LOCAL & STATE
6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
OREGON LEGISLATURE
Lawmakers make progress
in conflict over redistricting
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
The Oregon House has
broken its legislative logjam
with each party making a
concession.
Minority Republicans
gained a voice in shaping
the redrawing of legislative
and congressional district
boundaries. The relevant
House committee will have
Democratic and Republican
co-leaders — and the House
Republican leader was added
to the committee for an even
3-3 split.
In return, majority Demo-
crats can proceed with more
than 80 bills, most of them
noncontroversial, without
having to have them read
aloud before fi nal votes.
Republicans had refused to
waive the bill-reading re-
quirement, which slowed the
House to voting on a trickle of
bills each day, depending on
the length of their texts.
No one was talking about
the tacit agreement, which
came swiftly Wednesday,
April 14, after the House
convened more than an hour
late for a scheduled evening
session. The public session
was delayed because of the
backstage talks between the
parties.
For Democrats, the
bipartisan agreement al-
lows the House to proceed
with discussion and votes
on a backlog of bills, most of
them having emerged from
committees without dissent.
(The House has scheduled
at least one much-debated
bill for Monday, April 19. It
would set requirements for
fi rearms locks and storage, a
bill strongly opposed by gun-
rights advocates.)
For Republicans, the power-
sharing agreement will result
in them and Democrats
having to agree on plans
that emerge from the House
Redistricting Committee to
redraw legislative and con-
gressional district lines after
the 2020 Census.
EO Media Group File
Oregon’s Capitol building in Salem.
Regardless of who does it,
any plan can be challenged in
the Supreme Court, which is
the fi nal arbiter.
So which communities
might see the biggest change
after redistricting?
During briefi ngs in Febru-
ary to House and Senate
redistricting committees, a
population expert at Portland
State University said legisla-
tive districts based in Wash-
ington County, Deschutes
County and those straddling
the Multnomah-Clackamas
Incentive to get along
line will have to shrink be-
As a result of an April 9
cause their populations have
Oregon Supreme Court deci- grown beyond the average.
sion, both parties — and both Districts based on the coast
chambers — have an incen-
and most areas east of the
tive not to stall. The court
Cascades will need to expand
laid out a new timeline for
boundaries.
lawmakers to come up with a
That could result in more
legislative redistricting plan urban lawmakers, and fewer
because census-block data
rural lawmakers, across the
from the federal government state.
will be unavailable until late
The court case last week
summer. If lawmakers fail to does not directly involve
come up with a plan by the
congressional redistricting,
new deadline of Sept. 27, the which will be done by a spe-
task will fall to Democratic
cial panel named by the court
Secretary of State Shemia
if lawmakers fail to reach
Fagan — and she will not be agreement. Unlike legislative
bound by what lawmakers
redistricting, congressional
have done.
redistricting is not mentioned
Republicans would like to in the Oregon Constitution.
avoid having this task fall to
a former Democratic senator Compromise agreement
The end of the House log-
who has been in the secretary
jam came in the form of one
of states’ offi ce only a few
motion and one announce-
months.
The deal does not apply
to the Senate, where the
counterpart committee has
three Democrats and two
Republicans.
It is similar to what hap-
pened in 2011, when the
House was tied at 30 Demo-
crats and 30 Republicans,
and the relevant committee
was similarly split. That
Legislature reached a com-
promise plan then, the fi rst
in a century, that was not
challenged in court.
TRASH
Continued from Page 1A
Duby, who will take over as the city’s police
chief on July 1, said the city had received com-
plaints from multiple residents who live near
Gwin’s house at 1975 Birch St., the corner of
Birch and Washington Avenue.
Duby said the city’s public works department
used a front-end loader to remove debris from
the backyard of the property.
He and Dallas Brockett, the police depart-
ment’s code enforcement offi cer, also participat-
ed in the clean up, along with two people doing
community service through the Baker County
Parole and Probation Department.
Duby said the city also “abated” the property
— removed trash — in October 2020.
“We’re trying to not let it get so bad that it
costs a lot,” Duby said.
According to city and court records, a city
code enforcement offi cer cited Gwin for violat-
ing the property maintenance ordinance in
May 2015, August 2015 and October 2016.
On June 17, 2017, the city paid a contractor
$2,000 to clean up the property.
The city cited Gwin for violating the property
maintenance order on Dec. 27, 2017, and four
more times in 2018, according to court records.
On Oct. 29, 2018, the Baker County Justice
Court issued an order allowing the city to clean
up the property and then bill the owner for the
cost.
The city had a $5,600 bid from a contractor
to do the work, but city offi cials decided to have
a public works employee use a loader to gather
the refuse.
The city sets aside about $6,000 each year
COVID
Continued from Page 1A
The latest death of a county
resident happened during the
week when the county had
its largest number of new
cases since the last week of
December.
The county reported 16 new
cases on Wednesday, April 14,
following 14 cases on Tuesday.
That’s the highest two-day
total at any time during the
to clean up properties that violate the mainte-
nance ordinance.
In 2017 the City Council discussed the pos-
sibility of adopting a more strict ordinance, one
that would allow the city to seek court orders
preventing residents from accessing properties
that had repeated issues with either property
maintenance or criminal activity over a six-
month period.
The Council tabled that proposed ordinance
and never took action on it.
In December 2018 several people who live
near Gwin’s property attended a Baker City
Council meeting and asked councilors to do
something about accumulations of trash on the
property.
In January 2019 the city, again employing
public works department equipment, hauled
away enough debris from the property to fi ll
about fi ve dumpsters.
Angie Stewart, who with her husband, John,
lives at the corner of Plum Street and Washing-
ton Avenue, just west of Gwin’s house, said they
have watched the multiple abatement opera-
tions over the years. They were pleased with
the latest clean up.
“We’re absolutely thrilled. It has been a fi ve
and a half year journey several times to have it
cleaned up,” Angie Stewart said.
She said someone has been living in a vehicle
parked in the alley behind their home.
“It’s bittersweet,” Stewart said. “Yes, we are
extremely glad it’s clean, hoping the homeown-
er can be a good neighbor.”
Duby said he believes the City Council needs
to consider changing the property maintenance
ordinance, because the current system is not
effective.
pandemic. The county had
nine more cases on Thursday.
The rate of new cases has
more than tripled over the
past month or so.
From March 7-20 the
county reported 24 new cases.
But for the next two-week
measuring period, March 21
through April 3, the period
the OHA uses to determine
counties’ risk level, Baker
County had 79 new cases.
For the current two-week
period, which ends today, the
county had 71 cases through
Thursday, not counting any
new cases Friday or today.
Staten said most of the
recent cases are connected to
social gatherings.
The surge comes while
the county’s vaccination rate
continues to increase. As of
Thursday, about 31.2% of
the county’s 16,800 residents
were partially or fully vac-
cinated.
ment at the close of a brief
House session Wednesday
night.
Republican Rep. Duane
Stark of Grants Pass moved
to waive the constitutional
requirement for all bills to
be read in full before a vote
on fi nal passage. This motion
is usually routine, but it re-
quires a two-thirds majority
to suspend the rule — and
the 23 Republicans had op-
posed it on a couple of previ-
ous Democratic-led attempts
to waive it.
The GOP refusal led to the
fi rst-time use of computer
software to read some of the
longer bills. It took the better
part of three days last week
for the software to read a 170-
page bill that changes the
name of the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission to the
Oregon Liquor and Can-
nabis Commission. And this
wasn’t a controversial bill: it
ultimately passed, 54-1.
After Stark’s motion was
approved on a voice vote —
it was not recorded — the
House moved to adjourn
the evening session near its
scheduled time of 9 p.m.
Then Speaker Tina Kotek,
a Democrat from Portland,
announced changes to the
House Redistricting Commit-
tee. Democratic Rep. Andrea
Salinas of Lake Oswego will
be joined as co-chairwoman
by Republican Rep. Shelly
Boshart Davis of Albany.
Also, House Republican
Leader Christine Drazan
of Canby was added as a
member, so there will be
three Democrats and three
Republicans.
Other members are
Democrats Wlnsvey Campos
of Aloha and Khanh Pham
of Portland, and Republican
Daniel Bonham of The Dalles.
Senate backs bill
to extend time to
pay back rent
By Sara Cline
Associated Press/Report for America
PORTLAND — The Oregon Senate voted in favor
of a bill Wednesday, April 14 that would give tenants
struggling with fi nancial hardships due to the pandem-
ic more time to pay past-due rent.
Currently, tenants have until July to pay back rent,
but under the proposed bill, tenants would have until
Feb. 28, 2022. The bill passed with a vote of 25-5 and
will move to Oregon’s House of Representatives for
consideration.
“We have all heard the stories of Oregonians without
work, who have lost income or who have lost much of
their income through no fault of their own — because of
a global health crisis,” said Sen. Jeff Golden, an Ashland
Democrat.
Senate Bill 282 also would protect renters from the
long-term impacts of not making payments on time
by barring reporting to consumer credit agencies and
removing back rents from consideration when submit-
ting future rental applications. The bill would also bar
potential landlords from screening out applicants based
on COVID-era evictions and allow the sealing of evic-
tions during COVID from a tenant’s record.
Additionally, the bill relaxes occupancy limits as
lawmakers say some Oregon residents have needed to
stay with friends and family due to fi nancial or safety
situations during the pandemic. However, the bill does
not extend the current eviction moratorium past June
30 and does not forgive back rent.
In March, more than 17% — or nearly 158,000 Or-
egon renters who answered a survey — said they were
not caught up on their rent payments, based on the U.S.
Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse Survey.
In addition, 11% of Oregon renters who answered the
survey said they have no confi dence that they will be
able to pay the next month’s rent.
Among those struggling is Chevelle Barham, a
single-mother and Oregon hairstylist who said, in her
written testimony to lawmakers to support the bill,
that she has drained her savings and still owes $5,000
in rent.
“The last couple of months I’ve been receiving notices
from my landlord, pressuring me to pay. But how can
I? I don’t even know when I’ll be able to work again,”
Barham wrote in her letter. “I’ve already had to take
out loans just to get by, to make sure my daughter and
I have food on the table. This isn’t my fault. It’s not any-
body’s fault. I didn’t choose to not pay rent. The more
debt that I accrue, the more I’m going to owe at once.”
Opponents of the bill argue that the measure would
hurt landlords and is “a band-aid solution” for tenants.
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