supporting them.
This letter is motivated by those volun-
teers, who give direct evidence of the level
of involvement the community is willing
to step up to if the purpose is worthwhile
and well-coordinated.
About two years ago, a proposal was
made to the mayor’s Homelessness Solu-
tions Task Force to form a cadre of vol-
unteers who would be present — perhaps
24/7 — in downtown Astoria, walking the
streets in pairs for the purpose of iden-
tifying people in crisis and then notify-
ing Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare or the
Astoria Police Department to make the
appropriate response.
The proposal had these volunteers
being well-trained, wearing highly-visi-
ble vests and identification cards, carry-
ing two-way communications equipment
and coordinating with professionals, very
much along the lines of what we have seen
successfully implemented at the COVID-
19 inoculation centers.
If either the city or county would
implement such an idea as an adjunct to
other proposals for coming to grips with
the issues of homelessness, then the down-
town business owners, along with the
cruise ship operators, might feel more
comfortable — and less confrontational
— when the city opens up again. Having
homeless people in our community is not
a problem to be solved. However, we can
do more, and we can do better, to address
it.
BARRY L. PLOTKIN
Astoria
O
Hope
ongratulations on the well-done arti-
cle “Police feel the weight of crisis
response” (The Astorian, April 13). The
frustrations of all parties involved is very
evident, as is their determination to think
C
the problem through, looking for a solu-
tion that seems just out of reach.
As pointed out in the article, there is
no “one-size-fits-all solution.” In today’s
society, mandated help for those who
won’t or can’t help themselves seems
unacceptable. The results of this attitude is
catastrophic for many individuals.
Reading the article should cause think-
ers to realize how big the problem is, and
that stronger actions may be required to
help individuals and, in the long term,
society.
Thank all who contributed to the arti-
cle. Hope is there when people think and
search together for a solution.
BERT WILLIAMSON
Burlington, Washington
Consult
egarding the story “Police feel the
weight of crisis response” (The Asto-
rian, April 13): This is a serious and very
challenging and accurate description of
situations which have existed in many cit-
ies for years.
It is correct to accept the reality that
law enforcement should not be expected
to handle crises which involve any aspect
of mental health or addictions issues.
There are communities which have had
success in developing resources to mit-
igate these challenges. It seems wise to
consult with these communities, and fol-
low their best advice about how they
worked it out successfully.
Law enforcement cannot be expected
to solve these problems or fund their solu-
tions. Successful programs do exist, and
the people who have developed them will
surely be willing to share their strategies.
NANCY WINTERS
Alsea
R
Thoughtful
ur police chief and deputy chief
were both thoughtful and eloquent
in discussing the complex problems first
responders are trying to deal with through-
out the country (The Astorian, April 13).
We see the heartbreaking results on TV
O
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to The
Astorian. Letters should be fewer
than 250 words and must include the
writer’s name, address and phone
number. You will be contacted to
confirm authorship. All letters are
subject to editing for space, gram-
mar and factual accuracy. Only two
letters per writer are allowed each
month. Letters written in response
every day. In summing up, the chief says,
“It’s almost like you have to take each
individual, triage them and say, ‘What
does this person need?’” I say, “Yes, sir.”
And I think many would agree with me.
That’s exactly what we need. Let’s do
that.
Years ago, I was a clerk in Multnomah
County hospital’s emergency room, where
we “triaged” patients to see who were
“real” emergencies; who instead needed a
routine appointment; who’d come to the
ER by mistake; or for something to do; or
to get a warm bed.
“Detox” should be added to and high
on that list. And police officers are cer-
to other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and should refer to
the headline and date the letter was
published. Discourse should be civil.
Send via email to editor@dailyasto-
rian.com, online at bit.ly/astorianlet-
ters, in person at 949 Exchange St.
in Astoria or mail to Letters to the
Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR.,
97103.
tainly not best suited to do that. We are
proving that time and again in city after
city. As your article mentions, two people
suffering mental problems were killed by
police in Clatsop County last year.
Many different people and agencies
try to handle pieces of this problem, but
they’re after-the-fact and, of course, a dol-
lar short. Can’t the city and county gov-
ernments address this jointly — as they
seem to have done in Lane County and
Eugene — and set up a suitably trained
and oriented group to perform this badly
needed service?
JOSEPH WEBB
Astoria