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.