A6
OREGON
East Oregonian
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Biden touts $1 trillion infrastructure program
By PETER WONG
and SIERRA DAWN
MCCLAIN
Oregon Capital Bureau
PORTLAND — Presi-
dent Joe Biden led a polit-
ical pep rally Thursday,
April 21, at Portland Inter-
national Airport, which he
called “a perfect example” of
what the $1 trillion legislation
he signed last year can do to
overhaul the nation’s aging
infrastructure.
The airport already is
undergoing a $2 billion
moder nization project,
including a greatly expanded
passenger terminal and a new
mass timber roof that will be
its crown jewel. The airport
already has benefi ted from
$19 million in federal funds
for runway work.
As Biden spoke to a crowd
of elected offi cials and union
workers inside a hangar at
the Air National Guard base
on the airport’s southern
edge, the airport was visible
through the hangar’s open
door.
Biden thanked Oregon’s
two senators and four of
its five representatives —
all Democrats — for their
votes for the bill he signed
on Nov. 15, 2021. (Oregon’s
lone Republican in the House
voted against it.)
“I want to thank them for
helping prove that America can
do big things again,” he said.
Jonathan House/Oregon Capital Bureau
President Joe Biden made remarks in Portland on Thursday, April 21, 2022, on a two-city
West Coast tour to promote his infrastructure spending bill, which he signed last year.
A lt hou g h some i n
Oregon’s congressional dele-
gation talked about other big
projects that could benefit
from the new federal money
— replacement bridges
across the Columbia River
connecting Portland and
Vancouver, Washington, and
the widening of Interstate 5 at
the Rose Quarter interchange
with Interstate 84 — Biden
made no specific commit-
ments.
He did say that $25
billion of the new money is
earmarked for airports such
as Portland, which sees 20
million passengers annually
and ships 330,000 metric tons
of goods.
According to World
Economic Forum reports,
the United States now ranks
13th in the quality of its infra-
structure. Biden said the
legislation is a start in chang-
ing that.
“Here’s the deal: It’s been
much too long since Amer-
ica has invested in our own
airports, our ports and our
rails. We haven’t done it,” he
said.
“We used to have the
best infrastructure in the
world. We stopped invest-
ing in ourselves. We stopped
investing in our communi-
ties. We stopped investing
in America. I know people
are tired of hearing me say it.
But this time, we are going
to lead the world in investing
in ourselves, in our nation
and in our people. That is the
place to start.”
What Oregon gets
Oregon will get at least
$4.5 billion over fi ve years,
though much of that amount
is in the form of renewed
federal aid for highways. But
at least $1.2 billion is new
money for road and bridge
repairs, mass transit and
other alternatives to reduce
carbon emissions from cars,
safer streets and roads, infra-
structure for electric vehicles
and resilience from natural
disasters and climate change.
Most of this money is chan-
neled through the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion, but some goes directly
to local governments.
Oregon also has the oppor-
tunity to compete for shares
of $100 billion for projects
determined by the U.S. secre-
tary of transportation, such
as the I-5 bridge and the I-5
widening mentioned above.
Biden, in a Jan. 14 video
message, did mention the I-5
bridge replacement as one
of three examples of bridges
that could benefi t from the
legislation. That project is
undergoing a supplemen-
tal environmental impact
statement, which is required
for projects likely to have a
signifi cant eff ect as defi ned
in a 1970 law.
Oregon also will get aid
for upgrades of water and
sewer lines and expansion
of broadband capacity. Leah
Horner has been named by
Gov. Kate Brown to oversee
infrastructure spending.
The law’s eff ects
Biden has given similar
speeches elsewhere, trying to
marshal support for Demo-
crats as they face a tough
midterm election Nov. 8,
when their tenuous majori-
ties might fall to Republicans.
Biden was introduced
by Lauren Heitzman, who
had several jobs before she
became an apprentice elec-
trician with Local 48 of the
International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers. She was
raised by a single mother;
she said they were not poor,
but economic insecurities
plagued them.
“To me, not only is this
project a symbol of modern
advancement and ingenuity,
it is a vehicle for a promise
of a better life,” said Heitz-
man, one of the workers on
the airport modernization.
“This airport is a landmark.
I will forever drive by it and
see it as a symbol of how far I
have come. Projects like this
change lives and keep Oregon
moving forward.
“I have health care, I have
a pension, I have the secu-
rity of good pay — and with
the extra income, I can take
my mom grocery shopping
whenever she wants.”
But Heitzman also said
the new law and the ensu-
ing work that it funds have a
broader eff ect.
“The law that passed last
year is not just an invest-
ment in infrastructure. It is
also an investment in good
union jobs, good schools and
strong communities. It is an
investment in me and my
union,” she said.
Director of state police
Oregon medical providers rely on diminishing training agency resigns
He strongly denied
number of out-of-state nurses, study fi nds
any wrongdoing, and
HEALTHCARE
By LYNNE TERRY
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — Thousands of
patients in rural areas of the
state might not get high qual-
ity medical care in the future
if the number of out-of-state
nurses practicing in Oregon
continues to fall, according to
a new study.
The research found that
rural health care settings are
the most reliant on out-of-
state nurses, putting them at
higher risk of a nursing short-
age.
“Oregon’s smallest coun-
ties are at risk of not being
able to recruit enough RNs
to fi ll needed positions,” the
study said.
The study, published
earlier this month, was
conducted by the Oregon
Center of Nursing at the
University of Portland. Jana
Bitton, the center’s executive
director, said the research
stemmed from concern that
the state does not graduate
enough nurses.
“That means we’re going
to be short every single year,”
Bitton said.
The center has found that
Oregon needs 2,500 new
nurses each year to ensure
that hospitals and clinics are
fully staffed. But in 2020,
Oregon nursing programs
only graduated 1,200. The
state has imported nurses
from other states to fi ll the
gap but it appears to be losing
its ability to attract as many as
The Observer, File
Reunee Hays, left, looks at a hospital record Aug. 30, 2021,
with fellow house supervisor Danita Thamert in the intensive
care unit at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande. A new study
fi nds the declining numbers of out-of-state nurses practicing
in Oregon could jeopardize rural hearth care.
it needs, the study found.
Nearly 45,000 nurses prac-
tice in Oregon. Since 2012,
state medical facilities have
become increasingly reli-
ant on nurses who have their
out-of-state licenses endorsed
by the Oregon Nursing
Board, the study found. In
2020, they made up about
half of the workforce. But
their numbers are dropping.
“Fewer, both propor-
tionally and numerically,
endorsing RNs appeared to
be practicing in the state,”
the study said. That means
it may become more diffi cult
for health care companies to
plug their nursing workforce
gaps by drawing nurses from
out of state.
If this trend continues,
frontier and rural counties
would face the biggest short-
ages because they have the
most difficulty attracting
nurses educated in Oregon,
the study found.
“It has a lot to do with
pay,” Bitton said. “It has a lot
to do with the incentives that
some of our larger employers,
especially those that are in the
Portland area, can off er. And
it also has a lot to do with the
community.”
Many new graduates want
to live in an urban environ-
ment, Bitton said. They also
want to get their start in an
acute care setting like a hospi-
tal emergency room in urban
areas. Unable to hire as many
Oregon graduates as they
need, rural areas have becom-
ing increasingly dependent
on bringing in nurses.
“That is where the short-
ages are going to show up,”
Bitton said.
The study analyzed the
proportion of out-of-state
nurses in hospitals and clin-
ics. It found that two-thirds
of the nurses in clinics came
from out of state.
“This reliance on endors-
ing RNs from other states
places non-hospital settings
at higher risk of not (being)
able to recruit enough RNs
to meet staffi ng needs,” the
study found.
The research follows
legislation approved earlier
this year that allows senior
nursing students to practice
without full licensing. While
they still will be in training,
they can relieve other nurses
by picking up some of their
duties.
Legislators also allocated
$200 million for workforce
training programs for rural
residents, Oregonians with
low incomes and people of
color among others to work
in health care, technology and
manufacturing.
But those measures will
not guarantee that Oregon
has a stable nursing work-
force, Bitton said.
“There’s no one solution
that’s going to actually be
able to make sure that we have
all the nurses that we need,”
Bitton said. “It’s going to be
solved by a million diff erent
little solutions to be able to get
us to a stable and solid nurs-
ing workforce.”
By MAXINE
BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian
suggested in the letter that
the complaint resulted
SALEM — Jerry Grand- from “disgruntled employ-
erson, who the governor ees” who in his view have
appointed to lead the state’s resisted “fundamental
public safety certifi cation changes” he has attempted
and training agency in late to put in place at the police
March 2021, has abruptly training and certification
resigned, partly over his agency.
objections to what he consid-
Granderson was
ered an unfair and improper disturbed that his evaluation
evaluation of him recently included a board member’s
by the agency’s board.
reference to the investiga-
He resigned just days tion, particularly because
after he was placed on paid it hadn’t been completed.
leave April 15, pending an He argued it would “preju-
investigation by the
dice” his evaluation,
Oregon Department
which was set to be
of Justice into alle-
discussed April 28
gations against him
at the board’s public
involving alleged
quarterly meeting,
discrimination and
before the conclu-
creation of a hostile
sion of the Justice
work environment.
D e p a r t m e n t ’s
He denies the alle-
Granderson
inquiry.
gations.
Granderson,
“I refuse to stay on paid who is Black, also wrote
leave and waste the people that he was informed there
of Oregon’s money,” he said. was concern among board
Granderson, 59, told The members and staff that he
Oregonian he submitted a was making promotions
letter of resignation to the and hirings “solely based
governor’s offi ce on Sunday on race, gender and sexual
and the following day a orientation,” and “chasing
similar letter to the chair of out good employees.”
the board on Public Safety
Granderson said he has
Standards & Training.
been working to respond to
In his resignation letter, a state audit about the lack
Granderson cited concerns of diversity in the agency
about “counseling” he and had commissioned his
received Friday from training administrator to
the board over his recent research “how to ‘legally’
“Director’s evaluation,” increase such diversity
which included a reference in the Training section,”
to the state Justice Depart- given it is the least diverse
ment investigation he faced. at the department.
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