State
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
A7
Universal health care measure dies in Senate
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
A legislative referral to ask
voters to amend the Constitu-
tion to make access to cost-ef-
fective and affordable health
care the right of all Oregon
residents lacks the votes to
pass the Senate, according to
Senate Democrats.
Despite proposed wording
changes, “there were still con-
cerns about individuals suing
the state,” said Sen. Laurie
Monnes Anderson, D-Gresh-
am, chairwoman of the Senate
Health Committee.
“We were just down to the
wire. Trying to come to an
agreement on language chang-
es was just really tough.”
The measure, called House
Joint Referral 203, passed the
House along party lines Feb.
13.
Pamplin Media Group
Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, chairman of the House
Health Care Committee, was the sponsor of a voter
referral to amend the Oregon Constitution to make health
care a fundamental right. The measure died in the Senate
Monday for lack of votes.
Monnes Anderson an-
nounced Monday, Feb. 26,
that her committee would not
hold a vote on the referral.
Legislators pass bill to strip
guns from stalkers, abusers
Even though the committee
had enough votes to send the
measure to the Senate floor,
there are not enough votes to
pass the bill in the larger body,
she said.
“The bill would have need-
ed extensive amendments for
it to get the support it needs
in the Senate, and given this
late timing in the session, the
committee chair made the
difficult decision to not move
forward with it,” said Senate
Majority Leader Ginny Bur-
dick, D-Portland.
Had the referral been ap-
proved in the Legislature, the
proposal would have gone to
voters in the November gen-
eral election.
In the House, all 35 Dem-
ocrats voted for the measure,
while the 25 Republicans op-
posed it.
Rep. Mitch Greenlick,
D-Portland, who has repeat-
edly sponsored the measure,
said this is the third consec-
utive time the Senate has
Capital Bureau
A bill to strip gun rights
from convicted stalkers and
intimate partners convicted
of abuse passed the Senate 16
to 13 Thursday, Feb. 22. The
legislation goes to Gov. Kate
Brown who says she intends
to sign it into law.
Brown urged U.S. law-
makers to enhance protec-
tions against gun violence
nationwide in the wake of a
deadly mass shooting Feb. 14
at Marjory Stoneman Doug-
las High School in Parkland,
Florida. The latest in a string
of attacks on U.S. schools
has sparked unprecedent-
ed demonstrations across
the country for stronger gun
laws.
“Now’s the time to enact
real change, and I’m encour-
aged to see students in Oregon
and across the nation engaged
and joining the call for gun
safety legislation,” Brown
said in a statement. “It’s long
past time we hold the White
House, Congress, and legisla-
tors accountable.”
House Bill 4145 closes the
so-called “boyfriend” or “in-
timate partner loophole,” in
state law that omitted stalkers
and abusers in some intimate
relationships.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski,
D-Eugene, who presented
the bill on the Senate floor
Thursday, said that his sister
was murdered by a boyfriend
with a gun and urged his col-
leagues to support the new
protections. The legislation
also would require Oregon
State Police to notify other
law enforcement when they
learn someone has tried to ob-
tain a gun illegally.
Brown described the bill
as “bipartisan,” and in the
House, the bill did receive
support from both parties.
However, in the Senate, op-
position, rather than support,
was bipartisan.
Representatives of Gif-
fords, the anti-gun violence
group led by former U.S. Rep.
Gabby Giffords of Arizona,
and her husband, NASA as-
tronaut Capt. Mark Kelly,
praised Thursday’s vote by
the Oregon Senate.
“Oregon is continuing to
step up to keep guns out of the
hands of dangerous people,”
said Robin Lloyd, Giffords’
government affairs director.
“Guns and domestic violence
are a particularly lethal com-
bination that have deadly
consequences. Once this bill
is signed loopholes will final-
ly be closed in state law that
let domestic abusers possess
guns.”
Twelve Republicans and
one Democrat, Sen. Betsy
Johnson, D-Scappoose, voted
against the measure. Johnson
said she opposed the bill be-
cause it would give estranged
dating partners a way to seek
revenge.
“This is no time for an
emotional response,” Johnson
said of the bill.
Under existing law, only
convicted abusers in do-
mestic relationships, such
as a spouse, former spouse,
co-parent or live-in partner,
are prohibited from having
guns. The bill expands the
ban to stalkers and current
and past intimate partners of
all kinds.
Sen. Herman Baertschiger
Jr., R-Grants Pass, said exist-
ing law already bans abusers
who have been in intimate
sexual relationships with
their victim from buying or
possessing guns. He said the
language in the bill is full of
“ambiguity” and would likely
result in other loopholes.
A study by the Oregon De-
partment of Justice showed
that more than 16 Oregonians
were killed in nine separate
domestic violence incidents
between Dec. 25, 2016, and
Jan. 16, 2017. Not all of the
fatalities involved romantic
relationships. Laws aimed at
keeping guns from abusers
have reduced homicides of in-
timate partners, according to
recent research published in
the American Journal of Epi-
demiology.
House Speaker Tina Kotek
and Majority Leader Jennifer
Williamson, both Democrats
from Portland, described the
measure primarily as “aspi-
rational,” but some legal ex-
perts said adding the right to
the Constitution could spur
litigation.
“I think we all agree that
health care should be an in-
alienable right for everyone.
I’m concerned that you send
it to the voters and the voters
say yes and it comes back, at
what expense do we pay for
it?” said Sen. Alan DeBoer,
R-Ashland, a member of the
Senate Health Care Com-
mittee. “We need the federal
government to come to the
table. I have always been a
supporter of single payer …
but how do you pay for it
once you approve it and the
lawsuits?”
Regulators ask for more money to police legal weed
By Claire Withycombe
Capital Bureau
By Paris Achen
blocked the referral.
In light of federal efforts
to overturn the Affordable
Care Act, Greenlick said it is
important for Oregon voters
to weigh in on whether they
want health care to be acces-
sible to everyone.
“I think we are making a
terrible mistake not to give
them the opportunity to tell
us whether they really be-
lieve that universal access to
health care is something that
our citizens deserve and that
we should take seriously as
we consider how we move
forward in dealing with the
health care system,” he said.
Using a catchphrase from
the 1984 science fiction film,
“The Terminator,” Greenlick
said: “I will be back.”
The practical impact of
creating such a right was un-
clear.
Amid mounting pressure to shore
up controls on legal cannabis, Oregon
regulators want more money to enforce
state marijuana laws and rules.
In early January, Attorney General
Jeff Sessions alerted states that had le-
galized recreational marijuana that he
was rolling back the previous adminis-
tration’s guidance on marijuana pros-
ecutions. Sessions’ memo effectively
leaves it up to federal prosecutors in
each state to exercise individual discre-
tion when it comes to enforcing viola-
tions of federal marijuana law.
Billy Williams, Oregon’s top federal
prosecutor, claimed Feb. 2 that the state
has a “massive marijuana overproduc-
tion problem,” and that weed grown in
Oregon is leaking into the illicit market
and across state lines. And state auditors
said in a Feb. 7 report that Oregon’s
cannabis licensing and tracking systems
have weaknesses that could overlook il-
legal activity.
Those challenges, in conjunction
with the infancy of the legal marijua-
na market and the explosion of people
interested in entering the industry, ap-
pear to be prompting the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission to ask for more
funding in the middle of the two-year
budget cycle.
The agency is asking for $2.74 mil-
lion for 17 new positions, including a
chief information officer, and its direc-
tor supports more funding targeted to-
ward illegal marijuana activity.
A potential amendment to a bill be-
fore the Senate Rules Committee would
create grants distributed by Criminal
Justice Commission to law enforcement
activity for investigations targeting ille-
gal marijuana “cultivation or distribu-
tion.”
Although a specific amount of fund-
ing hasn’t been decided, OLCC Direc-
tor Steve Marks told lawmakers this
week that it could be in the neighbor-
hood of $3 million, funded by marijua-
na tax dollars.
“I actually believe this is the singu-
lar most important thing you’ll do to
help us regulate marijuana in the state
of Oregon,” Marks said of the proposed
program.
Additionally, enforcing violations
in the legal marijuana system “is go-
ing to be an intense area of growth for
us,” Marks said. “We are going to be
writing a lot more violations in the near
future.”
The hires, if approved by the Leg-
islature, will include 13 regulatory spe-
cialists and three administrative support
staff. Regulatory specialists inspect and
investigate marijuana businesses for
compliance, similar to the state’s regu-
latory specialists for alcohol.
The requested administrative sup-
port staff would work to process license
applications and renewals.
Marks also said his agency would be
more transparent and provide a report to
the Legislature on enforcement of ille-
gal marijuana activity before the start of
the long legislative session in 2019.
According to the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission, consumers
bought about $520 million worth of
recreational marijuana in Oregon last
year. Sales are expected to generate
$150 million in tax revenues in the
state’s current two-year budget, which
ends in mid-2019.
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