OREGON
Saturday, August 7, 2021
East Oregonian
A9
Oregon secretary of state unveils plan
for ‘people’s’ redistricting commission
By DICK
VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — If the last
110 years are any indication,
Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan could have a big say in
the makeup of Oregon state
House and Senate districts
for the next decade.
While state lawmakers
technically get the fi rst crack
at drawing new political
districts every 10 years, they
have succeeded in passing
a legal plan just twice since
1911. If they fail this year,
the hugely important job
of creating state legislative
maps falls to Fagan. But the
Democratic secretary says
she’ll have help.
In step with a pledge she
made on the campaign trail
last year, Fagan is planning
to form a “People’s Commis-
sion” to offer thoughts on
what maps should look like,
should the job fall to her.
“Our goal is that our
commission will refl ect the
regional diversity of Oregon,
the racial and ethnic diversity
of Oregon, and really provide
that input,” Fagan said in an
interview Wednesday, Aug.
4, suggesting the process
would be the “most inclu-
sive” Oregon has ever seen
in a redistricting eff ort.
Beginning Aug. 5, Fagan’s
offi ce is opening up a web
portal where Oregonians can
apply for the new commit-
tee, which would only be
convened if lawmakers fail
to pass their own plans.
To qualify, applicants
must be at least 16 and have
lived in Oregon since April
2020. But there are a lot of
things potential commission-
ers can’t be, too: current or
recent lawmakers, current or
recent lobbyists, candidates
for offi ce, and legislative or
party staff .
Depending on how many
applicants it receives, the
EO Media Group, File
Shemia Fagan speaks during the 2020 campaign for secre-
tary of state. Fagan is planning on establishing a ““People’s
Commission” to provide feedback on redistricting. Her offi ce
is opening up a web portal where Oregonians can apply for
the new committee, which only would convene if lawmakers
fail to pass their own plans to redraw district boundaries.
Secretary of State’s Offi ce
plans to select up to 20
commission members, with a
focus on people with diverse
experience and backgrounds,
and a goal to include people
from all five of Oregon’s
congressional districts.
Commissioners will be paid
for their time — $100 per half
day, and $150 per full day —
and be expected to attend a
training, fi ve public hearings,
and a fi nal “debrief” meeting
to off er input.
States throughout the
country have increasingly
opted to take the job of
drawing political maps from
lawmakers with a vested
interest in that process and
put it in the hands of indepen-
dent redistricting commis-
sions.
Typically these commis-
sions contain the same
number of Republicans and
Democrats to guard against
attempts to draw maps in
either party’s favor. Depend-
ing on the state, they also
might include people not
affiliated with any major
party.
‘People’s Commission’
Washington, California
and Idaho have all adopted a
commission model for redis-
tricting, but a campaign last
year that would have asked
Oregon voters to approve
such a system failed to
gather enough signatures.
Supporters now are hoping
to place the question on the
2022 ballot, with the goal of
forcing a fresh redistricting
process if voters approve.
Meanwhile, minority Repub-
licans have called for Demo-
cratic lawmakers to send a
commission proposal to
voters on their own, but have
found little interest.
Fa g a n’s “ P e o p l e’s
Commission” diff ers signifi -
cantly from independent
commissions in other states.
The plan doesn’t contain any
explicit requirements for a
certain number of Republi-
cans or Democrats, though
Fagan says she plans to
“make sure that no political
party is over represented.”
And while commissions
elsewhere have the final
say in what maps look like,
Fagan’s group will be advi-
sory only, with no explicit
requirement that its input
be adopted. Fagan says she’s
committed to getting the
perspective of a wide range
of people about what fair and
legal districts should look
like.
“It’s not just what I heard
from Oregonians, but I want
to hear what all of these
commissioners heard as
well,” Fagan said. “I may
not hear the same thing as
a commissioner who’s a
tribal member ... or some-
body who’s a farmer out in
Southern Oregon or Eastern
Oregon.”
In a normal redistricting
year, the process of drawing
new political maps would
already be well underway,
if not finished. The state
Constitution gives lawmak-
ers until July 1 to pass new
boundaries, and the secre-
tary of state until Aug. 15 if
the Legislature fails.
But COV I D -19 has
thrown the regular timeta-
ble out the window. Delays
created by the virus have
meant that the U.S. Census
Bureau doesn’t expect to
deliver the fine-grained
population data required to
draw new maps until Aug.
15.
Earlier this year, the
Oregon Supreme Court
granted lawmakers the abil-
ity to skirt normal deadlines,
giving the Legislature until
Sept. 27 to pass its own set
of legislative and congres-
sional maps. If they fail to
fi nd agreement, Fagan will
have until Oct. 18 to build
her own plan for state House
and Senate districts. Courts
have the fi nal say if lawmak-
ers fail to pass new congres-
sional maps.
NOWA/Contributed Photo, File
An environmental advocacy group fi led a lawsuit Tuesday,
Aug. 3, 2021, alleging Oregon and the federal government
are not complying with the Clean Water Act’s requirement
to produce lists every two years of bodies of water that
need cleanup. The Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality claims the state issued plans to bring down nutri-
ent levels and water temperature in the Columbia River
within the last two years.
Lawsuit: Oregon has
failed to create cleanup
plan for polluted waters
BY KALE WILLIAMS
The Oregonian
SALEM — An envi-
ronmental advocacy group
is suing Oregon and the
federal government for fail-
ing to make plans to clean
up the state’s most polluted
waterways a requirement of
federal law.
The lawsuit, fi led Tues-
day, Aug. 3, by Northwest
Environmental Advocates,
alleges the state and federal
governments have failed to
comply with the Clean Water
Act, which mandates states
submit to the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency a list
of water bodies that need
cleanup every two years.
That list, ranked by prior-
ity, should form the basis for
cleanup plans, along with a
timeline for implementation
within two years. The EPA
is supposed to determine
whether the plans comply
with federal law.
While the state did submit
a list of polluted waterways
as recently as 2017, which
showed more than 3,000
bodies of water requiring
cleanup, the state has not
issued any new cleanup plans
since 2010 after a previ-
ous lawsuit brought by the
same advocacy group in the
mid-1990s, the suit alleges.
“The last time Oregon
produced any new water
pollution clean-up plans was
over a decade ago, and those
were the direct result of our
having sued EPA in 1996,”
Nina Bell, NWEA execu-
tive director, said in a state-
ment. “It’s clear that Oregon
only protects water quality
in response to lawsuits, so
here we are again, heading
to federal court.”
Jennifer Flynt, a spokes-
person for the Oregon
Department of Environ-
mental Quality, disputed
the claims in the lawsuit,
saying the state issued
plans to bring down nutrient
levels and water tempera-
ture in the Klamath basin,
to mitigate mercury pollu-
tion in the Willamette Basin
and another for the Colum-
bia River, all within the last
two years.