NEWS
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A3
Legislators outline their priorities for short session
Three eastern Oregon
legislators share what
they are backing
By ERICK PETERSON AND
ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
Eastern Oregon lawmak-
ers looking at the upcoming
legislative session are focus-
ing their efforts on more
money for ranchers who lose
livestock to wolves, increas-
ing consumer protection and
taking on illegal marijuana
farms in Southern Oregon.
Rep.
Bobby
Levy,
R-Echo, Rep. Greg Smith,
R-Heppner, and Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena, told the
EO Media Group about their
priorities for the 2022 short
session that begins Feb. 1
and must end by March 10.
Wolf bill drawing
Levy’s attention
Levy named two bills as
most important to her, start-
ing with House Bill 4127,
a million-dollar ask for the
Wolf Management Com-
pensation and Proactive
Trust Fund.
“Right now, we have
already close to $800,000
worth of cattle losses and
missing livestock, not to
mention all the incremen-
tal costs that go along when
Levy
Smith
wolves have been chasing
animals,” she said, adding
animals have suffered “con-
tinued weight loss, low birth
rates and more because of
wolves.”
She also is big on HB
4154, a $400,000 request to
provide the La Grande Air-
port with new fuel tanks.
Levy said she will be
co-sponsoring bills as well,
including HB 4022 to put
course curriculum on school
websites, and HB 4042,
which would require doc-
tors who prescribe drugs for
chemical abortions to pro-
vide “certain information”
to their patients. She said
she also is adding her name
to bills concerning animal
predator control, a salmon
habitat credit program and
gun-free zone liability.
Smith focusing on
consumer protection
Smith in a press release
Thursday, Jan. 20, said con-
sumer protection, gun rights
and housing are among top
issues he is working on
during the session.
He said he is proposing a
bill to limit how much Ore-
gonians have to pay resi-
dential general contractors
before completing remodel
or repair projects.
“For context, large con-
tractors charge 100% of
residential project costs
up-front,” Smith stated.
“Once payment is received,
the consumer is at their
mercy and completion of the
project can often become
an incredibly difficult pro-
cess. This legislation would
strengthen the consumer’s
interests and improve proj-
ect outcomes.”
Smith also explained he
was “disheartened by the
passage of SB 554 during
the 2021 legislative ses-
sion,” the Senate bill Gov.
Kate Brown signed in 2021
that regulated firearm stor-
age and banned guns at
the state Capitol and Port-
land International Air-
port. The law also allows
school boards to ban guns
on school grounds. He said
he would support legislation
that would “establish liabil-
ity for specific crimes com-
mitted in ‘gun-free zones.’”
Smith also said he is
going to focus on middle-in-
come housing, according to
the press release, which he
called “District 57’s most
pressing housing need.”
He also pointed out the
importance of the Interstate
5 bridge, which connects
Oregon and Washington, as
“critical” to the Port of Mor-
row and other ports in his
district.
“As a member of the
Joint I-5 Bridge Committee,
I support the new bridge and
will be intimately involved
in its development,” he
stated.
Protecting Eastern Ore-
gon livestock from pred-
ators, education funding,
behavioral health, curbing
the governor’s emergency
powers and returning peo-
ple to “normal” life also are
on Smith’s agenda.
Hansell to address two issues
While he waits for his
proposals to become bills
through legislative counsel,
Hansell said he hopes to use
the two bills he’s allowed
to submit this session to
address two issues: illegal
marijuana grows in South-
ern Oregon and medical
mergers and acquisitions.
Hansell said he’s a part of
a bipartisan group of legisla-
tors looking to pass a num-
ber of bills to assist South-
ern Oregon, a region Hansell
said is being inundated with
drug cartels and others
operating illegal marijuana
farms. While his bill likely
would fund operations out-
side his Northeastern Ore-
gon base, Hansell said the
impacts could be felt locally
if the Legislature fails to act.
Hansell is focusing his
other bill on amending a
law passed last year that
requires the state to approve
many health care provider
mergers and acquisitions
before proceeding. The bill
passed with heavy Republi-
can opposition, and Hansell
said he would prefer to just
repeal the bill and start over.
But instead, he said
he’s working with hospital
groups to change the law.
If the law isn’t changed,
Hansell said it could cause
rural health care providers to
shut down rather than seek
out a merger that could keep
them open.
Besides the bills he’s
sponsoring, Hansell said one
of the issues he’s keeping an
eye on is the push to lift the
overtime exemption for agri-
cultural workers. Hansell
said such a law would lead
employers to cut hours and
would hurt producers.
Short session hot takes
Smith said he is looking
forward to the session.
“The 2021 legislative
session was a long and dif-
ficult session coupled with a
full reconstructive shoulder
surgery that I dealt with,”
Smith stated. “This session,
I am hoping to see many
constituents in Salem again
because, unlike last session,
the Capitol is slated to be
open to the public.”
Levy also expressed posi-
tivity about the session, even
if it’s no longer doing what
Oregonians intended it for.
“This short session was
meant to fix budget short-
falls,” she said, “and there’s
nothing in my bill or anyone
else’s bill who I’m sponsor-
ing that’s a budget short-
fall — except, perhaps the
$1 million ask, because we
don’t have enough money in
that compensation fund —
but I sure hope we get them
all passed. I always am an
optimistic person.”
She even said she, a
Republican, might vote
for a Democrat as the next
speaker to replace the out-
going speaker, Rep. Tina
Kotek, D-Portland.
House
Democrats
selected Rep. Dan Ray-
field, D-Corvallis, to be
their nominee as speaker. As
Democrats have the major-
ity, Rayfield likely will gain
the office. While Levy said
she did not know him well,
she credited him for being
experienced, moderate and
logical.
Tactile map may be the next feature of Funland Playground
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
A visionary’s work is
never done, according to
Hermiston Parks and Rec-
reation and the Hermiston
Lions Club.
“I don’t know if we
will ever be completed,”
Lions Club member Char-
lie Clupny said. “The play-
ground is a process.”
People from the two orga-
nizations are planning new
work for Funland Play-
ground, which they refer
to as “the jewel of Herm-
iston.” This work is in the
early stages, but they spoke
recently of their plan, which
they wish to introduce to the
public.
“We want to build a tac-
tile map,” Clupny said.
The map, as he described
it, would include raised fea-
tures and a layout of Fun-
land. Located at the play-
ground, it would give blind
users a picture of the park
they could feel and under-
stand, he said.
Lions Club members
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
Children climb on a play structure July 4, 2021, during the grand opening of the new Funland
Playground in Hermiston. The city’s parks and recreation department and the Hermiston Lions
Club are working on a tactile map to make the playground more accessible.
were among volunteers who
helped build Funland. Also,
the Lions donated money and
a fountain to the project. The
playground remains import-
ant to the club, according to
Bill Kuhn, Hermiston Lion’s
Club president, and Hermis-
ton Lions have been looking
for new ways to contribute to
Funland.
“As (Funland) neared
completion, we saw that
maybe the project could be
made better for the sight-im-
paired,” he said.
He added that a tactile
map could fill this need;
sight-impaired
children
could gain understanding of
the playground by feeling the
map. They could, then, play
on the actual playground.
Kuhn said his club was
interested in pursuing this
idea, so they contacted Inter-
Mountain Education Ser-
vice District to gain a bet-
ter understanding of the
maps and how they are
used in children’s educa-
tion. According to Clupny,
the district has been help-
ful in improving accessibil-
ity in the playground, as it
had made suggestions lead-
ing to such things as mark-
ers for different levels on the
pirate ship.
A tactile map would be
another step toward mak-
ing Funland accessible to a
growing number of people,
Clupny said.
“I think this is very
important,” Hermiston Parks
and Recreation Director
Brandon Artz said.
He explained it is the aim
for his department to make
this playground usable for
people of all different abili-
ties, not just for able-bodied
people.
Funland has features for
people with various disabil-
ities, he said. Ramps and
bars, for example, allow
some children to make better
use of the equipment. Also,
some equipment was made
so it was spacious enough
for wheelchairs.
“It should be inviting for
anyone and everyone to be
able to use,” he said. “(The
tactile map) is a fantastic
idea, and I am blown away
that the Lions Club wants
to take this on and get this
done. I think it would be a
huge asset to the playground.
People from all over would
come here to use it.”
Artz said it would serve
more than visually impaired
people, it also would help
other children as well. The
tactile map would teach
empathy, he said; it would
be a reminder to others of
challenges of blind peo-
ple. Young people would
see this map, feel it and
think more deeply about the
people for whom the map
serves, according to Artz.
The Lions and Hermis-
ton Parks and Rec are on
board with this idea, but
there still is more work
to do. Now, they need to
develop their idea and find
funding for it.
Clupny said he is reach-
ing out to local businesses
for funding. There is no
timeline on this project to
date, he said, though he said
he would like to make it
happen as soon as possible.