PANTHERS UPSET PROSPECTORS BY 3 POINTS
The
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Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , J aNuary 3, 2018
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The first phases of
construction are planned
at John Day’s Innovation
Gateway in 2018.
Eagle file photo
John Day expects
progress on projects in
2018
“
This next year is all about execution.”
Nick Green
John Day city manager
Nick Green
Construction
planned this year
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
he city of John Day has six capital proj-
ects on the books with investment hori-
zons ranging from 20 years to more than
a century, City Manager Nick Green told
the city council. But he doesn’t expect to
see more big capital projects in the immediate fu-
ture.
“This next year is all about execution,” he said.
To present these capital projects to the residents
of John Day and Grant County, Green plans to de-
liver a state of the city address early in the year fol-
lowed by less formal town hall meetings at multiple
venues through June.
He also wants to create a Community Advisory
Committee and a Technical Advisory Committee to
provide public input and assistance in the planning
process for these projects.
The first committee would be well rounded, with
no special requirements and representative of all
perspectives, Green said — including the young, el-
derly, business and education sectors. They would
pass on ideas to the second committee, which would
include people who are more detail-minded and
have professional expertise, he said.
See PROJECTS, Page A9
T
12 new laws to keep in Voter primer on
mind for the new year Ballot Measure 101
By Claire Withycombe
By Jade McDowell
Capital Bureau
EO Media Group
You can now pump your
own gas 24 hours a day — one
of many laws that changed with
the new year.
Thanks to one of more than
850 laws passed during the
2017 Oregon legislative ses-
sion, fuel stations in counties
east of Portland with fewer
than 40,000 residents can allow
self-service fueling 24 hours a
day.
A few other interesting laws
to keep in mind that took effect
this year:
• Drivers must change lanes
or slow down when passing
EO file Photo
Oregon voters became the fifth state in the nation to raise the
minimum age for purchasing tobacco products to 21 years old.
any vehicle with flashing haz-
ard lights, flares or other signs
of distress parked along the
side of road not in a designat-
ed parking space. The previous
law only required drivers to
move over for emergency ve-
hicles and tow trucks. Now, if
there are more than two lanes
going in the same direction, the
driver must change lanes away
from the stopped vehicle. If
there is only one lane in each
direction the driver must slow
down to at least five mph under
the posted speed limit instead.
• One of the most contro-
versial bills of the 2017 ses-
sion, which allows a judge to
order someone to give up their
firearms, kicked in on Jan. 1.
If a family member or police
officer presents the court with
convincing evidence that a per-
son “presents a risk in the near
future, including an imminent
risk, of suicide or of causing
physical injury to another per-
son” a judge can issue an or-
der of protection banning the
person from possessing deadly
weapons for one year.
• Oregonians under the age
of 21 can no longer purchase
any tobacco products. The state
became the fifth in the nation to
raise the smoking age to 21 this
summer.
• The voting age in the Unit-
ed States remains at 18, but
See LAWS, Page A9
On Jan. 23, Oregon voters will have a
chance to weigh in on Measure 101, help-
ing decide how the state pays for its Med-
icaid program.
President Trump noted earlier this year
that “nobody knew that health care could
be so complicated” and this measure,
which deals with insurance premiums,
managed care organizations and federal-
ly regulated hospital taxes, is not an easy
read. Here are the basics:
• When do I need to understand
this? Ballots will be mailed to voters be-
tween Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, according to the
Secretary of State’s Office. Ballots must
be received by elections officials by 8
p.m. Jan. 23.
• Why is this on the ballot? This sum-
mer, Democrats in the Oregon Legislature
pushed through a bill providing temporary
funding for the state’s Medicaid system.
Three Republican lawmakers — State
Reps. Julie Parrish, of West Linn; Cedric
Hayden, of Roseburg; and Sal Esquivel,
of Medford, decided they wanted to refer
parts of the law to voters. They led a pe-
tition campaign to gather signatures and
are now urging voters to vote “no” on the
measure, which would repeal those parts
of the state’s Medicaid law.
• Remind me, what’s Medicaid?
Medicaid is a government health care
coverage program for the poor and other
qualifying groups. Oregonians earning up
to 138 percent of the federal poverty lev-
el ($16,100 for an individual; $32,900 for
a family of four) are eligible for the pro-
gram. In Oregon, the Medicaid program
is known as the Oregon Health Plan and
covers about 1 million people, including
400,000 kids.
• How is the Oregon Health Plan fi-
nanced? Both the state and the federal
government pay for it with public funds,
but the federal government picks up most
of the tab. Plus, hospitals, insurers and
coordinated care organizations all pay
taxes — described in the measure as “as-
sessments” — to the state. Oregon uses
that money to get matching funding from
the federal government.
• How much do hospitals pay? Hos-
pitals pay a 5.3 percent assessment on net
revenues, which, once matched by the
feds, is returned to them as a group and
redistributed. Under the state law passed
earlier this year, they also pay a 0.7 per-
cent assessment on net revenues that is
not returned to them, but put into a state
fund for health care.
• What does a “yes” vote mean? A
“yes” vote means you want the state to
impose and keep the nonrefundable 0.7
percent assessment on hospitals, as well
as assessments on insurers, the Public
Employees Benefits Board and coordi-
nated care organizations — regional net-
works of OHP providers.
• What does a “no” vote mean? A
“no” vote means you wish to repeal the
nonrefundable 0.7 percent assessment,
See MEASURE, Page A9
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