NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Bill would boost access to financial aid
be based on a community
college’s three-year aver-
age of full time enrollment.
Under that formula, Port-
land Community College,
the largest in Oregon, would
get the most funds.
Blue Mountain’s enroll-
ment during the past three
years has slipped, Green
said, and the college will not
know just how much it gets
until sometime in July, when
the final tally for spring term
enrollment comes in.
But the college does know
what it will do with the funds
— build back its reserve.
“We’ve been using the
reserves to balance the
budget,” Green said.
Putting the funds into the
reserve coffer gives BMCC a
buffer in case the funding is
not part of the next biennium.
“That way we’re ready for
the next session,” Green said.
Tim Seydel, vice presi-
dent for university advance-
ment at Eastern Oregon
University, said the budget
does not give the college
a big bonus but allows it
continues services.
“For EOU, it means we
were able to hold tuition flat
for the upcoming year,” he
said.
According to the Higher
Education Coordinating
Commission, from 2009 to
2019, more than 2 million
applications for financial
By MEERAH POWELL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Roughly
11,000 more students would
have access to a state finan-
cial aid program in the
next two years thanks to
increased state funding in a
higher education budget bill
continuing to make its way
through the Oregon Legis-
lature.
The Legislature’s Joint
Ways and Means Subcom-
mittee on Education voted
Monday, June 14, to send
Senate Bill 5528 to the
full Joint Ways and Means
Committee with a “do pass”
recommendation.
If passed, the bill would
i nc re a se f u nd i ng for
programming and operations
at Oregon’s public universi-
ties and community colleges
over current levels. The bill
also allocates more money
to the Oregon Opportunity
Grant, a state-funded grant
program for low-income
students.
Connie Green, interim
President at Blue Mountain
Community College, Pend-
leton, said this is an invest-
ment in Oregon that can help
so many students.
Oregon has 17 commu-
nity colleges, but the fund-
ing is not split evenly
between them. Rather, Green
explained, the funding will
The Observer, File
Students walk through a courtyard on the Eastern Oregon
University campus in La Grande. Nearly 11,000 more stu-
dents would have access to a state financial aid program
in the next two years thanks to increased state funding in
a higher education budget bill continuing to make its way
through the Oregon Legislature.
aid were eligible for Oregon
Opportunity Grant funds,
but only about 16% of those
students received grants
because of limited available
funding.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
initially recommended fund-
ing for the Oregon Oppor-
tunity Grant at about $171
million last December. If
lawmakers pass the most
recent iteration of a budget
bill, the grant would stand at
$200 million for the upcom-
ing two-year budget period.
The Oregon Higher
Education Coordinating
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
SATURDAY
Warmer with
plenty of sunshine
Hot with plenty of
sunshine
85° 54°
91° 59°
90° 54°
95° 64°
SUNDAY
Partly sunny and
very warm
MONDAY
Sunshine and very
warm
92° 65°
86° 58°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
92° 66°
96° 64°
91° 63°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
70/53
78/50
89/57
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
86/59
Lewiston
79/50
90/59
Astoria
68/52
Pullman
Yakima 90/56
78/47
88/57
Portland
Hermiston
82/54
The Dalles 90/54
Salem
Corvallis
79/49
La Grande
Yesterday
Normals
Records
84/52
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
83/49
84/54
87/54
Ontario
94/59
Caldwell
Burns
77°
44°
80°
53°
102° (1961) 38° (2004)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
80/49
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
90/57
0.00"
0.23"
0.38"
1.93"
1.61"
5.49"
WINDS (in mph)
91/57
89/50
0.00"
0.27"
0.80"
4.30"
8.55"
7.31"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 81/51
84/51
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
85/54
91/58
76°
48°
79°
52°
106° (1961) 40° (1893)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
76/48
Aberdeen
80/54
86/59
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
76/53
Today
Fri.
SW 4-8
NW 6-12
SW 7-14
WNW 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
90/51
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:05 a.m.
8:47 p.m.
12:18 p.m.
1:11 a.m.
First
Full
Last
New
June 17
June 24
July 1
July 9
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 117° in Bullhead City, Ariz. Low 26° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
between the Oregon Promise
and the Oregon Opportunity
Grant — the Oregon Prom-
ise is only available to recent
high school and GED gradu-
ates, while the Opportunity
Grant is available to students
of all ages. In addition, the
Oregon Promise only offers
up to two years of grant
funding, while the Opportu-
nity Grant offers grants for
up to four years.
The Higher Education
Coordinating Commis-
sion said the bill looking to
tweak the Oregon Promise
has undergone some changes
since it was first introduced
at the beginning of this year,
but regardless, the agency
says the bill would “improve
the equity of the Oregon
Promise program and its
flexibility for students.”
“These are important
positive steps,” the commis-
sion said. “But even if this
bill passes in current or
amended form, financial aid
programs will still need to
be funded at increased levels
to fully address the serious
affordability challenges
students and families face.”
The commission said
policy changes such as this
are a “first step toward a
more wholesale redesign
of financial aid to meet the
needs of Oregonians.”
— EO Media Group
contributed to this report.
Oregon governor signs bill to explore
liability changes for prescribed fire
By SIERRA DAWN
MCCLAIN
Capital Press
Mostly sunny and
very hot
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
89° 63°
Commission says that extra
bump of funding would
increase the total number of
grant recipients from roughly
65,600 to about 76,600 in the
upcoming biennium.
“That is really important,
especially for students in
this region because we have
a lot of students with finan-
cial need who want to go to
college,” Seydel said. “That
Oregon Opportunity Grant
makes it possible.”
Seydel said the pandemic
has many students having to
make tough financial deci-
sions, but the increased funds
could make college a reality
for more of them.
Along with the increased
funding to the Oregon
Opportunity Grant, lawmak-
ers are also examining
changes to another state
financial aid program — the
Oregon Promise.
The Oregon Promise
was created in 2015 to help
cover most tuition costs at
Oregon community colleges
for recent high school grad-
uates and GED recipients. At
the time it was announced,
Oregon Promise was touted
as the state’s “free commu-
nity college” financial aid
program.
Another bill in the Legis-
lature would broaden the
program’s focus and change
who’s eligible to use it. House
Bill 2093 would expand the
eligibility requirements for
the program and make other
changes such as: lowering the
grade point average require-
ment for students from 2.5 to
2.0, doubling the minimum
grant award to $2,000 and
cutting a $50 per term copay.
Notably, the bill also
would expand the permit-
ted uses of the grant funds
to include students not only
looking to attend commu-
nity colleges, but also public
universities and nonprofit,
regionally accredited private
institutions.
Still, key changes remain
SALEM — Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown on Monday, June
14, signed into law House Bill
2571, which could potentially
lead to a change in liability
standards for prescribed fire.
The new law may help
expand the use of prescribed
fire in Oregon.
Prescribed fire, also
known as “planned,” “Rx”
or “controlled” fire, is a fire
set intentionally to limit
hazardous fuels on the land-
scape — for example, by
burning brush under trees in
the spring to prevent a larger
wildfire in the summer or fall.
House Bill 2571 directs
agencies and forest indus-
try leaders to study liability
options for prescribed fires.
This is important because
landowners nationwide cite
liability concerns as one of
the top reasons they’re reluc-
tant to use prescribed fire.
“Stricter liability stan-
dards deter people from doing
prescribed burns because
they’re afraid of getting sued
if there’s an escape,” said
Lenya Quinn-Davidson, who
directs the Northern Califor-
nia Prescribed Fire Council.
“As a burn boss, you take on a
lot of personal responsibility.”
Liability means the legal
responsibility a person holds
for their acts or omissions.
The U.S. has three main
liability standards for
prescribed burning: strict
liability, which holds a person
responsible for harm even if
he wasn’t negligent; simple
negligence, which holds
a person responsible if he
didn’t take reasonable care;
and gross negligence, which
holds someone responsible
only if he showed reckless
disregard for safety.
Most states, including
Oregon, have simple negli-
gence standards. Eight use a
Kyle Kosma/High Desert Museum, File
U.S. Forest Service firefighters carry out a prescribed burn on
the grounds of the High Desert Museum, near Bend, on May
14, 2021. House Bill 2571, signed into law on Monday, June
14, directs agencies and forest industry leaders to study lia-
bility options for prescribed fires.
gross negligence standard.
In states with lower liabil-
ity standards, people do more
prescribed burns. Oregon, for
example, a simple negligence
state, burned only 200,629
acres in 2019, while Flor-
ida, a gross negligence state,
burned more than 1 million
acres the same year.
To incentivize more
prescribed burning on private
lands, Oregon is exploring
making the shift from simple
to gross negligence.
But the bill law passed
June 14 won’t automatically
change Oregon’s liability
standard. Instead, it’ll open
the conversation and prompt
a study — first steps.
“It’s not 100% clear yet if
changing the standard will
enable more prescribed fire,
but we do want to have that
conversation,” said Jenna
Knobloch, administrative
coordinator at the Oregon
Prescribed Fire Council.
The new law directs the
Department of Consumer
and Business Services
to consult with the state
Forestry Department, Oregon
Forest and Industries Coun-
cil, Oregon Small Wood-
lands Association, Oregon
State University, the Oregon
Prescribed Fire Council and
a representative of the insur-
ance industry to study liabil-
ity and insurance coverage
options for prescribed fires.
The study’s results will be
used to craft future prescribed
fire policies and incentives.
“We totally support the
concept of more prescribed
fire on the landscape,” said
Kyle Williams, director
of forest protection at the
Oregon Forest and Industries
Council. “So, we did voice
support for (House Bill) 2571
to start those conversations.
To ask those questions about
liability is important.”
But Williams has some
concerns about changing the
liability standard because it’s
important to him that burn-
ers should also get voluntary
“rock-solid” burn training.
A separate Oregon bill
moving through the Legisla-
ture, House Bill 2572, deals
with this concern. The bill,
if passed, would create a
program to train private resi-
dents to become burn bosses.
If Oregon changes to gross
negligence standard, experts
say the lower standard would
likely only be offered to
people trained as certified
burn managers.
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