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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
GOP says cap and trade is being kept in dark
Sen. Bentz says
bill is being rushed
for no reason
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM – Just a week
into the 2019 Legislature,
unrest between Democratic
and Republican legisla-
tors has surfaced over land-
mark legislation to reduce
Oregon’s greenhouse gas
emissions.
Legislators have been
anticipating the environ-
mental push as a major
issue in the session, putting
Oregon in the forefront of
tackling carbon emission
changes through govern-
ment policy.
The proposal could affect
Oregonians in many ways,
increasing costs for things
such as gas and manufac-
tured goods.
On Monday, Sen. Cliff
Bentz, R-Ontario, aired his
grievances in a Portland
Business Journal article,
saying he had been shut out
from the crafting of the leg-
islation despite being a vice
chair of the Joint Committee
on Carbon Reduction.
Bentz said he was very
much a part of the process,
meeting with the other com-
mittee leaders often twice a
week, until Dec. 21. Since
then, he said, it’s his under-
standing that Sen. Michael
Dembrow, D-Portland and
co-chair of the committee,
and representatives from the
Governor’s Office, House
Speaker Tina Kotek’s office
and Senate President Peter
Courtney’s office have been
working with the legislative
lawyers craft the bill without
Republican input.
“I guess I’m in the dark
when it comes to who’s been
working on the bill,” Bentz
said Tuesday.
Bentz said he believes
there is an effort to push
the bill through quickly so
Democrats can move on to
other large agenda items. He
worries such important leg-
islation won’t be carefully
considered.
“My concern is not that
the bipartisan element has
been lost, although it is odd
after all that work over the
course of the
year I would
be left out,”
Bentz said.
“ W h a t ’s
much more
concerning
is that this
Bentz
is a compli-
cated piece
of work, and there’s zero rea-
son to rush on this bill.”
On Monday, House
Republicans accused Dem-
ocrats of hiding the bill,
expected to become public
Thursday.
“From what I have heard
from many people is that
bipartisan ideas are the
best,” Rep. Shelly Boshart
Davis, R-Albany, said in the
Republican statement. “This
should be a bill that is bipar-
tisan for all Oregonians. Yet,
the fact is, the bill has only
been seen and written by one
party. I think that one might
need to simply say we don’t
want your help in this bill.”
Denbrow said no one is
being shut out. He said a leg-
islative attorney assigned to
the legislation took a week
off during the holidays and
the process is taking longer
than expected.
Rep. Karin Power, D-Mil-
waukie, also a co-chair,
opened Monday’s commit-
tee meeting by addressing
the elephant in the room.
“We all would love to see
this bill,” she said. “We’re a
little behind in Legislative
Counsel and in publications
and its causing frustration,
but that is not because we
are sitting in a closed room
somewhere drafting it.”
On Tuesday, Power said
she has since met with
Republicans in the commit-
tee but declined to elaborate
on the conversations. Power
said she and Dembrow
intend to hear from Repub-
licans and others impacted
by climate change or facing
new financial burdens from
new regulations.
Anna Braun, Court-
ney’s legislative director,
said committee leaders from
both parties have met regu-
larly to discuss the legisla-
tion since the summer. The
only change was when the
concepts were sent to staff
attorneys to turn into draft
legislation in late December.
Dembrow said he doesn’t
have the draft.
The partisan divide
comes just months after
an election cycle that gave
Democrats a three-fifths
majority in the House and
Senate as well as the re-elec-
tion of Democratic Gov.
Kate Brown. Republicans
had warned that Demo-
crats would act alone to push
through major legislation.
Democrats have promised to
continue working with their
Republican colleagues.
In an interview Tuesday,
Dembrow said the Repub-
lican complaints are a tac-
tic to undermine the legis-
lation, which Bentz has long
opposed.
“To prepare for what’s
going to be a controversial
debate over this subject, I
think that they are trying to
poison the well,” Dembrow
said.
Dembrow said the legis-
lation is similar to what was
introduced in 2018, and that
he has shared with Bentz the
final directives given to leg-
islative lawyers.
Bentz confirmed that, but
said he found the concept
problematic. He said polling
shows Oregonians clearly
want to regulate carbon. But
Bentz wants to make sure
the state doesn’t hurt indi-
viduals and the business
community. He wants to call
out the dangers of the bill,
which he says could put a
“straightjacket” on Oregon’s
economy.
“It’s deeply concerning
because we don’t have all
the time in the world,” Bentz
said. “This sends a signal
that there is a rush to get
this thing passed way sooner
than when it probably should
be passed. It’s a really com-
plex piece of work.”
The legislation, a cap on
carbon emissions for some
sectors, has been hotly
debated in the Legislature
for a few years. It was aban-
doned in 2018 as time ran
out during a short session of
the Legislature.
But even after all the
study and testimony, some
members of the commit-
tee are worlds apart. On
Tuesday, Sen. Alan Olsen,
R-Canby, took to the Sen-
ate floor to denounce the
cap-and-trade effort, say-
ing the worst polluters reside
in other countries and Ore-
gonians shouldn’t take
on the burden of limiting
emissions.
Dembrow,
standing
toward the back of the Sen-
ate floor, flashed a wry smile.
After, he said Olsen is hold-
ing a “marginal position.”
Olsen has often been criti-
cal of the widely viewed sci-
entific outlook that climate
change is human-caused.
Dembrow said the Leg-
islature created the Oregon
Climate Change Research
Institute in 2007, which is
stocked with researchers
from public colleges around
the state. It works to vet
the research coming out of
the scientific community to
inform legislators.
“I’m inclined to listen to
them,” Dembrow said of the
scientific community.
Dembrow hopes to get
bipartisan support, but he
doesn’t know if that will
happen.
“This is a subject fraught
with political controversy,”
he said. “Our goal is to put
forth the best program, the
best piece of legislation that
we can, that can be a model
for other states to follow.”
Courtney said he pre-
fers bipartisan legislation,
but won’t apologize for act-
ing otherwise to pass good
policy.
“There comes a time
when if you can’t do it, then
you gotta do it alone with just
your own family,” Courtney
said. “I don’t like that, but
I’m not going to deny that.”
Courtney said he became
aware on Friday that conver-
sations about the carbon bill
between parties had broken
down, though he didn’t think
it was intentional. He came
in during the weekend to
talk with a Republican sen-
ator about it.
Courtney said he doesn’t
know if the rift between par-
ties will last.
He said the most signif-
icant legislative input isn’t
in drafting a proposal but in
debating and amending it.
“I’m a bill guy,” Court-
ney said. “I’m not a ‘let’s
have a conversation.’ Every-
body’s walking around here
wanting to have a conversa-
tion. What is that? I want a
bill. Get me a bill, and then
we’ll start to go.”
Graduates: Districts take varied approaches
Continued from Page A1
nearly 5.5 points below the
white graduation rate.
A recent audit from the
Oregon Secretary of State’s
Office found the achieve-
ment gap for Latinos and
other students of color
“troubling.”
In comparison, the Mil-
ton-Freewater
Unified
School District has near
parity between white and
Hispanic student graduation
rates.
Milton-Freewater Super-
intendent Rob Clark said the
work from staff and changes
in the community assisted
in graduation growth.
“The assimilation of
Latinos is evolving,” Clark
said, meaning parents are
more likely to be involved
in school functions.
In some districts, like
Stanfield and Morrow
County, Latino students
flipped the script, outpacing
their white peers’ gradua-
tion rate.
Morrow County Super-
intendent Dirk Dirksen
said his district’s mantra
is to “meet students where
they’re at.”
While that comes in a
variety of forms, for immi-
grant high school students,
it means sending them
to a “welcome center” at
Riverside High School in
Boardman.
Dirksen said these stu-
dents are given a lighter
class schedule and less
teachers as they’re accultur-
ated into Morrow County
schools.
Once they finish a year
at the center, they’re moved
on to a regular high school
schedule.
Stanfield Superintendent
Beth Burton said her dis-
trict didn’t do anything spe-
cific for Latino students,
adding that Stanfield Sec-
ondary School’s college
readiness initiatives could
have an effect.
Burton said counselor
Kirsten Wright and the
Generation College club
she runs take students on
trips to colleges and pro-
vide a strong motivator to
graduate.
The Hermiston School
District also saw some
growth in Hispanic gradua-
tion, but a nearly 8 point gap
exists between Latino and
white students’ rates.
Regardless of race,
Hermiston Superintendent
Tricia Mooney said the dis-
trict hopes its approach to
literacy will pay dividends
for graduation rates in the
future.
Mooney said by expand-
ing the district’s literacy
focus to include reading,
writing, speaking and lis-
tening, it should help in
all facets of educational
performance.
Like Sipe and Clark,
Mooney highlighted the dis-
trict’s higher completer rate
— a statistic that includes
students who completed a
diploma or GED after the
target graduation date.
Spending: Water, sewer, street improvements set
Continued from Page A1
to do an overlay on Hermis-
ton Avenue from Northwest
11th Street to First Street.
Year two will bring pav-
ing on East Theater Lane,
year three will be a hiatus
to build up cash and year
four will be a $1.5 million
realignment of the intersec-
tion of Geer Road, Harper
Road, River Road and the
railroad crossing located
west of Home Depot. Year
five will be the North First
Place project and resurfac-
ing West Theater Lane.
Water
To pay for water and
sewer projects, the city
recently restructured and
increased its water and
sewer rates. The new rates
go into effect March 1.
Projects on the list for
water include an upgrade to
Well #6, which serves “crit-
ical customers” such as the
Wal-Mart Distribution Cen-
ter and Pioneer Seed, Mor-
gan said.
The city also plans to
replace the “system-wide
brain” that has run the city’s
water system since 1999.
“I don’t know how many
of you have a 20-year-old
computer, but that’s basi-
cally what we have running
our system,” Morgan said.
The city also wants to
add a new coat of paint and
cathodic protection to the
city water tank behind Sun-
set Park to extend its life,
replace a chlorination struc-
ture and expand a water line
down Geer Road. There are
also plans to replace several
steel water mains through-
out town that were built in
the 1920s.
Sewer
On Monday, the city
approved a bid from Sineco
Construction of Hermis-
ton for its first sewer project
on the capital improvement
plan, which will replace a
narrow sewer line along
Southeast Seventh Street
that has been creating a
“bottleneck” and causing
concerns about possible
overflow in the event of an
equipment failure.
“We’ve been holding our
breath and crossing our fin-
gers every time we have the
fair up at EOTEC,” Morgan
said.
Other projects in the $6.5
million in recycled water
spending for the next five
years include two lift station
reconstructions.
Most of the rest of
the money will be put in
reserve for 2024. The city’s
recycled water treatment
plant was built in 2014, and
Morgan said several expen-
sive components have an
expected shelf life of about
10 years.
City staff are good at
extending the life of capi-
tal assets, he said, but the
city needs to be prepared in
case things start breaking in
2024.
City councilors praised
staff and the public infra-
structure committee for
their work on the capital
improvement plan.
Drotzmann said the
League of Oregon Cit-
ies estimates cities around
the state have a combined
$7 billion in needed water
and sewer infrastructure
projects.
“I think this is huge, and
I’m excited and proud of the
city for doing it,” he said.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Centers for Disease Control has reported that the
number of children not receiving vaccinations has qua-
drupled since 2001.
Measles: Virus spreads easily
Continued from Page A1
edge. Places where people
might have been exposed
include various stores, the
Portland International Air-
port , Oregon Museum of
Science and Industry and
the Moda Center.
Umatilla County Public
Health Director Joe Fiu-
mara said measles linger
in the air and on surfaces.
“Measles is about as
contagious as it gets,” Fiu-
mara said. “It’s spread via
droplet transmission and
it’s one of the few that can
survive in one area for a
couple of hours. It hangs
around a lot longer than
others do.”
According to research,
communities can pro-
tect themselves with herd
immunity. If most of us
get vaccinated, the rest —
such as babies too young
to be vaccinated, people
undergoing cancer therapy
or those with immune sys-
tem deficiencies — will be
protected.
Fiumara said at least 90
to 95 percent of children
should receive the two
doses of the mumps, mea-
sles and rubella (MMR)
vaccine to provide a proper
level of immunity.
Fiumara said herd
immunity is holding strong
in Umatilla County.
“In Umatilla County,
we’re not overly worried
about the outbreak going
on right now,” he said.
He made a few clicks
with his mouse and pulled
up an interactive map cre-
ated by the Oregon Health
Authority. For each Oregon
county (and school within
each county), it showed
vaccination rates for stu-
dents K-12 during the
2017-18 school year. Rates
varied, depending on the
school. The Blue Moun-
tain Mennonite School, in
Milton-Freewater, had the
lowest MMR vaccination
rate of 76 percent. Uma-
tilla County as a whole,
however, had a rate of 98
percent. Morrow County’s
rate was 99 percent.
“For us, we just need to
be aware and make sure
we’re up on our vaccina-
tions, especially if trav-
eling,” he said. “If you’re
going through an airport,
you don’t know who was
there before you. They
don’t have to be in front of
you to share.”
In Washingon, Gov.
Jay Inslee declared a state
of emergency last Fri-
day. Two confirmed cases
of measles connected to
the Washington outbreak
ended up in Hawaii. The
family remained quaran-
tined for their entire stay
on the Big Island.
For Oregon parents
whose children are unvac-
cinated, exclusion day is
coming. On Feb. 20, stu-
dents whose shot records
are not up to date won’t be
allowed to attend school.
Last year in Umatilla
County, about 500 warn-
ing letters went out and
100 students were turned
away on Exclusion Day.
This year’s letters will go
out next week.
Parents may choose
to apply for non-medical
exemptions if they wish.
Those parents, Fiumara
said, will be required to
receive education about
each vaccination from
which they want their child
to be exempted. Many are
doing just this. The CDC
reported that the number
of children not receiving
vaccines has quadrupled
since 2001.
Anti-vaxxers
have
focused on a 1998 study
linking the MMR vac-
cine and autism. The study
was later retracted but its
influence remains. Fiu-
mara encouraged parents
to choose vaccination.
“Studies have shown
time and time again that
vaccinations have saved
countless lives,” he said.
The Umatilla County
Health Department will
offer several immuniza-
tion clinics for children
needing vaccinations. On
Feb. 14 and 15, a walk-in
clinic is scheduled from
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Herm-
iston, 435 E. Newport St.
On Feb. 19, the Pendleton
clinic, 200 S.E. Third St.,
will give shots from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m.
On Exclusion Day, Feb.
20, both clinics will offer
vaccinations during nor-
mal hours. Bring insurance
information and immuni-
zation cards, if available.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0810.
CHI St Anthony Hospital
Scholarships
OPEN TO ANYONE IN
UMATILLA OR MORROW COUNTIES
High school senior or
College students
pursuing a degree in healthcare.
Scholarships up to $1000 will be awarded.
Funded by the SAH Volunteers.
Download the application at
sahpendleton.org/scholarship
Return your application
packet no later than March 1, 2019.
(Postmark does not count.)
Submit application to:
Emily Smith, Volunteer Services 2801
St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801
EmilySmith@chiwest.com • Questions? Call 541-278-2627