A10
State
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Brown endorses gross receipts tax
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
Gov. Kate Brown announced
Thursday that she is endorsing a
controversial corporate sales tax
measure on November’s ballot.
Initiative Petition 28, on track to
be called Measure 97 on the ballot,
levies a 2.5-percent tax on certain
corporations’ Oregon gross receipts
exceeding $25 million.
“I have spent my career ighting
to make Oregon a place where ev-
eryone can thrive,” Brown said in a
statement. “I support Measure 97 be-
cause there is a basic unfairness in our
tax system that makes
working families pay
an increasing share
for state and local ser-
vices, including pub-
lic schools, senior ser-
vices, and health care.
Gov. Kate By some measures,
Brown
Oregon is among the
lowest in corporate
taxes, and Oregonians expect every-
one to pay their fair share.”
The tax would pour an estimated
$3 billion a year into state coffers but
slow job growth and bump up con-
sumer prices, according to the non-
partisan Legislative Revenue Ofice.
AG seeks reforms
in public records law
ment these suggested reforms
without the active support and
involvement of our governor
and the Legislature,” Rosen-
blum said in a statement.
The Attorney General’s
Ofice will accept comments
about the proposal from jour-
nalists and the public at an
Aug. 18 hearing in Bend.
The task force that recom-
mended the changes to the
public records law includes
journalists, state and local
governments, other interest
groups and individuals.
Rosenblum formed the
task force in September to re-
view and simplify more than
500 exemptions to the public
records law and to ind ways
to make records more accessi-
ble to the public.
The task force also plans
to examine the fees that pub-
lic bodies charge for records
and consider whether the
state should create a posi-
tion to help the public access
records from state govern-
ment, said Michael Kron,
special counsel to the attor-
ney general. who has head-
ed up the public records law
review.
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
Legislation headed for
the 2017 session would set
clearer deadlines for public
agencies to respond to public
records request, give priority
to the public’s right to access
records and provide a manual
for understanding exemptions
to disclosure.
Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum proposed the re-
forms to the public records
law based on recommen-
dations by a task force she
formed about nine months
ago.
The proposal gives public
agencies a ive-day deadline to
acknowledge receipt of public
records requests and 10 days to
either furnish records or pro-
vide a reason for the delay. The
Attorney General’s Ofice also
would be required to maintain
a catalog of disclosure exemp-
tions and make that available
free of charge to the public.
The language in the legislation
also gives priority to the pub-
lic’s right to know.
“It is important to empha-
size that we cannot imple-
“Our state cannot move forward
and meet Oregon’s growing needs
over the next decade without a stable
revenue base,” Brown said Thursday.
“Measure 97 is an important step
forward, and I will make sure the
funds the measure yields go towards
schools, health care, and seniors, as
the voters expect.
“State leaders before me have
repeatedly tried and failed to solve
the problem of adequate and stable
funding for schools and other state
services. Every solution has had
strengths and weaknesses in terms of
fairness and economic impact. None
has succeeded in bringing the busi-
ness community, individual and fam-
ily taxpayers, service providers, and
advocates together.”
Bud Pierce, Brown’s Republican
challenger in November’s governor’s
race, said he was disappointed that
Brown is supporting what would be
the largest sales tax increase in Ore-
gon’s history.
“If passed, this tax increase would
greatly raise the cost of living in Ore-
gon,” Pierce said in a statement. “Ev-
eryone, including low-income fami-
lies would be paying on average more
than $1,800 (sic) per family more for
goods and services. A tax increase
like this will not help anyone. It will
hurt low-income families in Oregon
the most.”
The Legislative Revenue Ofice
estimated that the tax would cause
price increases that would cost a
family earning median income more
than $600 more per year in the form
of increased prices on daily needs,
such as food, fuel and electricity.
Brown said that state leaders have
repeatedly failed to come up with an-
other solution to Oregon’s unstable
funding system for schools and other
state services.
“Every solution has had strengths
and weaknesses in terms of fairness
and economic impact,” she said.
Portland students to learn about
ag, rangeland at Unity school
By Eric Mortenson
EO Media Group
Burnt River School’s in-
vitation to Portland students
paid off, and the rural East-
ern Oregon school will host
up to eight urban kids when
classes begin next fall, and
eight more in the spring,
“It’s happening,” Super-
intendent Lorrie Andrews
said.
The district is arranging
places for the students to
stay while in school. The
school, which had a total
of 34 students in 2015-16,
offers the Burnt River Inte-
grated Agriculture/Science
Research Ranch program, or
BRIARR, a dip into the ag
and natural resource issues
common to the area. The
K-12 public charter school is
in Unity, about 50 miles east
of John Day.
Students will learn about
animal production science,
sustainable rangeland sci-
ence and forest restoration
studies, and do water quality
monitoring with the Powder
Contributed photo/Burnt River School District
The entire student body and staff of Burnt River School poses on picture day
in September 2015. The small, Eastern Oregon school will host up to eight
Portland high school students this fall to teach them about agriculture.
Basin Watershed Council.
The invitation to Portland
students was intended to help
bridge the urban-rural divide,
but it could help the dis-
trict inancially, as well. The
state provides districts about
$7,100 per student, and that
funding follows the student
during their time in the rural
district.
Portland Public Schools
sent an email to its high school
families last spring, telling
them of the opportunity, and
Andrews received about two
dozen email queries within a
couple days.
After clearing interviews
and securing placement with
host families, eight girls will
attend the school fall semes-
ter, and eight boys will attend
in spring.
Legislators, friends mourn death of state Sen. Alan Bates
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
Oregon state Sen. Alan
Bates, a physician who rep-
resented Southern Oregon for
15 years, died Friday.
Bates, 71, of Ashland, died
suddenly while on a ishing
trip with his son.
Senate President Peter
Courtney conirmed his death
early Saturday.
Courtney said he learned of
Bates’ death late Friday from
Gov. Kate Brown.
His family issued a state-
ment Saturday indicating that
Bates’ death was unexpected.
Bates served in the Senate
since 2004 and served for four
years before that in the House.
“We are comforted in the
fact that he passed after a day
of doing something he loved:
Fly ishing with his son,”
Bates’ family said. “We will
always think of him when we
hear the sound of the river, feel
the summer sunlight and see a
ly line cast upon the water.”
Bates practiced for more
than 30 years as a primary
care physician in Medford,
his family said. He is credited
with saving lives both in his
practice and at the Capitol.
Sen. Alan Olsen, a Republican
from Canby, said Bates saved
his life when he had a heart
attack in 2015 at the Capitol,
Oregon Public Broadcasting
reported early Saturday.
“What are we going to
do without Doc?” Courtney
asked. “He was always there
to take care of us and all Or-
egon.
“Along with his family, we
are stunned and sad.”
Your Rural Fa mily Health Clinic
Grant County
HEALTH
Department
528 E. Main, St. E,
John Day
Monday - Friday
8am - 5pm
Every other Monday in John Day at
Blue Mountain Hospital
Karen Triplett, FNP
Services Provided:
170 Ford Rd. • 541-575-1311
• Primary Care
• Acute Care
• Women’s Health
Exams
• Men and
Children Exams
• Immunizations
• Family Planning
• Contraception
• Pregnancy Testing &
Referrals
• HIV Testing &
Referrals
• Cacoon
• WIC
• High Risk Infants
• Maternity Case
Management
Grant County Health Department does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin,
disability, or age in admission, treatment, or participation in its programs, services and activitie s, or in employment.
Appointments
available
Call and schedule your
appointment today!
TOLL FREE
888-443-9104
or 541-575-0429
Employment
Opportunity
Job opening for Program Manager for John
Day Canyon City Parks and Recreation.
Hourly rate of $15-$20 year round full
time. General Purpose administers, plans,
directs and manages the activities and
operations of youth and adult recreational
programs. Full job description can be
picked up at Gleason Pool. Please submit a
cover letter and resume to email address
at mailto:canyoncitypark@centurytel.net or
drop off at Gleason Pool to Kimberly Ward.
For more information call 541-575-9930.
Job open July 21- August 15, 2016.
Before joining the Legis-
lature, Bates, a Vietnam War
veteran, served 10 years on
the Eagle Point School Board
and two years on the gover-
nor’s task force on quality ed-
ucation. As a member of the
state’s Health Services Com-
mission for several years, he
was instrumental in the for-
mation of the Oregon Health
Plan.
The Senate Democrats Of-
ice praised Bates for his pol-
icy and leadership on health
care, education, the environ-
ment and the state’s budget
and bringing opposing sides
together.
In a statement released Sat-
urday morning, Brown indi-
cated she plans to order lags
lowered in honer of the long-
time statesman. “Alan was a
close friend, a statesman, and
a doctor who was deeply com-
mitted to ensuring that every
Oregonian had access to health
care,” Brown said. “He left an
indelible impression on Ore-
gon, and I will miss him for-
ever.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley, who served with Bates
during his ive terms in the
Oregon House, praised Bates
as “a good man, a wonderful
friend, and a powerful voice
in the Legislature.”
“It was a pleasure to serve
with him,” Merkley said. “His
leadership and expertise will
be deeply missed. Mary and I
are holding his family in our
hearts.”
Oregon House Republican
Leader Mike McLane and
Medford Representative Sal
Esquivel also remembered
Bates as “a truly selless public
servant” and “a statesman.”
“Our hearts are in mourn-
ing today as we grieve the
loss of our friend,” McLane
said. “Sen. Bates was a man
of enormous integrity and a
truly selless public servant.
He touched the lives of thou-
sands of Oregonians through
his work as both a senator and
family physician.
“On behalf of House Re-
publicans, I extend the deepest
condolences to Senator Bates’
family and to his colleagues
and friends in the Senate.
He will be dearly missed by
many.”
“The sudden passing of Dr.
Bates is a great loss for our
community and the state of
Oregon,” Esquivel said. “He
was always a statesman and
it was an honor serving with a
fellow Vietnam veteran and a
gentleman.”
Debbie Ausmus
245 South Canyon Blvd.
John Day, OR 97845
OPEN WED. & THUR.
9 am - 5 pm
541-575-1113
24 hrs/7 days wk
debbie.ausmus@
countryfinancial.com
