A8
OREGON
East Oregonian
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Oregonians to vote on gun control in November
By CATALINA GAITÁN
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregonians
will get to vote on state-
wide gun-control legislation
this November, the Oregon
Secretary of State’s office
confirmed Monday, July 18.
Initiative Petition 17, also
known as the Reduction of
Gun Violence Act, earned
enough valid signatures to
qualify for the election. The
petition garnered 131,671
valid signatures, almost
20,000 more than it needed
to land on the ballot.
The measure would
require people to get a permit
and pass a background check
before buying a gun, and it
would prevent the sale of gun
magazines that hold more
than 10 rounds.
Rabbi Michael Cahana
of Congregation Beth Israel,
one of the initiative’s chief
petitioners, said Tuesday he
is feeling “very confident”
that voters will pass the
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin, File
A large group rallies June 11, 2022, during March for Our Lives, a gun-violence protest in
Bend. An initiative that would require permits and background checks before allowing a gun
purchase has qualified for the November ballot.
measure in November.
“I am not going to be
complacent — none of us
are,” Cahana said. “We’re
working very hard to educate
Oregon voters because we
know there will be a lot of
misinformation. But I know
RIVER DEMOCRACY ACT
people want to see change.”
A caravan of gun-con-
trol advocates drove July 8
from Portland to Salem to
hand deliver the initiative’s
final batch of signatures to
the state Capitol. Rev. W.J.
Mark Knutson of Augustana
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
The land around the Imnaha River in Northeastern Oregon
would be affected if the waterway is designated as Wild and
Scenic under the proposed River Democracy Act.
Oregon groups sign
letter supporting SB192
WASHINGTON — A plan
to protect thousands of miles of
rivers and streams in Oregon
received renewed attention last
week when dozens of organi-
zations banded together to
encourage politicians to speed
up the passage of the bill.
Seventy-five organizations
across the state sent a joint
letter to Oregon Democratic
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley urging them to pass
the River Democracy Act.
The letter is signed mainly
by conservation groups and
outdoor sporting and fishing
organizations.
If passed, the bill would add
nearly 4,700 miles of rivers and
streams in Oregon to the Wild
and Scenic Rivers System. The
federal designation, created in
1968, protects rivers and devel-
ops them for tourism, just as
national parks and national
forests protect designated
areas of land. Rivers can be
listed as having wild, scenic
or recreational value.
Wyden and Merkley intro-
duced the River Democracy
Act, Senate Bill 192, in Febru-
ary 2021. More than 15,000
streams and rivers were nomi-
nated by Oregonians for inclu-
sion in the act after Wyden
called on state residents to
suggest their favorite water-
ways in 2019. In Bend, one
nomination came from a group
of sixth graders at Pacific Crest
Middle School.
But the bill has its detrac-
tors too. In January, U.S.
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario,
spoke out against the act on
the floor of the U.S. House of
Representatives, declaring
that it will create a wildfire
risk in Oregon’s watersheds.
Bentz argued that the act
puts forests at risk because it
allows prescribed burns with-
out conducting thinning oper-
ations.
The American Forest
Resources Council, which
represents logging interests, is
among the groups that defend
Bentz’s position.
“We continue to oppose the
River Democracy Act because
it will increase the risk of
severe wildfires, threaten our
communities, impede public
access, and impact multiple
uses of public lands,” said Nick
Smith, the council’s public
affairs director. “Catastrophic
wildfires including subse-
quent erosion and sedimen-
las High School in Parkland,
Florida.
Support for Initiative
Petition 17 started small but
grew exponentially this year,
skyrocketing from less than
3,000 signatures in March to
almost 100,000 three months
later. About 1,600 volunteers
helped gather signatures
across the state. A wave of
gun violence, including mass
shootings at an elementary
school in Uvalde, Texas, and
a grocery store in Buffalo,
New York, “spurred people
to action,” Cahana said.
“There was a strong sense
that we’ve had for decades
now that nothing is going
to happen, that things aren’t
going to change, and people
are fed up. They really want
to see substantive change,”
he said. “This is how democ-
racy works — we actually
care and can change our
country. We can change the
direction, we can turn away
from hopelessness, and that
just lifts my spirit.”
Oregon spent $2.4 million on a digital
COVID-19 vaccine card few are using
By FEDOR ZARKHIN
The Oregonian
By MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
Lutheran Church, also one of
the initiative’s chief petition-
ers, sat aboard a school bus
crowded with volunteers.
“Today has to be a day
of joy,” Knutson said that
day. “Because this will give
Oregonians a chance to step
out in the nation with the
most progressive piece of
legislation this year for public
safety.”
The effort to push for
stricter gun laws in Oregon
has also led to pushback from
pro-gun organizations.
In a July 1 statement, the
Oregon Firearms Federa-
tion said the new permit-
ting process required by
the measure, which would
include completion of a fire-
arms safety training and a
background check, would be
“far more onerous.”
The organization on
Tuesday asked its support-
ers to send their input on the
measure to the Oregon Secre-
tary of State Shemia Fagan,
who will approve the text
explaining the initiative on
the ballot.
L i f t Eve r y Vo i c e
Oregon, the lobbying group
behind Initiative Petition
17, launched shortly after
the 2018 mass shooting at
Marjory Stoneman Doug-
tation pose the greatest threat
to watersheds and rivers, and
water quantity and quality.”
Smith said more manage-
ment of federal lands will help
reduce wildfire.
“Rather than imposing
more arbitrary designations
and restrictions on federal
lands, Oregon’s federal repre-
sentatives should focus on
giving public lands manag-
ers more resources and tools
to proactively reduce wild-
fire risks, maintain access and
protect our forests, rivers, and
communities,” said Smith.
Wyden’s office has pushed
back against the argument that
forests will be at a greater risk
for fire, stating that the bill
requires agencies to imple-
ment a fire risk-reduction plan
across a half-mile corridor on
either side of a river or stream.
The letter sent last week
was supported by riverkeeper
groups, guiding associa-
tions, watershed councils and
paddling clubs, among others.
“Although our groups
represent a wide variety of
interests, purposes, and people
across the state, we all have at
least one thing in common — a
love of Oregon’s rivers,” stated
a portion of the letter. “They
provide us with clean drinking
water, our favorite swimming
holes, and places to take our
families fishing and boating.”
The designations would
add protection for fish, wild-
life, clean drinking water
and recreation in watersheds
including the Deschutes,
Metolius, McKenzie and
others.
The next step for the act is a
vote by the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Commit-
tee, which is chaired by West
Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a
Democrat.
Wyden told The Bulletin
that public lands bills tend
to get a close look at the end
of the year, and he is prepar-
ing to have it voted on in the
Senate by that time. His office
is in communication with
Manchin specifically to seek
the necessary votes to get the
bill passed.
“In terms of public lands,
we’re going to fairly soon
have some mark-ups, where
the legislation is formally
considered and pulling out
all the stops for it,” said
Wyden. “We are getting all
the small businesses from
rural Oregon behind it and
we are pleased about the
coalition coming together.”
SALEM — Oregonians
have used the state’s $2.4
million digital COVID-19
vaccine card program only
about 50,000 times, far less
than people in Washington
used their state’s app and at
more than twice the cost.
Oregon released its
vaccine card web appli-
cation in late April, with
fanfare, providing Orego-
nians with a method to
obtain digital proof that
they’ve been vaccinated
against COVID-19 in the
form of a scannable QR
code.
In theory, that meant
people didn’t have to fear
losing their paper vaccine
card or fret about forget-
ting it at home, while busi-
nesses would have an easy
and efficient way to confirm
patrons’ vaccination status.
But whether Orego-
nians have decided they
don’t need the digital card
or simply haven’t heard it
is available, it’s clear rela-
tively few are opting to
use it.
As of June 30, about
45,000 Oregonians had
downloaded QR codes
showing proof of vaccina-
tion a total of 50,730 times,
with 6,000 repeat users.
That amounts to one down-
load for every approxi-
mately 83 Oregonians, and
one download for every
63 Oregonians who have
received at least one shot of
the COVID-19 vaccine.
That rate is nearly 11
times smaller than what
Washington achieved about
three months after it made
digital vaccine cards avail-
able in October.
The difference in timing
may have made all the
difference.
By the time Oregon
made the vaccine card
web application avail-
able April 25, COVID-19
restrictions were already
being lifted and the state
and country were moving
psychologically past the
pandemic. That, said one
national expert on immu-
nization information tech
systems, may explain why
so few people went on to
download a QR code.
“There was a little more
of a COVID focus in the fall
and a little bit less in early
2022,” said Mary Beth
Kurilo, a senior director at
the American Immuniza-
tion Registry Association.
The Oregon Health
Authority, which is respon-
sible for the state’s applica-
tion, agreed. Washington
launched its vaccine card
application during a surge
in cases while Oregon did
not, spokesperson Rudy
Owens said in an email.
The states also had different
vaccine requirements when
the tools launched.
Oregon officials say how
many people actually use a
state-issued digital vaccine
card is not what matters
most.
“The download rate isn’t
something we are measur-
ing as indicative of project
success,” Owens said in an
email.
Instead, Owens said, the
agency focused on making
the application accessi-
ble to as broad a swath of
the population as possible,
“intentionally” launching
it slower than neighboring
states as Oregon consulted
with the community on how
to make the roll out equita-
ble and accessible.