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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, July 6, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
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GUEST COLUMN
So, what did the Legislature do?
he far-reaching 2021 Legislature
was the most expensive in Ore-
gon history, approaching $30 bil-
lion in basic spending.
Here are five takeaways from the
159-day session, which was conducted
behind closed entrance doors at the Ore-
gon Capitol in Salem.
T
1. Does anyone know what the
Legislature did?
Plenty of issues made the headlines:
law enforcement reform, wildfire pre-
vention and recovery, housing and home-
lessness, mental health
care, gun control, climate
change, systemic rac-
ism, taxes, child care and
more. However, so much
transpired since the ses-
sion began Jan. 19 that
lawmakers across the
DICK
political spectrum are still
HUGHES
digging into what they
accomplished, or not.
“To be frank with you, I don’t know
all the things we’ve done,” state Senate
President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, told
reporters shortly after the Legislature
formally adjourned on June 26. “I don’t
know the magnitude of what we’ve done
or haven’t done.”
Other lawmakers echoed that
sentiment.
2. Have money, will spend
In a stunning financial reversal, the
Legislature was awash in money. The
challenge turned from cutting spending –
which lawmakers were doing only a year
ago – to where to use the extra dough.
House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Port-
land, said the Legislature finally
regained ground lost during the Great
Recession but also made additional
investments. “I’ve never seen budgets
like this in the state of Oregon,” she said.
“Never.”
Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City,
who served on the Legislature’s budget
committee, put it differently.
“There’s a philosophy of, ‘If you’ve
got it, spend it,’” he said. “I can see why
budgets continue to grow, grow, grow.”
The state was bailed out by billions
in federal pandemic relief, including aid
to agencies, businesses and nonprofits,
along with expanded jobless benefits.
The Oregon Employment Department
has distributed $9.6 billion in benefits
The Oregon Legislature adjourned a legislative session in June marked by the coronavirus pandemic.
since Gov. Kate Brown instituted busi-
ness closures and restrictions in mid-
March 2020.
3. Big spending creates big
expectations
Kotek, Courtney and some colleagues
worry whether agencies and service
providers will meet the Legislature’s
commitments.
“One of the things we’ll have to
be really good about is keeping track
of what’s happening and making sure
things are staying on track,” Kotek said.
“That really is an important question —
that we’re actually moving things in a
way that helps people.”
Other legislators agreed, saying that
would be a priority once they take a
brief respite to recover from the session.
“After decades of this message of, ‘The
government is the problem,’ I think we
have the opportunity to demonstrate how
we can help be part of the solution,” said
House Majority Leader Barbara Smith
Warner, D-Portland.
4. Be ready for sunny days
This year’s Legislature divvied mil-
lions of dollars among Oregon commu-
nities and organizations that had projects
at the ready. Meanwhile, several bil-
lion federal dollars are expected to flow
to Oregon transportation and infrastruc-
ture needs, thanks to U.S. Rep. Peter
DeFazio and others.
DeFazio, a Democrat of Springfield,
chairs the U.S. House Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure. The
House on Thursday passed his $715 bil-
lion INVEST in America Act, and the
U.S. Senate is having its own infrastruc-
ture discussions.
One of this year’s lessons is you
never know when funding might be
available for long-awaited projects, so
don’t sit on the sidelines. The then-Sa-
lem City Council made that error several
years ago by setting aside long-devel-
oped plans for a second vehicle bridge
across the Willamette River, which
divides the capital. The bridge, a priority
for rural transportation and urban com-
mutes alike, has been a regional priority
since the 1970s.
5. Women lead the way
Gov. Brown seemed an anomaly this
year. Legislative leaders interacted with
her regularly — virtually, instead of
in-person, due to the Capitol health pro-
tocols. But Oregonians didn’t hear much
from her about the Legislature. The gov-
ernor didn’t even hold a press confer-
ence afterward to discuss the Legisla-
ture’s accomplishments, although she
did issue a congratulatory press release.
However, much of the supermajority
Democrats’ progressive legislation was
led by women. Women were at the fore-
front of Republican efforts, especially in
the House. No longer were rookie leg-
islators, whether women or men, figu-
ratively relegated to the back bench and
expected to wait their turn.
“I think the Legislature grew up,”
said Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland.
dick Hughes has covered the Oregon
political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dysfunction
T
wo recent articles have contained
remarks by various Clatsop County
officials which reveal, to me, a continu-
ing level of dysfunction or administrative
paralysis that has been present in the entire
15 years I have lived in Clatsop County.
Yet, the county is faced with an unprec-
edented housing crisis — a critical short-
age of mixed-income housing units on the
order of at least 1,000. This crisis can be
solved only if the county government rec-
ognizes this emergency, declares it to be
such, and takes immediate steps to allow
developers to submit proposals to build
mixed-income housing on county land
that is outside the tsunami zone.
In our community, we already have
a number of skilled architects, builders
and land use planners who could move
quickly to submit proposals. We also have
no shortage of skilled craftspeople who
are ready to go to work on these projects,
in which some of them might eventually
live.
The citizens of the county must stop
accepting empty talk and demand real
action. We have recalled county commis-
sioners before, and we can do it again.
We elect county commissioners to gov-
ern on our collective behalf and in our
collective best interest. Let us all unite to
tell the county commission to stop dither-
ing about stupid administrative details, or
squabbling about the special interests they
represent.
We need the county commission to take
real action on the housing crisis, and the
county commission is the only agency that
can make this happen.
BARRY PLOTKIN
Astoria
Excited
A
s a member of Bethany Lutheran
Church, I am excited about a project
we embarked on about one year ago. We
decided to build a multipurpose building
on land we have owned since the 1980s
directly across from our church.
This building would host many of our
community events, such as Christian con-
certs, vacation bible school and our annual
live Nativity scene. We could also part-
ner with the Red Cross to use it as a shel-
ter in the event of a natural disaster, severe
storm or major power outage. It could also
serve as a second warming center for our
local community.
Many organizations, such as the scout-
ing programs, Young Life and Good News
Club are limited as to where they can
meet. This could help with their search.
We feel that we would be giving back
to our community by living our mission
statement, “To know Christ — Live Christ
— Share Christ.”
I would like to thank the community in
advance for supporting our endeavor, and
ask that our City Council look upon our
endeavor with kindness, and realize that
our intentions our good, and we feel that
Bethany and the community will benefit
from this project.
We ask that God will lead us in this
project, and that he will watch over our
community, its leaders and all our citizens.
LEWIS NIMMO
Deacon, Bethany Lutheran Church
Astoria
Eye-popper
icole Bales’ story, “Tension emerges
over county land use planning,” (The
Astorian, July 1) is a real eye-popper.
It looks like the Clatsop County com-
missioners intend to push the seated plan-
ning commissioners out, replacing them
with “consultants,” who are paid well with
our tax dollars, and representatives of the
N
timber industry and their employers at
Koch Industries.
This isn’t just about trees. It’s about
everything the county does in terms of
land planning, housing, food security,
water supplies and so much more. We are
privileged to live in one of the last places
on earth that is still livable.
The migration here of climate refugees
has only just begun. It is critical now to
have transparent government that answers
to the people, rather than the obscenely
wealthy corporation that hits, and runs off,
with what we still have to be exploited
here.
It’s essential people come together and
push this back. The days of the company
town really ought to be over.
SUE SKINNER
Astoria