A2 THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2021
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Deschutes County cases: 5,714 (22 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 56 (zero new deaths)
Jefferson County cases: 1,884 (2 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 27 (zero new deaths)
Oregon cases: 150,281 (254 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 2,137 (zero new deaths)
GENERAL
INFORMATION
SOURCES: OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY,
DESCHUTES COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES
BULLETIN
GRAPHIC
129 new cases
COVID-19 data for Sunday, Feb. 14:
Crook County cases: 746 (3 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 18 (zero new deaths)
7 a.m.-noon Saturday-Sunday
and holidays
New COVID-19 cases per day
What is COVID-19? It’s an infection caused by a new coronavirus. Coronavi-
ruses are a group of viruses that can cause a range of symptoms. Some usually
cause mild illness. Some, like this one, can cause more severe symptoms and
can be fatal. Symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.
7 ways to help limit its spread: 1. Wash hands often with soap and water for
at least 20 seconds. 2. Avoid touching your face. 3. Avoid close contact with
sick people. 4. Stay home. 5. In public, stay 6 feet from others and wear a cloth
face covering or mask. 6. Cover a cough or sneeze with a tissue or cough into
your elbow. 7. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
130
(Dec. 4)
108 new cases
120
(Jan. 1)
90
new
cases
110
*No data
available on
Jan. 31
due to state
computer
maintenence
(Nov. 27)
70
60
47 new cases
541-382-1811
7-day
average
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
28 new cases
(July 16)
50
40
31 new cases
(Oct. 31)
30
16 new cases
(Sept. 19)
9 new cases
ONLINE
20
(May 20)
1st case
90
80
(Nov. 14)
www.bendbulletin.com
100
10
(March 11)
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Lottery results can now be found on
the second page of Sports.
Lawmakers on pace to consider close to 4,000 bills
HILLARY BORRUD
The Oregonian
Oregon lawmakers are on
track to introduce the highest
number of bills in a decade,
suggesting the overwhelming
majority of them won’t get even
a momentary hearing as the
Legislature operates mostly on-
line until at least April due to
the pandemic.
House Speaker Tina Kotek
told reporters this week that
she expects the total number
of bills could approach 4,000.
If that happens, it would be the
most pieces of legislation to be
introduced in an Oregon legis-
lative session since at least 2009,
according to The Oregonian/
OregonLive’s analysis of legisla-
tive data.
Nearly one month into the
five-month session, the ava-
lanche of bills reflects the lack
of a clear focus for the 2021 ses-
sion among the state’s top Dem-
ocratic leaders. Kotek, D-Port-
land, has said the state’s wildfire
recovery and COVID-19 re-
sponse efforts — which law-
makers also worked on in spe-
cial sessions and emergency
board meetings in 2020 — con-
tinue to be among her top pri-
orities, along with legislation to
broadly address homelessness
and housing affordability and
racial injustice and inequities.
“We’re really encouraging
our (committee) chairs to pri-
oritize, go for the urgent, go
for the things that are of most
import right now for Orego-
nians,” Kotek told reporters in
a question-and-answer session
on Monday.
The speaker said it takes
more time and planning to
hold virtual hearings on legis-
lation.
Kotek has said lawmakers
might not meet in-person to
hold floor votes on bills until
April due to COVID-19. In the
meantime, they are holding vir-
tual committee hearings and
committee votes and meeting
for weekly floor sessions to in-
troduce new bills.
According to The Orego-
nian/OregonLive’s analysis,
lawmakers had introduced
more than 2,100 bills as of
Tuesday. Legislative lawyers
have completed or are still
Pace of wildfire cleanup
frustrates many owners
BY VICKIE ALDOUS
Mail Tribune (Medford)
Crews expect to finish clean-
ing up charred debris at the
Bear Lake Estates manufac-
tured home park in Phoenix
this week, but some property
owners in the Almeda Fire scar
are pulling out of the govern-
ment-funded cleanup project.
“More and more people
are getting frustrated with the
pace,” said John Vial, director
of the Jackson County Emer-
gency Operations Center.
The state is managing the
cleanup effort and using con-
tractors to carry out the work
in the aftermath of the Sep-
tember 2020 Almeda fire that
burned from Ashland to the
outskirts of Medford, destroy-
ing major sections of Phoenix
and Talent.
After federal Environmen-
tal Protection Agency crews
picked out hazardous debris,
contractors hired by the state
began cleaning up general
debris in January, including
burned cars and the twisted
metal frames of manufactured
and mobile homes.
The work started with two
crews but is now being carried
out by eight crews, Vial said.
Jackson County has seen
owners of 204 properties
pull out of the general debris
cleanup effort. Owners of more
than 800 properties still want
to take part, Vial said Wednes-
day.
“Frankly, if it’s getting
cleaned up and they can do
it themselves, more power to
them. Our goal is to get this
mess cleaned up, and if they
feel comfortable doing it them-
selves, great, go clean it up,” he
said. “Many of the people can’t.
The majority of people will
want the state to step in and
help and that process is start-
ing to speed up now.”
People who clean up prop-
erty themselves or hire con-
tractors to do the work must
follow applicable laws about
the disposal of different types
of debris, city and county offi-
cials have cautioned.
The EPA crews that picked
out hazardous debris did re-
move chunks they suspected
contained asbestos. But small
particles of asbestos may be
scattered in the Almeda fire
zone.
The state is having asbestos
testing done. If areas are found
to be free of contamination,
that can speed up cleanup ef-
forts.
However, the state doesn’t
have enough asbestos testers
on board. It’s working to get
more, Vial said.
“But that right now is the
biggest holdup to doing a
quicker cleanup,” he said.
After crews finish cleaning
up the 210-space Bear Lake
Estates, they’ll move on to an-
other large park — Mountain
View Estates mobile home
park in Talent, Vial said.
Before that park burned,
it had 164 sites, according to
the MHVillage website for the
buying, selling and renting
of mobile and manufactured
homes.
Cleanup efforts will stay fo-
cused on mobile home parks
for a while because they’re
compact and represent a large
amount of housing. Getting
the parks cleaned will max-
imize the opportunity to re-
house people, Vial said.
“It’s about how can we do
the most good the quickest.”
he said.
The Almeda fire destroyed
almost 2,500 residential struc-
tures and damaged more than
100 additional homes — leav-
ing thousands of local residents
homeless.
Five months after the fire,
the number of homeless resi-
dents seeking shelter in hotels
continues to grow.
Last week, 581 fire survi-
vors were staying in 295 hotel
rooms.
This week, the number grew
to 619 fire survivors in 324 ho-
tel rooms, Vial said.
drafting more than 3,700 legis-
lative measures, Kotek’s spokes-
person Danny Moran wrote in
an email Wednesday.
The highest number of bills
introduced since 2009 was
3,020 in 2011, The Oregonian/
OregonLive found. Only a frac-
tion of the proposals pass each
session. In the 2017 session,
2,829 were introduced and 810
passed. In 2019, 2,768 were
introduced and 757 passed.
Those figures include required
resolutions to conclude the ses-
sions.
The House has 23 commit-
tees and subcommittees this
year, compared with 13 in the
last five-month session in 2019.
The Senate has 13 committees
this year, the same as in 2019.
In an interview Wednesday,
Senate President Peter Court-
ney, D-Salem, said he was sur-
prised to hear the number of
bills was so high and concerned
about managing lawmakers’ ex-
pectations since most pieces of
legislation will not pass.
“I can’t quite understand
where all these bills are com-
ing from or why there’s such an
increase,” Courtney said. “It’s
got me very concerned because
we’re not gonna pass that many
bills by a long shot … That al-
ways makes the session more
difficult, more agitated.”
Courtney said some of the
legislation was revived after it
failed to pass last year when
Republicans walked out of the
Capitol to kill a climate bill. He
also noted that duplicative bills
can contribute to the issue, such
as legislation that both he and
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, in-
troduced to require insurers to
cover proton beam therapy if
they cover radiation for cancer.
Only one of those bills is neces-
sary, Courtney said.
Meanwhile, at least four least
four bills would require the
Department of Transportation
to “study development of uni-
form standards for speed bump
height and markings,” including
one for which Kotek is the chief
sponsor. Many bills this ses-
sion could be categorized as in-
structing state agencies to study
a various topic and report back
to the Legislature in the future.
On Tuesday, the House in-
troduced 68 new bills including
House Bill 3153, which would
change Oregon laws on public
health emergencies that Gov.
Kate Brown has relied upon to
issue restrictions to slow the
spread of COVID-19. It would
allow the governor to declare
such emergencies for only 14
days, with the ability to extend
the emergency once for an ad-
ditional 14 days. After that, the
only option would be for the
Legislature to meet to vote on
whether to declare an emer-
gency.
Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane,
introduced the bill at the re-
quest of Neil Ruggles, the
owner of a martial arts busi-
ness in Washington County
who joined state Reps. Werner
Reschke, R-Klamath Falls and
Mike Nearman, R-Indepen-
dence, and state Sen. Dennis
Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, to
file a lawsuit that claimed the
governor abused her authority
by issuing stay-home and other
coronavirus orders. With Dem-
ocrats in control of both cham-
bers of the Legislature, it stands
little chance of passing.