February 15, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
Healthcare
amount to sweeping
changes to the Afford-
able Care Act. That would
fall to Congress, where
Republicans are strug-
gling to reach consensus
over how to deliver on
their promise to repeal
and replace the health
law. Progressive activists
and leaders, including
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown,
“However, in the longer
run, providing (insur-
ers) with additional flexi-
bility could help stabilize
premiums.”
Larry Levitt of the non-
partisan Kaiser Family
Foundation said “this
would allow insurers to
offer plans with high-
er deductibles, which
seems counter to Pres-
The proposed change ... could
reduce the value of coverage
for consumers
have largely urged Con-
gress to keep and expand
the law, rather than re-
peal and replace it.
But the administra-
tion’s actions do signal a
change in direction.
For consumers, the
proposed HHS rules
mean tighter scrutiny
of anyone trying to sign
up for coverage outside
of open enrollment by
claiming a “special en-
rollment period” due to
a change in life circum-
stances such as the birth
of a child, marriage, or
the loss of job-based in-
surance.
Also, sign-up season
will be 45 days, down
from the current three
months.
For insurers, the curbs
on special enrollment pe-
riods are a big item. The
industry claimed that
some consumers were
abusing special enroll-
ment by signing up when
they needed expensive
treatments, only to drop
out later.
Insurers would gain
more flexibility to design
low-premium plans tai-
lored to younger people,
yet that flexibility could
lead to higher deduct-
ibles, according to the de-
partment.
“The proposed change
... could reduce the value
of coverage for consum-
ers,” the proposal said.
Read the full story at
TheSkanner.com
Seattle Divests
Olivia One Feather (right) leans into a friend after the Seattle City Council voted unanimously Feb. 7 to take the city’s money out of Wells
Fargo and put it in a bank that is more in line with the cities values. The city council decided to find a different bank because Wells
Fargo is involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline and because it invests in for-profit prisons.
Profiling
cont’d from pg 3
their fines had been equal to those
levied on White defendants, ac-
cording to InvestigateWest.
“I believe profiling is an eco-
nomic justice issue,” Kayse Jama,
executive director of Unite Ore-
“
In 2015 the legislature passed
the End Profiling Act, which was
spearheaded by Attorney General
Ellen Rosenlum and championed
by Sen. Lew Frederick and Rep.
Alissa Keny-Guyer. It defined
profiling as
“people tar-
geted based
on their race,
ethnicity, reli-
gion, national
origin, language, housing status,
and sexual orientation or gen-
der identity.” It also established a
compliant mechanism so that in-
dividuals targeted by police pro-
filing could file a grievance with
the Law Enforcement Contacts
Policy and Data Review Commit-
tee (LECC).
Yet some felt the legislation
didn’t live up to its name. “For too
long we’ve heard stories of our
community facing profiling by
state police,” said Amira Streeter,
policy and advocacy director at
the Urban League. “This unlaw-
ful act still continues even after
‘For too long we’ve heard sto-
ries of our community fac-
ing profiling by state police’
gon, told The Skanner. “You just
need to go to the courts down-
town and you see who has been
ticketed. The majority is general-
ly people of color.”
2015 Law Created a Starting
Point
In 2013, Jama took the issue of
profiling to Salem, but was met
with little result.
Then came the summer of 2014,
when the fatal police shooting of
Michael Brown in Ferguson put
law enforcement — and its han-
dling of force against African
Americans — in the hot seat.
the passage of HB 2002.”
But the End Profiling Act also
created a task force. The Work
Group on the Prevention of
Profiling by Law Enforcement,
steered by Rosenblum and assem-
bled with organizations such as
Unite Oregon, the Portland Police
Association and the ACLU of Ore-
gon, devised recommendations to
address systematic profiling.
Eighteen months of task force
meetings culminated in House
Bill 2355, which aims to create
a method to track profiling. If
passed, the new bill would man-
date that all police officers collect
data on a person’s perceived race,
ethnicity, age and sex when mak-
ing pedestrian and traffic-stops.
It would also make Oregon the
second state to record pedestrian
data. Currently only three Ore-
gon police departments require
officers to track race and ethnici-
ty during traffic stops.
Read the full story at
TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
publicly available.
Hearst, who was also involved in the
fatal 2013 shooting of Merle Hatch in
the parking lot of Portland Adventist
Medical Center, is on paid administra-
tive leave — along with the two other of-
ficers who were at the scene at the time
of the shooting — until the completion
of an internal PPB investigation and
grand jury.
State medical examiner Karen Gun-
son has said Hayes was not shot in the
back, but has so far declined to de-
scribe precisely where officers’ bullets
hit Hayes.
At a Sunday evening vigil for Hayes,
his mother, Venus Hayes, read the fol-
lowing statement — a video of which
was posted to YouTube -- from the fam-
ily.
“Quanice’s personality was magnetic.
He was the person you liked and would
remember the moment you met him,”
Hayes said. “Quanice was a 17-year-
old kid that would often prefer to be
at home with his family rather than a
night out with his friends. He was the
oldest of five children. Quanice was the
love of my life. Quanice was idolized
by his siblings and adored by his fam-
ily. We’re all struggling to find sense
in his death and are mourning the loss
of a life taken too soon. While we wait
for answers surrounding the death of
Quanice, we ask everyone to refrain
“
A White man named Don Allan Per-
kins, 56, was also shot by Portland Po-
lice Feb. 9 after calling 911 to report
he was suicidal and taking pills while
driving around Southeast Portland.
Perkins is also reported to have been
carrying a replica firearm, though the
events that led to officers firing at him
are also unclear and pending investiga-
tion. He was wounded and transported
Officers released a photo of a replica handgun
from the incident. Whether Hayes drew or
pointed the gun is unclear
from speculation. Anyone that wit-
nessed the tragic event leading up to
the death of Quanice is encouraged to
contact the ACLU along with detectives
Eric Camara and Mark Slater. We will
be taking no questions at this time and
we ask that you please continue to re-
spect our privacy while we continue to
mourn the loss of my son.”
to a hospital, and is expected to survive.
Officer Bradley Clark, who shot Per-
kins, used an AR-15 to shoot a man in
Southwest Portland in 2010. He has
been with PPB for 11 years.
At a Friday press conference to de-
brief media on both shootings, Mayor
Ted Wheeler said he wanted to refrain
from speculation until the investiga-
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOFUNDME
Shooting
ident’s Trump promise
to lower deductibles.” A
deductible is the annual
amount consumers pay
for medical care before
their insurance kicks in.
Separately, the IRS is
backing off from a tighter
approach to enforcement
that was in the works for
this tax-filing season.
The IRS said that’s in line
with Trump’s executive
order directing agencies
to ease requirements of
the health law.
Under the law, peo-
ple are required to have
health coverage or risk
fines from the IRS — a
penalty usually deduct-
ed from a taxpayer’s re-
fund. That underlying
requirement remains on
the books, and taxpayers
are still legally obligated
to comply, the IRS said.
But the agency is
changing its approach to
enforcement. Originally,
the IRS had planned to
start rejecting returns
this year if a taxpayer
failed to indicate wheth-
er he or she had cover-
age. Now the IRS says
it will keep processing
such returns, as it has in
the past.
Many of the law’s sup-
porters consider the
coverage requirement
essential.
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
“
cont’d from pg 1
Quanice Hayes, 17, was shot and killed by Portland
police Feb. 9.
tions are complete, but said the events
that happened in Portland Thursday
happen “all too often.”
“When the person who is killed is a
Black teenager, it taps into deep histor-
ical wounds,” Wheeler said.
The Portland Student Action Net-
work’s rally for Hayes meets at 5:30
p.m. Thursday in the South Park Blocks
near 800 SW Market St., according to
the Facebook event page.
