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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2020)
A7 OREGON East Oregonian Friday, February 7, 2020 Oregon considers an end to suspended licenses for unpaid tickets By JAKE THOMAS Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Angela Don- ley sat in front of a legislative panel on Wednesday and told the story of why her mother’s driver’s license has been sus- pended for 25 years. While growing up in Bend, her stepfather had a stroke. Her mother rushed to the hospital and got a speed- ing ticket on the way. Her husband later died and with four kids to take care of, the ticket was the last thing on her mind. Donley recalled how her mother had no choice but to drive. The police knew her car and knew she didn’t have a license. The car was impounded, leaving the fam- ily on the side of the road. The fees and fines piled up. Finally, the state took her license. “So as you can imag- ine that these piled up to the point where she threw her hands up and just decided there was no way she could ever pay it,” said Donley. To this day, her 56-year- old mother rides a bike in Bend, even in the winter and at night to get to her job. Donley asked lawmakers to pass House Bill 4065, aimed at situations like her mother’s that had its hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 5. In Oregon, courts can suspend someone’s driver’s license for not paying com- mon traffic tickets. Rep. Chris Gorsek, a Troutdale Democrat who sponsored the bill, explained that tak- ing away someone’s driver’s license makes it harder for them to get to work and earn money needed to pay off the fines. Getting the license back requires even more fees, he said. If passed during the short session, the bill would end the practice of courts sus- pending a driver’s license because of unpaid fines. Proponents of the bill argued that people become trapped in poverty after los- ing their license. In Oregon, 334,338 licenses have been suspended in the last decade for fail- ure to pay fines, a figure that doesn’t count suspensions for safety reasons, according to a fact sheet from the Oregon Law Center. Montana, Idaho, California and Mississippi have enacted similar laws. Martin Campos-Davis, executive director of farm- worker advocacy group Ore- gon Human Development Corp., testified that the sus- pensions disproportionately affect low-income Orego- nians and minorities. He said it’s particularly problem- atic for farmworkers, who have limited access to public transportation. “For some reason, farm work across the state does not fall neatly into public transportation routes,” he said. During the hearing, Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, said drivers can currently apply to get their license restored if they can prove that a suspension would be a hardship. But Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, pointed out that the process involves extensive paper- work and application fees totally $125. Alicia Temple, legisla- tive advocate for the Oregon Law Center, said suspensions related to safety issues, such as driving under the influ- ence or racking up an exces- sive amount of tickets, would not be affected by the legis- lation. She said it would also require people to agree to a plan to pay their fines. Travis Hampton, superin- tendent of the Oregon State Police, presented the com- mittee with data showing that minorities in the state had a disproportionate amount of suspensions. For example, he said that African Americans are below 2% of the state’s population but 13% of black drivers stopped by police have suspended licenses. “I fear as a profession, and now as a system, we may be unwittingly ushering citizens into the criminal justice sys- tem into long-term economic hardship, possibly genera- tional hardship, if we disal- low them from having a driv- er’s license,” he said. Oregon Capital Bureau Photo/Sam Stites Ed Keith, left, Deschutes County forester, Phil Henderson, Deschutes County commissioner, and Nick Lelack, Deschutes County Community Development coordinator, testified on Wednesday about their concerns over the omnibus wildfire legislation, Senate Bill 1536, and its implementation. Legislators consider throttling back ambition to fix wildfire issues By SAM STITES Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Drastically improving the way Oregon fights wildfire could be fac- ing more of an uphill political battle than lawmakers previ- ously expected. More than a dozen people from various organizations and local government showed up to the Senate Commit- tee on Wildfire Response on Wednesday to express con- cerns over certain provisions laid out in the wide-sweeping legislation crafted on the rec- ommendations of Gov. Kate Brown’s Council on Wildfire. The legislation — Senate Bill 1536 — aims to mod- ernize Oregon’s approach through new building code, land-use planning, mapping of high-risk areas, treatment of forest debris, mitigation of smoke on public health and forest protection. But at Wednesday’s meet- ing, opposition was put on the record from Deschutes County officials, the Oregon Property Owners Associa- tion, conservation advocacy group Cascadia Wildlands, and Sen. Herman Baertsch- iger Jr., R-Grants Pass, vice chair of the Senate committee. “A long time ago my dad said to me, ‘There’s a lot of things you want, and then there’s what you can afford,’” Baertschiger said. “That’s basically what we’re looking at here. This is a big state. It’s got a lot of fuels from one side to the other, but we’re only 4.3 million people. We’re not California, so we’re stuck in this dilemma of having a lot of things we want, but what can we afford?” Deschutes County Com- missioner Phil Henderson told the committee he and his two colleagues — Nick Lelack, community develop- ment director, and Ed Keith, Deschutes County forester — traveled from Bend to because their residents are greatly concerned about the threat of smoke and wild- fire to their communities that share nearly 80 miles of urban-wildland interface on the county’s west side. They expressed concern over cer- tain mandates in the bill for Oregon’s counties, and whether they’d be funded to complete tasks, such as fuel reduction measures. According to Hender- son, Deschutes County has about 120,000 acres that are ready for treatment to reduce fuel loads, but much of that is U.S. Forest Service lands, and a partnership with the federal government would be required before pursuing treatment in those areas. “Somehow, the state has to prod the federal government; without that it’s not going to be possible,” Henderson said. Baertschiger, red pen in hand, went page-by-page through the legislation, rat- tling off sections of the bill he said required time of a full-length legislative ses- sion to discuss and ham- mer out details. Accord- ing to Baertschiger, that’s a large portion of the bill, and includes sections on public utility risk planning, devel- opment on new state-wide risk reduction standards and measures, updating build- ing codes, smoke abatement, emergency management and more. “These are much longer conversations, and we prob- ably need to wait for a lon- ger session and much more in-depth conversation,” he said. Baertschiger also pointed out the state’s limited role on federal forests. “We’re not going to have the say-so of which lands and how to treat them. We’re not going to have that (say) even though we’re using our money. These are federal lands and they fall under fed- eral jurisdiction,” he said. “We have to remember, this is complicated.” After finishing his speech, Baertschiger turned to Brown’s natural resources advisor, Jason Miner, asking if he had written everything down and was prepared to draft amendments based on his concerns. A laugh rang through the room — includ- ing from the Senate members and even Miner himself — as Baertschiger dropped his marked-up version of the bill in Miner’s hands. Committee Chair Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, requested Miner look at ways to amend the bill to get the committee closer to agreeing on what could be done now and what can wait for 2021. Golden said he hopes to analyze that approach after hearing more public testi- mony in their next meeting on Monday, Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. in Hearing Room B. “There’s a lot here, obvi- ously, and the two big bas- kets are, what can we do — another look at what’s realistic in this session, and what needs to wait for a lon- ger conversation. The other one has to do with a jurisdic- tion authority, federal deci- sions and our decisions,” Golden said. Capital Press Photo/Sierra Dawn McClain Thousands of Timber Unity supporters and members gather in front of the state Capitol to protest the cap-and-trade bill under consideration in the Oregon Legislature. The bill would increase the price of fuel and damage the rural economy, they say. Protesters: More than 1,000 trucks, tractors and other large vehicles circled the state Capitol Continued from Page A1 “I don’t like division between rural and urban areas,” said Rachel Abbott, 27, who works in the hos- pitality industry and was raised on a farm near Sher- idan, Ore. “This should not be a rural-versus-urban issue. It would put my fam- ily farm out of business, but it hurts all Oregonians.” The big turnout for the event surprised even its organizers. Lines of trucks paraded around the Capitol from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Timber Unity spokes- person Angelita Sanchez said people from Sweet Home, her hometown, brought five semi-trucks to last year’s protest but brought more than 40 this morning. Some convoys formed across the state as early as 1 a.m., said Jenny Dressler of the Oregon Farm Bureau. Timber Unity was birthed out of the 2019 leg- islative session in protest of House Bill 2020, the name for last year’s cap- and-trade bill. The legisla- tion was intended to slash carbon emissions but faced opposition from many Ore- gonians, who said high fuel costs would hurt their businesses. The movement resem- bles the “yellow vests” in France, a grassroots citi- zens’ campaign that began in protest to fuel taxes and ballooned into a nation- wide anti-government movement seeking eco- nomic justice for the work- ing class. Last year’s bill passed the House but failed in the Senate. The session ended in legislative chaos; Senate Republicans walked out to deny Democrats a quorum. This year’s bill is simi- lar to the 2019 legislation. By 2050, the Carbon Pol- icy Office estimates the cap-and-trade plan would eliminate 43.4 million met- ric tons of carbon annually from the atmosphere. Critics, however, point out that amount represents just 0.12% of global green- house gas emissions. Advocates say every bit counts. Estimates provided by the nonpartisan Legisla- tive Revenue Office esti- mated the program would raise prices by 22 cents per gallon in the first year of Capital Press Photo/Sierra Dawn McClain Timber Unity supporters greet the convoy of trucks as it arrives this morning at the Or- egon state Capitol. Traffic on Interstate 5 was backed up as the big rigs arrived in Salem from all directions. Capital Press Photo/Sierra Dawn McClain Timber Unity supporters at the Oregon state Capitol this morning protested SB 1530, the cap-and-trade bill that would increase fuel prices across the state. the program, according to state Sen. Bill Hansell. Inside the build- ing, protesters did not go unnoticed. Swarms of protesters visited legislators’ offices. Truck horns echoed even inside hearing rooms. Brian Iverson, the hus- band of state Rep. Vikki Iverson, R-Powell Butte, said his wife described being inside the Capitol before protesters streamed in as the calm before the storm, with subdued ten- sion, excitement and angst. At 9 a.m., Gov. Kate Brown met with 10 Timber Unity leaders as part of her continued effort to speak with rural stakeholders. The meeting was closed to the press, but former legislator Julie Parrish, now a Timber Unity mem- ber, said the meeting with Brown and her policy advisers was “genial.” The governor, she said, listened to protesters’ con- cerns but made no commit- ments on bill alterations yet. Parrish brought her own proposals to deal with cli- mate change without hurt- ing rural jobs. “Taxing the behavior of pollution will not reduce pollution,” said Parrish. “We can do better. We need other solutions.” In front of the Capitol, Jeff Leavy, one of Tim- ber Unity’s founders, told the crowd that the move- ment has grown into some- thing larger than just about fighting one bill. He said it’s now about challenging overregulation, getting cit- izens engaged with gov- ernment and trying to have a voice in the legislative process. “A legislator inside said you guys are shutting down the legislature and not letting people’s voices be heard,” said Sen. Denyc Boles, R-Salem. Surveying the crowd, she added, “I’d say this is the legislative process. We can hear the people’s voices.” Sen. Herman Baertsch- iger Jr., R-Grants Pass, urged the crowd to con- tinue on its mission. “Now you must build an army to defeat those in this building who want to take away your way of life. It’s a fight for freedom. It’s so much bigger than one bill,” he said, adding that “it’s now about all kinds of freedom: religious free- dom, gun rights, the free- dom not to be overtaxed.” Timber Unity is a het- erogeneous group: Some members believe climate change is a real issue and others don’t. What they agree on is that hurting rural Oregon businesses is not OK. Timber Unity invited two scientists to speak. “The whole concept behind this bill is a big fraud,” said meteorolo- gist Chuck Wiese. “If you really want this, I would say to the legislators, put it to a vote. But they know if they do, folks like you with common sense are gonna shut it down.” “We’re not having a cli- mate crisis,” added envi- ronmental scientist Bob Zybach. “We’re having a government crisis.”
