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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2017)
A8 Legislative Briefcase Blue Mountain Eagle Lawmakers consider extending fish screen tax credit Lawmakers are consid- ering whether to extend a tax credit for Oregon farm- ers who install fish screens on their irrigation intakes, which expires next year. Under Senate Bill 172, the tax credit — which cov- ers 50 percent of installation costs up to $5,000 — would expire in 2024 instead of 2018. Screens are intended to prevent fish from getting sucked into irrigation sys- tems and killed. Lawmakers consider consolidating marijuana regulation State legislators are mov- ing toward consolidating the state’s medical and recre- ational marijuana industries into one regulatory system. The co-chairwomen of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Regulation have dropped several bills that would move regulation of medical marijuana from the Oregon Health Authority to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the regulatory agency for recreational sales of the drug. Another propos- al would establish a separate agency specifically for can- nabis regulation. OHA has regulated the medical marijuana program since it was created through Ballot Measure 67 in 1998. When voters legalized rec- reational cannabis use with Measure 91 in 2014, regula- tion of the new program was assigned to the liquor com- mission, while the health au- thority retained its oversight of the medical program. Bill seeks reversal of Oregon GMO preemption Biotech critics are call- ing on Oregon lawmakers to overturn a prohibition against local government restrictions on genetically engineered crops because statewide reg- ulations haven’t been enact- ed. In 2013, the Oregon Leg- islature passed a law that pre- empted cities and counties from setting their own rules over seeds, which blocked most local ordinances ban- ning genetically modified or- ganisms, or GMOs. Groups that opposed the preemption bill say state in- action since then has justified the passage of House Bill 2469, which would carve out an exemption allowing local GMO regulations. Public employees blast proposed PERS reforms February is VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH Help is available for teens experiencing dating violence in Grant County. For more information, please call: Designed by the Blue Mountain Eagle. Heart of Grant County 541-620-1342 Grant County Victim Assistance Program In a demonstration of the fraught political territory lawmakers enter when they scrutinize the state’s public pension system, firefighters, nurses, and teachers Monday testified against two Oregon Senate bills aimed at reducing the costs of that system. The bills, both sponsored by Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, are the latest round in the Legislature’s seemingly pe- rennial battle with the costs of PERS, the unfunded liability of which has been estimated to be at least $21.8 billion. Senate Bill 559 would re- quire that retirement benefits be calculated using the aver- age salary from the final five years of employment, instead 541-575-4026 This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WR-AX-0008 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/ program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. Wednesday, February 15, 2017 of the current three years. Senate Bill 560 would take the 6 percent of salary em- ployees contribute, or have contributed on their behalf, to a defined contribution plan called the Individual Account Program and redirect it to their retirement benefits. The bill also caps the amount of salary used in benefits calcu- lations at $100,000. Legislators seek to control prescription drug price hikes Backers say state legis- lation proposed this month would go further than any oth- er state to control the price of prescription drugs to patients and insurers. A bill by Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, would cap pa- tients’ out-of-pocket copay- ment for prescriptions, require pharmaceutical companies to explain steep increases in the cost of a medication and mandate rebates when prices exceed a certain threshold. Three other bills by Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward would take similar steps but also require pharmaceutical companies to include the av- erage wholesale price of a drug in any type of direct con- sumer advertising. Bill would prohibit state union, contractor campaign contributions Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, has proposed a law to prohibit state contractors and public unions from contribut- ing to political campaigns. The legislation has a com- panion bill that would require The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. www.eomediagroup.com bidders on state contracts to disclose their five greatest campaign contributions in the state. Buehler was scheduled to drop the legislation Mon- day, the same day an opinion piece in Forbes Magazine by Illinois-based conservative activist Adam Andrzejew- ski claimed that Gov. Kate Brown and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum have re- ceived more than $800,000 combined in campaign con- tributions from more than 200 state contractors. Buehler, who is a rumored candidate for the 2018 guber- natorial race, tweeted out a link to the opinion piece Mon- day when he announced he had introduced the legislation. Bill would prevent employers from recovering attorney fees in wage disputes Oregon employers would be stripped of the ability to recoup attorney fees if they win a wage and hour lawsuit under a proposed bill before state lawmakers, while anoth- er would allow claimants to file liens on their employer’s property before winning a judgment. Only employees who file and win such cases would be entitled to attorney fees under House Bill 2169, which is be- ing considered by the House Committee on Business and Labor. Currently, either work- ers or employers can recover such costs if they win legal disputes over wage and hour claims. Under House Bill 2180, workers who file a complaint over unpaid wages can file a lien against their employer’s property. Similarly, under House Bill 2181, if a worker is fired within 90 days of filing a wage claim, the employer faces the “rebuttable presumption” that the termination was intended as retaliation. 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