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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2017)
July 12, 2017 The Skanner Page 3 News ated by HB 2002 argued data tracking is neces- sary in order to hold law enforcement agencies ac- countable. HB 2355 also charges people caught with small amounts of certain drugs with mis- demeanors instead of felonies and replaces jail time with mandatory treatment. “ cont’d from pg 1 this year that he thinks the matter should be re- ferred directly to voters. Immigration HB 3464, the “sanctu- ary state” bill, which ex- pands Oregon’s 30-year- old sanctuary state law, passed along party lines during the session’s final week. It prohibits public bodies from disclosing HB 3464, the “sanctuary state” bill, which expands Oregon’s 30-year-old sanctu- ary state law, passed along party lines House Bill 3078 re- duced to misdemeanors certain property crimes often associated with drug use. Environment Senate Bill 1008, which authorizes the state to receive $85 million from the Volkswagen mitiga- tion Trust Agreement. As The Skanner report- ed in May, the bill was amended to remove the deadline by which old- er diesel vehicles would have to be retrofitted. In its final form, the bill only includes retrofit- ting requirements for older school buses – but not for other old die- sel vehicles, like semi- trucks. Voting House Bill 2927, which would award Oregon’s electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, passed out of the house but died in the Senate. It’s a hot top- ic this year — support- ers of Democratic can- didate Hillary Clinton point out that she won three million more votes than President Donald Trump, who won the electoral vote — but it’s not new to Oregon. A ver- sion of this bill has been introduced three times in the last 10 years, and passed out of the house each time, only to be blocked by Senate pres- ident Peter Courtney. Courtney said earlier Curious information about a per- son — like home, school or workplace address- es — for the purpose of enforcing immigration laws, except as required by federal law (such as when determining bene- fit eligibility). Public health SB 558, which requires the state to expand out- reach and implementa- tion for its Health Care for All Kids program, passed despite a contro- versial provision requir- ing the state to expand coverage to undocu- mented immigrants. HB 3391, which re- quires health insurers to cover a range of repro- ductive health services — including abortion — passed. SB 754, which prohibits the sale of tobacco prod- ucts to people under 21, passed easily out of both houses. The bill kicks in in January; retailers and retail employees who sell tobacco products (including vaporizer oil) will be fined. Transportation House Bill 2017, the state’s $5.3 billion trans- portation bill, passed with bipartisan support. It includes a 4-cent gas tax hike, $16 vehicle reg- istration fee increase and a 0.1 percent payroll tax increase and taxes bikes and new cars. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com Lisa LeSage has been named the new executive director of Immigration Counseling Service, a nonprofit law firm serving Oregon’s immigrant communities since 1978, following Barbara Babcock’s retirement in July. Currently an international consultant and principal at Lexterra Strategies LLC, LeSage brings extensive national and international human rights experience to ICS. A native Portlander, LeSage recently returned to Oregon after five years as a senior legal advisor and country director with the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, working on human rights and rule of law projects in the Middle East and North Africa. As a civil rights lawyer and former associate dean at Lewis & Clark Law School, LeSage has long been active in Oregon’s immigrant, legal, and nonprofit communities. She began her career as a legal aid lawyer at Oregon Legal Services representing immigrants and migrant workers, and later joined the law firm of Ginsburg, Gomez Neal and LeSage, where she practiced immigration and civil rights law with her partner, Dick Ginsburg. A co-founder of Lewis & Clark Law School’s Small Business Legal Clinic, which serves minority and low-income businesses, LeSage also has held numerous positions on non profit boards and professional organizations, including as President of the Oregon Law Foundation, Chair of the Oregon Access to Justice Conference, and co-founder of the Oregon State Bar Diversity Section. Energy Her prior public service includes appointments to the Oregon Wage and Hour Commission, the Labor Commissioner’s Advisory Committee on Agricultural Labor, and the Oregon Health Division Ad Hoc Task Force on Migrant Health. She has authored several articles, and has received the Oregon State Bar President’s Public Service Award and Statewide Affirmative Action Award in recognition of her work. cont’d from pg 1 Jo Ann Hardesty, president of the NAACP Portland branch, told The Skanner. “Low-income folks and commu- nities of color are continuing to struggle with high energy costs and the inability to live in an en- ergy-retrofitted environment.” The organization’s findings and recommendations are detailed in a recent report, “Just Energy Poli- cies and Practices: Oregon Report on Energy Efficiency and Renew- able Energy Policies,” which was presented by the NAACP to the Legislature during a lobby day at the Oregon State Capitol earlier last month. The report is part of the NAACP’s nationwide campaign to educate lawmakers on how these populations are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, especially at a time when the Trump administration con- tinues to deny it. “Communities of color and low-income communities have historically had less access to good jobs and housing in safer, less polluted neighborhoods,” wrote NAACP Corvallis presi- dent Frederick J. Edwards in the report. The organization is asking that communities of color and low-in- come are given more opportunity to participate in the green econo- my. To accomplish that the NAACP says these populations need ac- cess to affordable clean energy — and a share of the jobs. “We hope that there will be a “ side near energy production facilities are likely to suffer the health impacts of prolonged ex- posure to toxins like smog, lead, asbestos and mercury more than any other group of Americans. In Oregon African Americans African Americans spent $41 billion on energy in 2009, but only held 1.1 percent of energy jobs change in policy that really starts to identify how communities of color can take advantage of some of these opportunities to create green infrastructure,” said Hard- esty. Higher levels of pollution, ill- ness in communities of color According to the “Just Energy Policies and Practices” report, communities of color nation- wide are disproportionately ex- posed to pollution from sources like power plants, toxic sites and roadways. Across the nation approximate- ly 68 percent of African Ameri- cans live within 30 miles of a coal- fired power plant, which in 2016 was the second largest generator of electricity in the U.S. at 30.4 percent, just behind natural gas at 33.8 percent. Furthermore, Blacks who re- make up just less than three per- cent of the state’s population, yet suffer higher rates of asthma and other health problems due to their proximity to pollutants from freeway corridors and in- dustrial areas. So the issue, according to the NAACP, is two-fold: people of low-income and communities of color directly suffer more of the health-related and economic con- sequences of industrial pollution than White people. Because of this, poor people and people of color are also the first populations to experience the fallout of climate change, such as natural disasters, extreme weath- er and food and clean water inse- curity due to drought. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 and groundwater, Maine Jackson now focuses her efforts on sustaining the environment, particularly in the clean- up and remediation of the Hanford “ ICS Announces New Executive Director PHOTO COURTESY OF ICS Legislature neer and bridge builder in the Deep South, and constructed bridge models using toy building pieces. “I’ve met a lot of children who didn’t I want to make sure that African American children will see someone that looks like them doing these things Site, a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in Washington. The group also took a look at Horace King, a 19th-century architect, engi- know that any of these people existed,” Jackson told The Skanner. “Even adults didn’t know about their accomplish- ments, or that African Americans were working in these fields.” The following weeks will include pro- gramming on flowers, robotics, simple machines, chemistry and more. “I want kids to find something they’re interested in life,” she continued. “And I want to make sure that African Amer- ican children will see someone that looks like them doing these things.” Curious Minds Where: Kenton Meeting Room, 8226 N Denver Avenue First come, first served. When: Every Saturday, July 8 – Aug. 26 Target audience: Grades K – 5 The Kenton Library will offer Curious Minds every Saturday through the end of August.
