Secretary of State Dennis Richardson recently reached out to state employees about ways to report government waste and fraud. He provided some great information about the Oregon Government Waste Hotline that allows citizens and state employees to anonymously report waste. If you know of or suspect government waste or abuse, you can reach a hotline operator, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-336-8218 or online at https://oregonsos.alertline.com/gcs/welcome. 

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Richardson announced an effort to protect the voter registration of those on military deployments, attending out-of-state college, or those dissatisfied with political candidate choices. Secretary Richardson’s actions could protect the voting rights of nearly 60,000 Oregonians who are registered to vote but for various reasons have not voted in 5 years. I support Secretary Richardson in the effort to expand legal voter access for Oregonians.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak on behalf of a package of bills that I proposed to modernize Oregon land use laws. The bills would have given local governments more flexibility to set aside land for new affordable housing and job-creating, commercial developments. One of the reasons Oregon is experiencing a shortage of housing is due to our restrictive land use laws that increase the cost of land and reduce new building. 

The housing problem is a long-term issue. According to the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, “The problem is that the level of new construction in the past decade has been considerably less than what is needed to keep pace with a growing population. It’s the lack of supply relative to the growing demand that underlies the affordability challenges. The housing bust has clearly been disproportionate to the boom. The fact we were/are underbuilding was apparent all the way back to 2011.” We are arguably experiencing the same problem in commercial and industrial development. In order to rebuild and strengthen the middle class, we need local land use flexibility to allow new homes and businesses to be built.

This week, the Oregon Senate passed a bill I sponsored, Senate Bill 634, which allows public entities constructing new buildings or significantly renovating existing buildings to use biomass energy sources to fulfill state renewable energy construction requirements. The bill is a significant opportunity to create jobs in rural areas as well as provide environmentally friendly energy options for schools, agencies, etc. The bill also supports proper forest management by providing a market for the byproducts of forest undergrowth removal and for waste from the forest products industry. Biomass is well suited for energy generation due to its consistency compared to solar and wind and can be complementary to those technologies. 

The Oregon Senate has recently passed some good legislation honoring those who have served their nation through military service. SB 573 designates that on the 21st day of every month, Oregonians will be encouraged to remember those who gave their lives for our country. SB 992 designates the third Friday of every September as Oregon POW/MIA Recognition Day. SB 993 designates every August 7th as Oregon Purple Heart Recognition Day. I am proud to support these bills and I know there is much more to be done to provide veterans and active duty service members with the support and care they need.

One of the most important bills this session to pass out of the Senate is the Recreational Immunity bill, SB 327. The bill will protect public and private landowners that open their land up to the public for recreational activities from excessive liability risks. In 1995, the Oregon Public Use of Lands Act passed which lowered liability risks for individuals and public entities that allowed the public to use their land for recreational purposes. The Oregon Supreme Court made a recent decision that put the liability protections at risk and thus risked closing off many public and private areas that are open to free recreational use. I think SB 327 is a good solution to the problem of recreational liability and will allow citizens and visitors to continue to visit many beautiful and scenic areas of our state currently at risk of being closed to the public.