The BulleTin • Thursday, June 3, 2021 A13
Legislature
Continued from A1
The Senate moved at a more sedate pace, with
just 16 bills handled in a morning session. But it
has 22 more scheduled for Thursday.
Courtney used a quote from Florence Night-
ingale, the nurse and social reformer born in
1820, to send the message he wanted lawmak-
ers to cooperate on getting through the session
without any more delaying tactics.
“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or
took an excuse,” Courtney said.
In an unusually late move, two bills were in-
troduced. Senate Bill 871 would essentially bar
horse racing in Oregon. Senate Bill 870, au-
thored by Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, would
revise disclosures on campaign finance contri-
butions.
Courtney’s office did not explain how the bills
might be considered this late in the session.
The legislation became a blur on Tuesday and
Wednesday, as bills churned out by the dozens.
A tiny sample of topics included extending ap-
proval of take-out cocktail sales, residential rent
assistance, extending a moratorium on foreclo-
sures, barring insurance companies from requir-
ing the use of mail-order pharmacies, and scores
of other issues.
News of the gun rights referendum spread late
Tuesday. It was submitted by three Republican
House members: Reps. Mike Nearman of Inde-
pendence, E. Werner Reschke of Klamath Falls
and David Brock Smith of Port Orford.
Numbered Initiative 301, the referendum
would require supporters to gather 74,680 sig-
natures by 90 days after the adjournment of the
Legislature in order to qualify for the November
2022 ballot. If the Legislature goes to June 27, the
signatures would have to be in before Sept. 25.
The new gun law goes into effect 91 days after
adjournment. If the signatures are collected by
the 90-day deadline, the law would go on hold
until the vote in November 2022.
Nearman faces criminal charges in Marion
County for allegedly allowing protesters into the
Capitol during a special session in December. It
took state police in riot gear to expel the group.
Despite the looming deadline to head for the
exits, the House and Senate stuck to some of
their daily traditions that chew up time.
There were the symbolic actions that serve as
political litmus tests or to tout a favorite topic.
The House passed Senate Joint Memorial 4,
calling on Congress to act on reparations for de-
scendants of slaves. It passed on a party-line vote
of 35-23, with Democrats in favor and Republi-
cans against.
Both chambers each day set aside time for
“courtesies,” or positive remarks. They are fol-
lowed by “remonstrances,” a term dating to the
13th century that the Oxford English Dictionary
defines as “a forcefully reproachful protest.”
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, rose during cour-
tesies to praise Oregon potatoes, reminding his
colleagues that “much of the state’s crop is grown
in my very own district.”
OREGON LEGISLATURE | What’s happening in Salem | More coverage on A14
Governor signs extended
moratorium on foreclosures
Oregon homeowners who have fallen behind on
their mortgages due to the coronavirus pandemic will
be protected from facing foreclosure until at least the
end of the month.
Gov. Kate Brown signed House Bill 2009 into law
Tuesday, reinstating the state’s moratorium on foreclo-
sures until the end of her coronavirus state of emer-
gency declaration, now set to expire June 30. The new
law is retroactive to Dec. 31.
The moratorium would be automatically extended
in 90-day intervals to the end of September, or even
the end of the year, if Brown extends the emergency
period. According to the legislation, Brown must decide
whether to extend the emergency period by June 14
for the moratorium on foreclosures to also be extended.
Oregon homeowners also have the right under the
legislation to put their mortgage in forbearance while
the moratorium is in effect.
Senate approves bill giving businesses
more time to repay back rent
Oregon business owners who fell behind on their
rent last year as the coronavirus pandemic took hold
may soon be given more time to make up their missed
payments.
The Oregon Senate voted 25-4 Wednesday to ap-
prove a bill that would give businesses that missed rent
payments from April to September 2020 until Sept. 30,
2021, to repay that owed rent. Gov. Kate Brown needs
Hansell said $200 million dollars worth of
potatoes, accounting for 25% of all french fries
exported overseas, came from Oregon. He also
showed off a canvas bag that was sent to each
senator that included a potato and spud-inspired
recipes.
Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, rose during remon-
strances to criticize Gov. Kate Brown’s executive
order requiring residents to show certification of
vaccination to enter businesses without a mask.
He said the White House, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and 48 out of 50 states
were against “vaccine passports,” a popular term
in conservative circles.
“Even the left-wing ACLU is against it,”
Knopp said, to a few titters of laughter from
Democrats. “Businesses don’t want to play vac-
cine cop. We shouldn’t make them.”
With most of the 34 committees shut down
last week, bills piled up in the few panels that are
exempt from deadlines.
About 200 bills were parked in the House and
Senate rules committees. Some will get pulled
out and sent through for a floor vote. But the
committees are also known for being a legisla-
tive graveyard, a place where bills go to die with
the end of the session.
One committee that can still meet is the
House Committee on Conduct, the arbiter and
123RF
to sign the bill for it to go into effect, but the legislation
received bipartisan support in both chambers.
Lawmakers allowed the state’s moratorium on com-
mercial evictions to expire last September but gave busi-
ness owners until the end of March to repay any owed
rent they had accumulated to that point. With that rent
now coming due, businesses have been urging the legis-
lature to give them more time to make up their debt.
If Brown signs the legislation, House Bill 2966A
would be retroactive to March 31, and any eviction
process for nonpayment of rent that was initiated be-
fore the bill went into effect but has not yet been re-
solved would be stayed until Oct. 1 or dismissed.
However, the legislation won’t help business owners
who are continuing to struggle during the pandemic
and have missed rent payments since the moratorium
on commercial evictions expired in September.
Proponents of the bill have said that extending the
repayment period will give lawmakers time to get rent
enforcer of the chamber’s rules.
In a Tuesday evening meeting, the panel up-
held a complaint by Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson,
R-Prineville, that a suggestive text from Rep.
Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, amounted to sexual
harassment and creating a hostile work environ-
ment. The panel was split on whether Witt’s text
amounted to a suggestion that he would trade
a vote for sexual favors from Breese Iverson,
which Witt denies. The panel left any punish-
ment or action for Witt to a future meeting.
An issue lurking in the background may set up
a partisan battle in the final days of the session.
The Capitol, which is controlled by the Legis-
lature, has been closed to the public since March
2020 because of the pandemic. Hearings and
committee meetings have been held remotely,
with lawmakers coming to the chamber floors
— masks required — for final votes.
Republicans have argued that the Capitol
should be open so members of the public can
take part in the lawmaking of their state. With at
least four reported cases of COVID-19 among
lawmakers and staff, Democrats have said the
move would undermine public health.
Legislative leaders have said they would re-
open the building once Marion County reached
the lower risk level status determined by the Or-
egon Health Authority and Brown.
assistance into the hands of landlords whose business
tenants have struggled to keep up with their rent, po-
tentially avoiding an onslaught of commercial evictions.
Lawmakers allocated $100 million in January to
launch a commercial rent relief program to help busi-
nesses across the state.
Business Oregon, the state agency tasked with ad-
ministering the fund, approved nearly $59 million to
help pay the missed rent of 2,881 businesses state-
wide during the first two rounds of the program. The
agency is using the remaining funds to provide grants
to struggling small businesses to cover both opera-
tional expenses and missed rent.
Senate, House pass to-go cocktails bill
Oregon lawmakers have passed a bill allowing the
sale of cocktails to-go to continue after the COVID-19
pandemic. Senate Bill 317, which allows licensed es-
tablishments to sell “mixed drinks and single servings
of wine in sealed containers for off-premises con-
sumption,” previously passed the Oregon Senate in
March. It cleared the House on Tuesday by a vote of
51-7. The bill now moves to Gov. Kate Brown.
As new coronavirus restrictions brought drinking
and dining to a standstill across America in March
2020, many states rushed to overturn laws banning
takeout cocktail sales, many of which had been on the
books since Prohibition.
Sponsored by Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, and
Rep. Rob Nosse. D-Portland, the new bill means Ore-
gon will join around 15 states and the District of Co-
lumbia in making cocktails to-go permanent.
— Bulletin wire reports
Marion County is currently at high risk level,
the most restrictive currently in use in Oregon.
The ZIP code that includes the Capitol has
had at times the highest number of COVID-19
cases in the state. Marion County is far from
reaching the benchmark Brown has set for a
waiver on restrictions.
To be moved to lower level, a county must
have given at least one dose of vaccine to 65% of
the adult population. As of Wednesday, Marion
County had administered shots to 56.9% of res-
idents.
But Brown has also promised that all 36 coun-
ties would move to lower level once 70% of
those eligible statewide have had one shot. As of
Wednesday, that number was 62.5%.
At that pace, the state mark will likely be sur-
passed within the next two weeks. That is right
around the earliest the Legislature would ad-
journ, “sine die,” a Latin term that in politics
means to adjourn without a specific date to meet
in the future.
But Kotek has said the House will likely be in
session until just before the deadline, with law-
makers saying June 25 is the likeliest end point.
No plans have been announced on what the
Legislature would do if Marion County went to
lower level status before adjournment.
e e
gwarner@eomediagroup.com