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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2017)
Page 12A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Friday, March 17, 2017 COURT: State review found Health bill short of votes, shortcomings in the program GOP leaders look to Trump Continued from 1A from the local public safety coordinating council, the body of law enforcement and community leaders respon- sible for recommending to county commissioners how to use state resources to serve the local offender population. Olsen said the county sent layoff notices to four drug court alcohol and drug councilors and two staff in the Community Justice Department, which oversees the court. Dale Primmer, director of Community Justice who is also a Pendleton city councilor, said eliminating drug court resulted from an unfortunate budget trend and shows the state-wide funding gap of $1.8 billion hits local services. Primmer recalled the local public safety coordinating council applied for and received a grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to begin drug court in 2006. That grant covered 100 percent of the cost of the court and provided contributions to help facilitate the program. Around 2010, he said, the state moved to a funding model of providing $14 per day per drug court partici- pant, but that only applied to offenders serving parole and probation. Primmer said that was about 140 people, and Community Justice covered the budget difference to keep the court going. The state in the last biennium dropped the rate to $12, he said, and Community Justice used about $273,000 to bridge the funding gap. In this biennium, he said, the state is offering $9 per day per participant, and drug court has 90 people. “So not only is the rate substantially reduced, so is the total people being served,” Primmer said. Last biennium, the county received about $976,000 to support drug court, and the next biennium would be about $591,000. Primmer said when he ran the numbers on drug court’s total cost, it came out around $516,000 in the hole. “You take three bienniums in a row when the budget keeps getting cut ... you get to the point when the gap becomes too wide,” he said. He took the numbers Wednesday to the coordi- nating council, where he presented a few scenarios. Community Justice could cover the cost of drug court with money from other programs, such as the day treatment operation for high- risk offenders or treatment for people in the county jail. Or drug court could end, and Community Justice could reevaluate how to best use its resources to serve as many people as possible with an eye toward finding sustainable replacement money to restart drug court in the future. Ending drug court also comes after a state review found shortcomings in the program. Primmer said his depart- ment asked the state to conduct an evaluation in January to see how well Community Justice implemented drug court and delivered evidence- based practices. A final report is forthcoming, he said, but the summary showed the department scored high in areas related to oversight, policy and assessment. However, he said, the examination also determined delivery of services and treatment staff characteristics were in the lower ranges of “moderate and needs improvement.” And the weight of those two categories, he said, brought down the overall evaluation. Primmer attributed the findings to new staff who are still learning and acquiring training hours to reach state certification. He said he would expect a better result from a follow-up evaluation as the staff gains experience. That, however, is likely a moot point. Primmer also stressed ending drug court came down to the money, not the evaluation. He called this an opportunity for the county to “push the reset button” and evaluate how to deliver quality services. The county also sent pink slips to two staff in the Water Resources Department, but that came from the state’s plan to take over the program. Olsen said at this time the county does not anticipate more cuts. Givens added, “We’re hopeful this is it.” ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0833. CAIN: Plans to volunteer at school Continued from 1A a second-grade class for three weeks, when she herself was still in eighth-grade. Cain eventually earned her teaching license and was hired to work as a first-grade teacher at Washington Elementary School by Wallace McCrae, the Pendleton School District superintendent who would go on to become Blue Mountain Community College’s first president. She started her teaching career during a very different time in education, an era that was less test intensive and didn’t have a unified curric- ulum across schools. Cain proved to be a steady presence at Washington, and even when she took time off for maternity leave she would spend it grading papers or tutoring. Her daughters — Karen Smith and Brenda Giesen — eventually followed her into education. Smith is a first-grade teacher at Sher- wood Heights while Giesen is the assistant principal at both Sherwood Heights and Washington. When Cain retired in 2005, she became Smith’s go-to substitute teacher. Both Smith and Giesen gushed over how amazing it was to see their mother become a colleague and called her an inspiration. Sherwood Heights prin- cipal Theresa Owens said Cain never failed to build a rapport with the students she subbed for and her experience was an asset. “There’s something to be said about longevity,” Owens said. Owens marveled at the fact that Cain came from an era where chalk and a chalk- board were one of teachers’ few tools. The Pendleton classrooms of 2017 are definitely different than the ones in 1958. The building Cain taught in was demolished last year, in its place a new Washington filled with projectors, tablet computers, laptops, Smart- boards and other technology meant to enhance learning. West Hills Intermediate School, which opened the year Cain started teaching, is now the Pendleton Tech & Trade Center, which houses some of the district’s career technical education classes and its alternative education program. Despite the changes to education over the past six decades, the basic teaching strategy of “common sense and show them loving” has never failed to work for her. As a parting gift from Sherwood Heights, Owens presented Cain with a perma- nent parking pass and a school T-shirt, although parting gift might not be the right term. Cain already has plans to begin volunteering in Smith’s class, a designation she won’t have to worry about renewing. “We’ll see you tomorrow,” Owens said. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. HEALTH: Nationwide an estimated 24M people would lose medical coverage Continued from 1A coverage, state officials expect coverage provided by employers also to decline because the proposal elim- inates the tax penalty for employers who don’t provide insurance. Patrick Allen, director of Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, said he is concerned some insurers might drop out of the market as a result of the changes. That agency regulates commercial insur- ance companies and manages the state health insurance marketplace. “We are certainly concerned about the stability of the market in the face of uncertainty and in the face of changes that are potentially quite destabilizing,” Allen said. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 24 million people nationwide would lose medical coverage under the plan. State agencies based their projections on their enrollment, use and cost statistics to come up with their estimates, said Leslie Clement, director of health policy and analytics at the Oregon Health Authority. When the plan first released to public last week, the governor said she directed OHA and DCBS to analyze the impact of the proposed law on Oregon. Under the Affordable Care Act, more than 400,000 Oregonians gained health coverage. “Our report found that for every step of progress that Oregon has made this proposal will take Oregon three steps back,” Brown said. By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON — Short of votes for their health care bill, Republican congressional leaders turned to President Donald Trump on Thursday to wrangle support for the divisive legislation they hope to push through Congress before Easter. But Trump sounded more like he was at the start of a negotiation than ready to close the deal. And combined with opposition from Republicans of all stripes, the president’s flexible stance suggested final passage of the bill could be delayed, potentially exposing the legislation to the same kind of extended public backlash that under- mined former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act from the start. “It’s very preliminary,” the president said of the House GOP bill in a Fox News Channel interview Wednesday, when ques- tioned about reports the legislation would help Democratic voters more than those who elected him. “A lot of things aren’t consistent. But these are going to be negotiated. ... We will take care of our people or I’m not signing it, OK, just so you understand.” The House Budget Committee narrowly voted Thursday to advance the troubled Republican health bill, with defections by three GOP conservatives under- scoring the obstacles party leaders face in maneuvering to avoid a stinging setback to their showpiece legislation after seven years of prom- ises to repeal and replace “Obamacare.” In another warning signal, four GOP governors wrote congressional leaders saying the beleaguered bill would not work for their states. Govs. John Kasich of Ohio, Rick Snyder of Michigan, Brian Sandoval of Nevada, and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said the legislation “provides almost no new flexibility for states,” fails to ensure enough resources to protect vulnerable residents and shifts significant new costs to states. A copy of the letter was provided to The Associated Press. Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told the Portland Press Herald, “This is not a bill I could support in its current form.” Collins joins Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Utah’s Mike Lee in opposing the legislation, while other Republicans, including Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas, have expressed deep misgivings. Collins’ opposi- tion leaves the bill short of the support it needs in the Senate unless it changes, since GOP leaders can only lose two votes. The House GOP bill repeals elements of the Obama law, including the “individual mandate” that penalizes people who don’t AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black, R-Tenn., right, joined at left by Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., and panel staff member Jim Bates, center, works on the Republican health care bill, on Capitol Hill in Wash- ington, Thursday. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, opposes the Re- publican health care bill during work by the House Budget Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday. have insurance. It sets up a new system of tax credits that is less generous, particularly to older Americans. It elim- inates some of Obamacare’s requirements for services health plans need to cover, and it sunsets an expansion of Medicaid over several years, an element causing great consternation with moderate-leaning Republi- cans but one that conserva- tives want to move up faster. The bill also cuts a slew of taxes, mostly to the benefit of the rich. Conservatives say it doesn’t go far enough in repealing the Obama-era law in full, and an analysis by the nonpartisan Congres- sional Budget Office found 24 million people would lose their health insurance over a decade though the bill would also reduce the deficit. Republicans in the Budget Committee pushed nonbinding proposals to phase out the Medicaid expansion more rapidly, help low-income people more with tax credits and require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to meet work requirements. The provi- sions seemed a window into votes that leaders think may be needed to win support from conservatives. “Anyone not willing to work, let him not eat,” asserted Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, in support of the Medicaid work requirement, saying he was citing scripture. House conservatives say they are negotiating some changes directly with the White House, cutting out House GOP leaders, while rebellious GOP senators were stoking the opposi- tion. Nevertheless, House Speaker Paul Ryan tried to strike an optimistic tone as he addressed reporters MULTI-MEDIA SALES Thursday for his weekly press briefing. “We feel like we’re making great strides and great progress on getting a bill that can pass,” Ryan said. But Ryan did not commit to a timetable for passage, and his acknowledgment that the bill needs changes to pass was itself a change. Last week, Ryan was pledging action next week by the House Rules Committee — the precursor to a floor vote — and confidently predicting the bill would have the votes to pass. Instead, Ryan spent part of his news conference disputing suggestions that he and Trump are at odds over the health bill, rumblings that originate with Ryan’s very reluctant support for Trump during the presiden- tial campaign. “There is no intrigue, palace intrigue, divisions between the principals ... there really is no schism whatsoever,” Ryan insisted. “I’m excited at the fact that we have a president who likes closing deals.” But some conservatives, having ousted the last House speaker, were beginning to grumble openly about Ryan’s leadership. “Maybe Paul Ryan needs to take a couple of lessons from Nancy Pelosi and learn what it means to have a majority. Having a majority does not mean playing defense,” said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, referring to the House Democratic leader who was speaker when Obamacare passed. Route work pays for my children’s activities. Press Position Great work environment. Super awesome team. Good pay. Retirement plan. Weekends off. Interested? Press person need- ed at East Oregonian newspaper. Our operation prints an array of weekly, bi-weekly and monthly publications. To join our team, you’ll need web press operation skills, an eye for color, mechanical ability, be a good com- municator and work well with others. Must be able to lift 50# and go up/down stairs on a regular basis. Send resume and cover letter stating salary requirements to: EO Media Group PO Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048 or fax: (503) 371-2935 or email: hr@eomediagroup.com. Benefi ts include Paid Time Off (PTO), insur- ances and a 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement plan. Send resume and letter of interest to EO Media Group., PO Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308-2048, by fax to 503-371-2935 or email hr@eomediagroup.com East Oregonian has an opening for multi-media sales. No multi-media experience? That’s fine, as long as you understand the importance of customer service, working hard and a desire to enjoy your job. Could this be you? Send resume and letter of interest to EO Media Group PO Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048 by fax to 503-371-2935 or e-mail hr@eomediagroup.com Base wage plus commissions, benefits and mileage reimbursement. Benefits include Paid Time Off (PTO), insurances and a 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement plan. Become an East Oregonian Carrier. 211 SE Byers Ave. Pendleton or call: 541-276-2211 1-800-522-0255
