A4 The BulleTin • Friday, april 9, 2021
OREGON LEGISLATURE | What lawmakers are debating in Salem
Civics requirement for
graduation in Oregon
gets bipartisan support
Senate clears funds for summer
programs and wildfire recovery
BY PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Money for summer educa-
tional and recreational pro-
grams, wildfire recovery and
other purposes has been in-
cluded in budget bills on their
way to Gov. Kate Brown.
The Oregon Senate voted
Thursday to pass three bills
to rebalance the current state
budget. The House passed
them April 1.
One of the bills adds $250
million for summer educa-
tional and recreational pro-
grams. It also has $3.7 million
for 11 local governments to
repair damage from the Labor
Day wildfires and $20 million
for seven local governments
to fund shelters — known as
navigation centers — that help
people find housing and other
services. One of those centers
is in Bend, which is getting
$2.5 million.
“The past year has been hard
on our students and their fam-
ilies. They are struggling with
school … and their mental
health. Today, we made sure
they have opportunities to
learn and play this summer,”
Senate President Peter Court-
ney, D-Salem, said in a state-
ment after the vote. “We also
passed funding for communi-
ties dealing with homelessness
and last year’s fires.”
More than $1.1 million in
wildfire recovery money will
be shared by Marion County,
the cities of Detroit and Gates,
and the Idanha-Detroit Rural
Fire Protection District, which
lost its truck in the Beachie
Creek wildfire.
“The process of rebuilding
from fire is just beginning, and
this money will provide the
first step to help families get
their lives back,” Senate Repub-
lican Leader Fred Girod of Ly-
ons, who lost his home in the
fire, said afterward. “I look for-
ward to securing more funding
for my community.”
Summer programs
Here are details of the $250
million for summer programs:
• For high school students
behind on their credits for the
past two academic years be-
cause of the coronavirus pan-
demic, $71.9 million, with
school districts putting up a
25% match from federal pan-
demic aid they will get sep-
arately. Districts qualify for
money if half of high school
students participate.
• For students from kinder-
garten through fifth grade,
$93.7 million, with school dis-
tricts putting up a 25% match,
for academic or other enrich-
ment programs. Districts will
get money based on the dis-
tribution formula for regular
state aid, but more weight will
be given to students at the pov-
erty level. Assuming a cost of
$1,800 per student, the state es-
timates that up to 70,000 chil-
dren could benefit.
• For child care, $30 mil-
lion, plus $10 million in federal
funds.
• For preschool programs,
$12 million, plus $11.2 million
in federal funds, for one-time
activities this summer.
• For summer recreation
activities, $40 million that the
Oregon Community Foun-
dation will award in grants to
public agencies and nonprofit
groups, such as the YMCA and
Boys and Girls Clubs.
• For parents whose children
have disabilities, suffer from
trauma or are at risk of place-
ment into the child welfare
system, $1.2 million. The state
estimates this program could
support about 600 parents.
Money not spent by Jan. 1
will return to state coffers.
Other spending
Other items of note:
• $20 million total in grants
Shelter
Continued from A1
The money to buy the mo-
tel comes from a state pro-
gram called Project Turnkey,
wherein the Legislature allo-
cated $35 million to be given to
governments that applied last
year to buy hotels to turn into
homeless shelters.
The council entered into
the agreement in February
and ever since then has been
evaluating the property. The
property was initially attractive
because it had 68 rooms, in-
cluding a couple of apartments,
Economic Development Di-
rector Carolyn Eagan said
Thursday.
But after weeks of looking
at the property more closely,
city staff found structural is-
sues that necessitate high-cost
renovations. The foundation
is a key issue for the building,
which was built in 1950, Eagan
said. It has needed repairs for a
long time, and while some re-
pairs had been done they were
“not complete,” she said.
“As we began to uncover
and then understand the type
of renovations and the degree
of renovations, our timeline
for opening began to get really
pushed out,” Eagan said.
Because the issues are with
the foundation below ground
Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file
The exterior of Old Mill & Suites Motel in Bend.
level, it was hard for the city to
get contractors on the ground
to estimate what renovations
would cost in total, Eagan said,
but the city’s best guess was
around $2 million.
The type of work it would
take to renovate the motel
would also push up against a
timeline provided by the Ore-
gon Community Foundation,
which is the organization dis-
tributing the Project Turney
money. Per the Legislature,
the foundation is charged with
distributing this money before
June 30, with the assumption
being the city would need to
make an acquisition by this
date as well, Eagan said.
“With concrete you can’t just
pour it and just build the next
day,” Eagan said.
Eagan said the city might
reconsider an agreement with
the owner of Old Mill & Suites
Motel if the owner decided
“selling the hotel is a priority”
and if he understood “the con-
dition of his building.”
There are other hotels the
city is considering purchas-
ing, Eagan said, though she
declined to name them. The
council will be considering
new purchase and sales agree-
ments at its meeting April 21,
she said.
When asked whether the
city feared running into a sim-
ilar issues with entering a new
agreement with a new hotel,
Eagan said she thinks there is a
healthy understanding of what
the challenges are, but that this
was not a reason not to do it.
“It’s genuinely in my per-
sonal interest to see this be a
successful project,” Eagan said.
“We are doing everything we
to seven local governments, in-
cluding $2.5 million for the city
of Bend, for navigation centers
that help people find housing
and other services.
• $20 million from mari-
juana sales taxes during this
budget cycle for the Oregon
Health Authority to start work
on the new addiction recov-
ery centers that Oregon voters
approved in Measure 110 last
year. Senate Bill 846, which the
Senate passed March 25 but
the House has not yet consid-
ered, would set the start date
for the new centers on Jan. 1,
instead of Oct. 1 as stated in
Measure 110.
• $2.9 million to the Oregon
Food Bank to enable it to make
emergency food purchases.
The food bank and its network
of 20 regional banks received
$2.9 million in December to
cover emergency purchases for
the first three months of this
year.
• $15.7 million in federal
funds from the National Guard
Bureau for construction of a
third barracks and associated
buildings at Camp Umatilla, an
Oregon National Guard train-
ing center in Hermiston. The
original federal grant for two
barracks was $11.3 million.
e e
Democrats and Republi-
cans in the Oregon Senate
are divided on many issues
— but not on the importance
of teaching how democratic
government works.
A 25-3 vote by the Sen-
ate on Wednesday approved
Senate Bill 513, which would
require high school students
to complete one semester —
one-half credit — of civics
before graduation starting in
2025-26. The bill goes to the
House, which has similar leg-
islation pending.
Oregon students already
are required to complete 24
credits before graduation,
four in English and three in
math, the rest determined by
administrative rule. Lawmak-
ers in 2017 passed a bill, also
sponsored by a Republican,
to “encourage” districts to of-
fer civics instruction. But it
was not a requirement.
Senate Republican Leader
Fred Girod of Lyons said civ-
ics should be added, given
that only 24% of students
tested in a 2018 National
Assessment of Educational
Progress — otherwise known
as the nation’s report card —
were proficient or better in
pwong@pamplinmedia.com
can to deliver on this front.”
In Redmond, a similar proj-
ect is moving forward. The
Bethlehem Inn, which operates
a homeless shelter in Bend, has
entered a purchase and sales
agreement with the Greenway
Motel in Redmond on Birch
Avenue, near U.S. Highway 97.
Gwenn Wysling, the exec-
utive director of The Bethle-
hem Inn, said the motel has
30 rooms, which will be able
to host up to 30 people amid
COVID-19 health guidelines
and up to 90 people when
those capacity restrictions are
lifted. Wysling would not dis-
close how much Bethlehem
Inn is offering to pay for the
motel.
“It’s a motel in good condi-
tion and certainly we’ve been
appreciative of the owners
working on this,” she said.
The goal is to get the shelter
open by June 30. The Bethle-
hem Inn is looking to hire staff
for the new shelter, and Wys-
ling is asking those who are
interested to visit the shelter’s
website.
“We have done the due dili-
gence to pick a property we feel
will serve the Redmond com-
munity and the community at
large for many years into the
future,” she said.
e e
BY PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Reporter: 541-633-2160,
bvisser@bendbulletin.com
civics. The average score on
civics was 153 of 300.
Girod, the bill’s chief spon-
sor, said it is common for his
staff and that of other legisla-
tors to get calls and messages
relating to federal, county
and city matters.
“This bill plays an essen-
tial and critical role in en-
suring that Oregon students
not only have a grasp of the
democratic process, but also
learn how to participate in it,”
he said. “As a legislative body,
we very well know how gov-
ernment works. It is our duty
and responsibility to make
sure that generations after us
do as well.”
Kevin Lepley, president of
the Oregon Council for the
Social Studies and a teacher at
Kings Valley Charter School
in Independence, said civics
instruction is scattershot now.
“There is inequity in civics
education where some stu-
dents receive dedicated focus
on the subject while others
receive limited instruction
scattered across multiple so-
cial science classes,” Lepley
said in a statement after the
Senate vote. “This inequity
has real implications for our
students and our society and
it must be addressed.”
Fire, propane tank explosions
destroy Eugene homeless camp
The Associated Press
EUGENE — Authorities
say a homeless camp caught
fire underneath a bridge in
Eugene early Wednesday,
leading multiple propane
tanks to explode and destroy
the tents and possessions of
people living there.
Noelle Wade, who had been
staying there for three weeks,
said she woke up in the mid-
dle of the night to flames en-
gulfing her tent before other
camp residents pulled her out,
The Register-Guard reported.
Located under the Ferry
Street Bridge, residents say
more than a half dozen people
had been living there.
The Eugene Police Depart-
ment said the blaze “most
likely” started with a warm-
ing fire that was too close to
structures and a propane tank.
When police arrived, they saw
a “large fire under the bridge
with multiple explosions,” ac-
cording to a news release. Of-
ficers shut down Ferry Street
Bridge because at one point
flames shot up the sides of it.
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Breakthrough
Continued from A1
The 168 breakthrough cases
in 25 counties are through April
2, according to the Oregon
Health Authority statement.
Health officials defined a
vaccine breakthrough occur-
ring when a person receives a
positive COVID-19 test result
at least 14 days after the final
dose of any vaccine series.
More than 700,000 people
in Oregon are fully vaccinated,
according to state health offi-
cials. In about 11% of the vac-
cine breakthrough cases, the
person was hospitalized within
30 days after testing positive,
and most occurred in people
older than 65 or with underly-
ing health conditions.
In Deschutes County, more
than 87% of those 80 or older
have been vaccinated, accord-
ing to the Deschutes County
Health Services. In addition,
about 80% of the residents 65
and older have received their
first shot as of March 24, health
services reported in an email.
“We are concerned about the
increase in COVID-19 cases,”
said Morgan Emerson, De-
schutes County Health Services
spokeswoman. “We are making
great progress in vaccinating the
community, but it is still essen-
tial to continue the things that
we know prevent the spread
of COVID-19 — wear a mask,
avoid large gatherings, socialize
outside when possible and wash
your hands frequently.”
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