BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2022 A3
LOCAL & STATE
Numerous new Oregon laws take effect on Jan. 1
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon lawmak-
ers adopted a range of reforms,
policy changes and civil rights
protections during this year’s
five-month legislative session,
including new laws designed
to promote affordable housing,
improve police oversight and
make it explicitly illegal to in-
timidate others by displaying
a noose.
Those new laws, and many
others, took effect Saturday, Jan.
1. While some were conten-
tious, many passed with over-
whelming, bipartisan support.
Police reform
George Floyd’s murder by a
Minneapolis police officer trig-
gered a national reckoning on
civil rights. Oregon lawmakers
responded with several bills
aimed at improving police con-
duct and oversight. Here are
some of those that take effect
Jan. 1:
• Senate Bill 204 gives civil-
ian oversight board access to a
database of police encounters
and arrests. The bill passed the
House 34-22, and the House
18-11.
• Senate Bill 621 gives local
jurisdictions the ability to set
law for community oversight
boards that oversee police dis-
cipline. Lawmakers took up
this bill at Portland’s request. It
passed the Senate 20-7 and the
House 37-19.
• House Bill 2513 requires
CPR training for police certi-
fication and requires police to
call for emergency medical aid
if a restrained person suffers re-
spiratory or cardiac crisis. The
bill passed the House 58-2 and
the Senate 24-4.
• House Bill 2929 requires
police officers to report mis-
conduct or fitness standards
and mandates investigation
into such a report with 72
hours. Investigators must re-
port misconduct findings to a
state board. The House voted
58-2 for the bill; the Senate ap-
proved it 27-2.
• House Bill 2936 creates a
background checklist and stan-
dardized personal history ques-
tionnaire for aspiring police
officers and exempts law en-
forcement from a prohibition
on employer access to personal
social media accounts. While
the law takes effect on Jan. 1, it
cannot be used to hire correc-
tions officers until July 1, 2023.
It passed the House 54-4 and
the Senate 20-8.
• House Bill 3145 requires
police departments to report
officer discipline to the state
within 10 days. The state will
publish those reports in an on-
line publicly accessible data-
base. It passed the House 58-1
and the Senate 26-2.
• House Bill 2932 requires
Oregon law enforcement to
participate in the FBI’s na-
tional use-of-force database
and directs a state commission
to analyze the data and report
its findings to the Legislature
every year. The bill passed the
House 58-1 and the Senate
20-7.
• House Bill 2986 requires
police officers be trained to
investigate and report bias
crimes. It passed both the
House and the Senate unani-
mously.
• House Bill 3059 requires
any arrests associated with
“unlawful assemblies” to be
based on crimes other than
a failure to disperse. It also
passed the House and Senate
unanimously.
• House Bill 3273 limits the
circumstances in which law en-
forcement officers may release
booking photos, commonly
known as mugshots. Support-
ers said online publication of
mugshots were impinging on
people’s privacy and prevent-
ing them from moving on with
their lives, whether or not they
were ultimately convicted of
crimes. It passed the House
54-4 and the Senate 17-13.
states (Mississippi was the
other) that required a pre-
scription for cold medicines
containing pseudoephedrine,
a restriction established to
limit people’s ability to buy
large quantities and use it to
make methamphetamine. But
lawmakers concluded that a
multistate system for tracking
purchases, and meth produc-
tion shifting to labs outside the
country, made Oregon’s law
obsolete. So House Bill 2648
repealed Oregon’s restriction.
Now, people can buy cold
medicines by asking a pharma-
cist, who registers the transac-
tion with the database. The bill
passed the House 54-4, and the
House 27-2.
zoned for school or residential
use. It also lowers the duration
for which such housing must
be classified as affordable, from
40 years to 30. The bill won
overwhelming legislative sup-
port, passing the Senate 25-5
and the House 46-3.
Hate crimes
Senate Bill 398 makes it a
crime to intimidate people by
displaying a noose. Violators
face up to 364 days in prison
and a fine of $6,250. The bill
passed the Senate 27-1 and the
House 54-0.
Racial equity
House Bill 2935, known
as the Crown Act, bans dis-
crimination in schools or the
Elections
workplace “based on physical
House Bill 3291 requires Or- characteristics that are histor-
egon to count ballots mailed
ically associated with race.”
the day of the election. Previ-
The law specifies hair style
ously, counties would count
and hair texture are among
only ballots actually received
those newly protected traits.
on or before Election Day. It
It passed the House 58-0 and
passed the House 39-21 and the the Senate 28-1.
Senate 16-13. This will delay
Public meetings
how quickly election results can Juvenile suspects
House Bill 2560 makes
be determined but is likely to
Senate Bill 418 establishes
permanent a pandemic-era
lead to higher election turnout. that if a police officer intention-
change. It requires government
ally uses false information to
agencies, whenever possible, to Affordable housing
elicit a statement from some-
stream their meetings online
Senate Bill 8 requires local
one under age 18, that state-
and give the public the oppor- governments to allow devel-
ment will be presumed to be
tunity to testify remotely. The
opment of affordable housing
involuntary. The bill passed
bill passed the House 42-5 and even on land not zoned for
the Senate 24-4, and the House
the Senate 25-2.
residential use, with some ex-
53-2.
ceptions for lands designated
Cold medicine
for heavy industry and publicly Teacher unions
Oregon was one of just two owned properties next to sites
Senate Bill 580 requires
Snowpack
Continued from A1
In the Wallowas, for in-
stance, though the water con-
tent is below average at An-
eroid Lake, on the north side
of the range, it’s 13% above
average at Schneider Meadow,
on the southern side but only
about 15 miles away.
The situation is similarly
variable in the Elkhorn Moun-
tains.
At Eilertson Meadow, along
Rock Creek west of Haines,
on the east side of the moun-
tains, the water content is 31%
above average.
But on the other side of the
range near Bourne — a dis-
tance of about five miles —
the water content is 6% below
average.
At Beaver Reservoir, in the
La Grande watershed north-
west of North Powder, the
water content is 12% above
average, but at Wolf Creek,
several miles away, the water
content is 34% below average.
Doug Birdsall is among
the irrigation district officials
who are hoping for a boun-
tiful snowpack this winter to
refill reservoirs depleted by
the severe drought in 2021.
Birdsall manages the
Powder Valley Water Con-
school districts bargain with
teacher unions over class sizes
at schools with high concen-
trations of low-income stu-
dents. The bill’s original ver-
sion would have applied more
broadly, potentially requiring
schools to lower class sizes
in high-income schools and
raise them in schools with a
concentration of low-income
students, who have greater
learning needs. The Legislature
narrowed the bill’s scope after
The Oregonian/OregonLive
reported that it could under-
mine the state’s efforts to pro-
vide more equitable outcomes
for students of all backgrounds.
The House approved the bill
36-21; the Senate voted 18-11
in favor.
Homelessness
Senate Bill 850 requires that
death reports for homeless
people list the person’s resi-
dence as “domicile unknown.”
Supporters hope the bill will
help track the number of peo-
ple who die while experienc-
ing homelessness, something
that already happens in Mult-
nomah County. The bill passed
22-5 in the Senate and 52-0 in
the House.
Marijuana
House Bill 3369 allows
nurses to discuss possible
medical use of marijuana with
their patients. It passed the
House 47-5 and passed the
Senate 21-6.
trol District, which in-
cludes Pilcher Creek and
Wolf Creek reservoirs and
supplies irrigation water to
farms and ranches in the
North Powder Valley.
Birdsall said the situation
is promising.
“It’s decent but it’s going to
take a lot to catch up,” he said
the morning of Jan. 3.
That process will start this
week, as a parade of power-
ful storms moves into East-
ern Oregon.
The National Weather Ser-
vice is forecasting as much
as two to four feet of new
snow at the highest elevations
this week.
N.E. Oregon Snowpack Report
Measuring Site
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Boy Scouts Zeke Vowell, 11, left, and Glen Taylor, 14, collect a tree and a donation during the annual
Christmas tree pick up on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022.
Trees
Continued from A1
The Scouts and their parents
started at 9 a.m. The group di-
vided the town into four sec-
tions then headed out to pick
up trees placed near the curb.
Some trees had been out-
side during the recent snow-
fall. When Elias Taylor, 13,
hefted one of these trees in
the air, he yelped as snow
slid inside his jacket collar.
But then he smiled, shook
off the snow, and hopped
back in the truck to continue
the job with his brother,
Glen, dad, Casey, and fellow
Scout Zeke Vowell.
After the volunteers
loaded each a trailer or truck
bed, the trees were delivered
to Wade Williams Field.
Dave Johnson, who
stayed at the field to help
unload, said the project
takes about three to four
hours every year.
delta variant.
Experts also say that although
omicron is more likely to cause
Continued from A1
breakthrough cases — infections
Baker City is among the sites
in fully vaccinated people —
in Oregon where samples of
those who are vaccinated, espe-
wastewater are tested regularly
cially if they have had a booster
for viruses, including variants.
dose, are considerably less likely
The most recent Baker City
to become severely ill.
sample was collected on Dec. 15.
“Being fully vaccinated, and
Information about any variants
boosted, is still our best protec-
detected was not available on the tion,” Staten said.
OHA database.
She also encourages residents
The sample had a viral con-
to stay home if they feel ill, and to
centration that was down by al- continue to follow other precau-
most 13% compared with a Dec. tions such as wearing face masks
1 sample.
in indoor public settings.
Although officials at Oregon
“All of those measures still play
Health & Science University in
a role in keeping kids in school,
Portland are projecting a rapid
and we know how important
increase in COVID-19 infections that is,” Staten said.
and in hospitalizations into early
She encourages people who
February, evidence suggests that want a vaccine dose to call the
omicron tends to cause less se-
Health Department at 541-523-
vere illness compared with the
8211 or call their health provider.
COVID
Careers that make a difference
Work with people with disabilities!
A Cut Above tree service
is donating the time to dis-
pose of the trees this year,
said Scoutmaster James
Simpson.
Simpson estimated the
Scouts gathered 250 to 300
trees this year, and averaged
a $3 donation per pickup.
Anyone who would still
like to donate can contact
Simpson on Facebook, by
email at scoutmaster433@
me.com or by phone at 541-
403-0787.
Staten said the Health De-
partment has not been fill-
ing all its openings for vacci-
nations during the past two
weeks or so.
The Health Department is
planning a vaccination clinic
on Jan. 13 in Baker City, with
time, location and other details
to be announced soon.
According to OHA, the sev-
en-day running daily aver-
age of vaccine doses in Baker
County has dropped to 34
doses per day after peaking at
91 doses on Dec. 15, following
the three-day drive-thru vacci-
nation clinic in Baker City on
Aneroid Lake
Beaver Reservoir
Bourne
County Line
Eilertson Meadow
Gold Center
High Ridge
Moss Springs
Mount Howard
Schneider Meadow
Taylor Green
Tipton
Wolf Creek
AVERAGE
Elevation
7,300
5,150
5,800
4,530
5,440
5,340
4,980
5,850
7,910
5,400
5,740
5,150
5,630
Snow Water Equivalent (inches)
Now
Average
% of avg.
Last year
Snow
Depth
6.2
4.6
6.1
3.8
6.3
4.9
11.0
9.5
6.4
12.9
6.3
4.3
3.8
9.0
4.4
6.5
2.3
4.8
4.8
10.2
10.4
7.2
11.4
8.0
5.3
5.8
69
112
94
165
131
102
108
91
89
113
79
81
66
100
7.2
3.8
5.0
1.8
4.7
5.1
10.1
8.3
4.8
10.6
7.7
5.5
4.9
27
26
29
19
26
22
44
41
18
52
26
23
31
Source: U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service
For the most recent week,
Dec. 26-Jan. 1, Baker County
reported 29 cases, a slight in-
crease from the previous three
weeks, which had totals of 25,
22 and 25 cases.
The county’s test positivity
rate actually declined during the
Downward trend in cases
most recent week. The percent-
age of tests that were positive
continued in December
After a record-high 465 cases was 7.8% from Dec. 26-Jan. 1,
during September 2021, an aver- compared with rates of 10.1%
age of 15.5 per day, Baker Coun- and 10.4% the previous two
ty’s monthly totals have dropped weeks.
for three straight months.
December’s total of 106 cases Breakthrough cases
was the fewest since July 2021,
Baker County had four
when there were 91 cases.
breakthrough cases, out of a
Dec. 12-14, when more than
330 doses were administered.
Baker County’s vaccination
rate of 55.2% of residents 18 and
older having had at least one
dose ranks as the fifth-lowest
among Oregon’s 36 counties.
Baker City's
Newest Brewery
total of 25, for the most recent
week tallied, Dec. 19-25. The
breakthrough case rate of 16%
was higher than the previous
two weeks — 9% and 12%, re-
spectively.
Baker County’s breakthrough
rate of 16% was much lower
than Oregon’s overall rate of
36.7% for the week of Dec. 19-25
— the highest weekly rate ever.
Winter is here!
Cold weather can
mean icy spots in
shaded areas!
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