A10
STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Farm, timber
issues on agenda
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Community Health Beat
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after onset of illness.
Qualifications for monoclonal antibody treatment include:
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elevated body mass index
pregnant
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immunosuppression
cardiovascular disease, including high blood
pressure
chronic lung disease such as COPD or
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sickle cell disease
neurodevelopment disorders
having a permanent medical device in place
Contact your Primary Care Provider to see if you qualify.
Timber compromise
Another major natural
resource proposal before Ore-
gon lawmakers will be the com-
promise deal between environ-
mental groups and the timber
industry, under which logging
buff ers near streams would be
expanded.
The agreement would also
Saturday may have been
New Year’s Day, but for hard-
core political watchers, the fi rst
toot of a 2022 party horn also
sounds the dawn of an election
year full of numbers to remem-
ber and crunch. A few key
counts:
It’s 69 days until the March
8 deadline to fi le to run for most
political offi ces.
And 139 days until the May
17 primary election day.
Plus 311 days until the big-
gest day of all: the Nov. 8 gen-
eral election. Just 447,840 min-
utes away.
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With more than two months
until the deadline to jump into
the fray, 28 people have already
fi led to run for governor.
The fi eld so far includes 13
Republicans, 12 Democrats, two
unaffi liated candidates and one
Independent Party candidate.
After the primary, there will
be one Republican and one
Democrat who’ll move on to
the general election. The three
others are all trying to qualify
for the Nov. 8 general election.
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
poose, says she will shed the
party label to run without a
political party.
Governor candidates:
What and where
pcoming walks:
Walk with a Teacher
aturday November 20th 8:00am
rant Union High School Gym
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Climate legislation
There’s likely to be action
on climate legislation, if Demo-
cratic lawmakers try to enshrine
an emissions reduction plan
from the state’s Department of
Environmental Quality in law,
Stone said.
“I expect there will be a
bill to codify whatever the Cli-
mate Protection Plan rules
say,” he said. “I’d be sur-
prised if the majority did not
try to push something through
legislatively.”
Oregon politics by the numbers
going into election year
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
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SALEM — Farm groups and
labor advocates are expected to
be preoccupied with agricul-
tural overtime wages during
Oregon’s monthlong legislative
session that begins on Feb. 1.
The prospect of eliminat-
ing the agriculture industry’s
exemption from higher over-
time wages got a lot of attention
from lawmakers last year, but
attempts to negotiate a compro-
mise have been complicated by
litigation over the issue.
A lawsuit alleges the exemp-
tion lacks an underpinning in
state law and isn’t constitu-
tional because farmworkers
are excluded from “privileges”
enjoyed by other employees.
It’s been an unsettling expe-
rience for farm representatives,
who were negotiating in “good
faith” with labor advocates who
were “looking at us in the eye”
while planning the legal attack,
said Mary Anne Cooper, vice
president of public policy for
the Oregon Farm Bureau.
The overtime issue has been
presented as a “racial equity
agenda item,” but in reality, end-
ing the exemption wouldn’t put
more money into farmworkers’
pockets, she said. “It’s just not
going to be the result because
our members can’t aff ord to pay
more wages.”
Proponents of ending the
overtime exemption seem to
believe farmers can just raise
their prices, when they’d actu-
ally be forced to limit employee
hours to contain labor costs,
said Jeff Stone, executive direc-
tor of the Oregon Association of
Nurseries.
“Clearly, we need to use dif-
ferent words because they don’t
understand the price-taking side
of ag,” he said.
restrict log-
ging below
steep slopes
to
prevent
sediment
from reaching
streams and
Jeff Stone
implement
other changes
in the forest practices law.
The “private timber accord”
was negotiated with help from
Gov. Kate Brown’s offi ce. It is
anticipated to receive a “rub-
ber stamp” from lawmakers in
2022.
“This is a legislative prior-
ity and has all the ingredients to
pass,” said Cooper, adding that
the Oregon Farm Bureau is still
studying the proposal. “I have
a hard time seeing a situation
where it doesn’t go forward.”
Certain aspects of the
accord, such as increased reg-
ulations for beaver removal in
forests, have made the Farm
Bureau nervous about the impli-
cations for agriculture.
“It could be a reason to
adapt that policy to other
lands,” said Lauren Smith, the
group’s director of government
aff airs.
The Farm Bureau also plans
to advocate for the resumption
of a program under which pri-
vate landowners pay an assess-
ment to raise money for preda-
tor control by USDA’s Wildlife
Services. The program was
allowed to sunset during the
previous legislative session
after animal advocates opposed
extending it.
“There doesn’t seem to be
an avenue for our communities
to manage predators,” Smith
said.
Filings with the Secretary
of State’s Offi ce show the can-
didates for governor holding a
cross-section of political offi ces
and private jobs.
Among the candidates is the
state treasurer, House speaker,
House minority leader, a county
commissioner, two mayors, a
school superintendent, two art-
ists, a journalist, an oncologist,
a chiropractor, a cabinetmaker,
a software designer, a public
policy adviser and one person
who listed only “unemployed.”
Five candidates live in Port-
land, four are from Salem, three
from Bend and two each from
Baker, Clackamas, Jackson,
Lane, and Yamhill counties.
Two have previously made
it to the fi nal round of voting for
governor before. Bud Pierce of
Salem was the 2016 Republican
nominee in the special election
for governor. Patrick Starnes was
the Independent Party nominee
in the 2018 election. Both Pierce
and Starnes were defeated by
Gov. Kate Brown, who can’t run
again this year because of term
limits. Starnes endorsed Brown
in the late stages of the 2018
campaign. This time around,
he’s running as a Democrat.
In the end, it will come down
to voters. According to the latest
count by the secretary of state,
in September 2021, there are
2,947,391 registered voters.
The big question mark is the
991,360 “non-affi liated” voters.
Most were automatically reg-
istered to vote while getting a
new driver’s license at the Ore-
gon Driver and Motor Vehicles
Division, then didn’t mail in the
card asking for their political
party preference.
Currently, Democrats and
Republicans only allow regis-
tered party members to vote in
the primary.
The reality of closed prima-
ries is that they leave nearly 1
million people out of the process
of choosing who is most likely
to make it to the general election
ballot.
Everybody, regardless of
party registration, gets to vote in
the general election.
Of those who have registered
with a party, the totals:
Democrats: 1,026,313
Republicans: 729,676
Independent Party: 138,489
Libertarian: 21,640
Working Families: 8,648
Pacifi c Green: 8,002
Constitution: 3,841
Progressive: 3,016
Other parties: 16,406