Veterans Day Events, Public Safety & Justice Bills & More

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Dear friends,

    Veterans Day is coming up on Monday, November 11. More than 325,000 veterans call Oregon home. I believe we have a responsibility to support our service men and women. Details on local and statewide Veterans Day events are included below.

    Most first Mondays of each month, I join Cameron Reiten of KNND on-air to discuss state and local political issues. Tune in to 1040AM at 9am to join the conversation! I also regularly join Kyle Bailey for KQEN's "Inside Douglas County." To listen to our last interview, click here.

     The Legislature is scheduled to hold its next legislative days for the 2019 interim the week of November 18. Committees will meet for informational hearings and the Senate will also consider confirmations of the Governor's appointments to various boards and commissions.

    Below you will find information on:

        - 2019 Veterans Day Events
        - 2019 Session Accomplishments: Public Safety & Justice
        - Troopers Help to Clean Elderly Woman's Yard

    I hope this information is helpful and informative for you or someone you know. As always, feel free to share your comments, questions or concerns with me by phone, mail or e-mail.

                                                              

Veterans Day Events

    A listing of statewide Veterans Day events can be found, here. Details on Eugene and Roseburg events, both free of charge and starting at 11 a.m. on November 11, follow:

Eugene
"11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month"
Location: Veterans Memorial Association Building (1626 Willamette Street)
Organized by: VFW Post 293 and American Legion Post 3
Contact: Nick Urhausen (nickurhausen@comcast.net, 541-344-5070)

Roseburg
Douglas County Veterans Day Parade
Location: Downtown Roseburg (Jackson Street)
Organized by: Douglas County Veterans Forum
Contact: Carol Hunt (carolhunt15@msn.com, 503-504-8198)


2019 Session Accomplishments: Public Safety & Justice

    Continuing my in-depth summaries of bills passed during the 2019 session by subject area, here is a comprehensive listing of accomplishments related to public safety and justice — by Senate/House bill and in numerical order:

Senate Bills

    SB 1 - Statewide System of Care: This legislation is a product of the Children and Youth with Specialized Needs work group formed in January of 2018 by the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to address unique challenges faced by children with distinctive mental, or behavioral health needs who come to the attention of different systems (such as the juvenile justice system, the child welfare system, or the health system). SB 1 establishes a 25-member System of Care Advisory Council to improve state and local systems that serve youth, youth who may be involved in juvenile justice, child welfare, or the health system.

    SB 24 - Aid and Assist: Previously, if a court found a defendant to be dangerous to themselves or others — or that after consultation with community mental health, the services and supervision necessary to restore the defendant’s fitness to proceed were not available in the community — the court had to commit the individual to the state hospital for rehabilitation services. The population of defendants committed to the Oregon State Hospital (OSH) for the purpose of restoring their fitness to proceed and for a fitness to proceed evaluation increased steadily from 2012. That year, the average daily fitness to proceed population at the state hospital was 109; in January 2019, that number was 259. This legislation requires courts to consider ordering rehabilitation services in the least restrictive setting possible or, when appropriate, finding of an alternative disposition for a defendant who does not require a hospital level of care. It also prohibits commitment to the State Hospital of persons charged with violations and only allows for the commitment to the State Hospital of persons who have committed misdemeanors when a hospital level of care is necessary. Finally, SB 24 requires review hearings where the court must consider alternative placements.

    SB 321 - DNA Evidence Testing: Oregon law provides any person convicted of a crime the opportunity to seek post-conviction relief. Defendants may seek post-conviction relief by moving the court for additional or new DNA testing of evidence. This legislation creates a process to initiate a petition for post-conviction DNA testing and establishes manners by which relevant property and evidence may be accessed. SB 321 also provides courts with related authority to compare untested DNA against DNA known profiles.

    SB 420 - Setting Aside Cannabis Convictions: This legislation allows a person to apply to court to set aside convictions for marijuana possession, delivery, and manufacture if conduct upon which conviction was based is no longer a crime. It also exempts the individual from applicable fees and provides notice to the district attorney to contest.  Finally, SB 420 requires a court to seal records when a conviction is set aside and to notify the Department of Corrections.

    SB 423 - Psychological Screening for Law Enforcement Officers: This legislation requires law enforcement agencies to only employ a person as law enforcement officer if the person has completed psychological screening to determine fitness to serve.

    SB 558 - Residential Area Highway Safety: Current law allows the City of Portland to designate the speed for a highway under the City’s jurisdiction that is five miles per hour lower than the statutory speeds if the highway is located in a residential district. This legislation allows all cities and counties the authority to establish, by ordinance, a designated speed for a highway under their jurisdiction. SB 558 specifies that the designated speed must be five miles per hour lower than the statutory speed, that the highway be located in a residence district and not an arterial highway and that the city provide appropriate signage of the designated speed.

    SB 576 - Kaylee’s Law: On July 24, 2016, a campus security officer employed by the Central Oregon Community College in Bend kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed Kaylee Sawyer. The officer utilized a security vehicle, tools, and uniform to commit his crimes. I was honored to co-chief sponsor and champion SB 576 to require background checks of all individuals employed as campus security, whether as a private security officer on a community college or private campus or a special campus safety officer on a university campus, to undergo a nationwide criminal records check. SB 576 also requires campus security vehicles to have video recording and such data to be kept for 90 days. Additionally, use of accessories or tools that would confuse with law enforcement are prohibited, such as red and blue light bars, bumpers, and cages. Finally, the bill removes "stop and frisk" authority of special campus security officers.

    SB 577 - Bias Crimes: This legislation renames a crime of intimidation as a Bias Crime. The purpose is to shift the focus toward the nature of the harm and use and threat of violence in addition to the motives behind the crime of violence. SB 577 expands the scope to include gender identity in category of perceived characteristics of a person against whom intimidation can be committed. It also requires the Oregon District Attorneys Association and Department of State Police to develop and implement a standardized method to record data relating to investigations, arrests, prosecutions, and sentencing of bias crimes.

    SB 810 - Vulnerable User of Public Roadway: Current law establishes a list of individuals who are considered to be vulnerable users of a public way. This list includes, among others, pedestrians, highway workers, bicyclists, and those operating farm equipment. Under existing state law there are specific penalties for causing harm to vulnerable users of a public way. This legislation adds moped and motorcycle riders to the list of vulnerable users of a public way.

    SB 975 - Reducing Cannabis Offense Classifications: This legislation allows an individual convicted of a marijuana offense to request a reduction of the offense classification if the crime classification has since been reduced subsequent to conviction. It provides that the person requesting the reduction is not required to pay otherwise applicable fees. Additionally, SB 975 B requires the individual filing for the set-aside to file notice with the prosecuting attorney’s office and gives the prosecuting attorney's office 30 days to contest the requested reduction if the office believes the person's conviction is not eligible for an offense reduction.

    SB 999 - Restoring DUII Implied Consent: In Oregon and most other states, an individual operating a vehicle on a public road is deemed to have given implied consent to a breath, urine, or blood test if the person is arrested for suspicion of driving a vehicle while intoxicated. In 2019, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled in State v. Banks that a refusal to provide a sample can be either an act of noncooperation or an invocation of the individual's constitutional protections against self-incrimination. Prior to Banks, a defendant's refusal to provide a sample could be used against them in court regardless of the reason asserted, after the ruling a refusal may not be used against a defendant if the court determines that the refusal was an invocation of the defendant's constitutional rights (U.S. Constitution 4th Amendment, Oregon Constitution Article 1 Section 9). This legislation reinstated implied consent. SB 999 creates a two-pronged process for a police officer to request consent for a breath, blood or urine test: First, a police officer must ask for consent directly, then if an individual refuses the test, the police officer must ask the person to participate in physical agility tests and explain the legal consequences of refusing to cooperate with the test. The bill also allows evidence of refusal to cooperate to be used against a defendant in court.

    SB 1008 - Juvenile Justice Reform: This legislation provides overdue reforms to the juvenile justice system in Oregon. It contained several elements that will help juveniles who have committed offenses to get rehabilitated and a second chance at a productive life. Those include the following:

• Eliminating mandatory adult prosecution for juveniles who commit certain crimes. (Returns the decision as to whether 15-, 16-, or 17-year-old offenders should be tried as adults to the judge, not the prosecutor.)
• Placing those who commit crimes before the age of 18 in Oregon Youth Authority custody rather than sending them to adult prisons, even if the sentencing occurs after the defendant has reached 18.
• Holding court hearings to determine if juvenile offenders sentenced as adults who have less than 24 months to serve on their sentence should be transferred from Oregon Youth Authority custody to the Department of Corrections when they reach 25 years old to serve the remainder of their sentence, or be conditionally released and placed under community-based supervision.
• Creating a process where all youth who were convicted as adults have access to "Second Look" court hearings halfway through their sentences. At those hearings, judges can determine whether the juvenile offenders have taken responsibility for their crimes and have been rehabilitated. When that is the case, the rest of the sentence would be served under community-based supervision, rather than additional incarceration.
• Banning life sentences without possibility of parole for juvenile offenders.

    SB 1013 - Death Penalty Reform: This legislation redefines aggravated murder to include criminal homicide of two or more persons in an act that is premeditated, intentional, and committed with the intent to intimidate, injure or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion. SB 1013 removes the question of future dangerousness as a factor for a jury to determine when to sentence a defendant to death. It also requires the state to prove a defendant should receive the death penalty beyond a reasonable doubt regarding each death penalty question in the jury instructions.

House Bills

    HB 2013 - Domestic Gun Violence Prevention: This legislation closes a dangerous loophole and serves to further protect survivors of domestic violence. Prior to the passage of HB 2013, respondents to court protective orders could evade court proceedings to prevent or slow down the lawful surrender of their firearms. The bill provides that a respondent subject to qualifying court protective orders is prohibited from possessing firearms even if the person had the opportunity to be heard on the order and did not request a hearing, failed to appear at the hearing, or withdrew the request before the hearing occurred.

    HB 2027 - Office of Child Care Enforcement Tools: This legislation gives the Office of Child Care Enforcement more tools to investigate and hold licensed child care providers accountable. It includes the ability to take evidence, depose individuals, compel appearance of witnesses and production of documents, require answers to interrogatories, and inspect the premises when investigating any regulated subsidy facilities, as defined by the Early Learning Division.

    HB 2393 - Cracking Down on Revenge Porn: Previously, the crime of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image prohibited disclosure of an identifiable image through an Internet website, but did not prohibit the dissemination of images transmitted through texts or apps. HB 2393 removes the language requiring disclosure to occur via a website so that prosecution may be extended to dissemination on third-party platforms such as texts and apps. HB 2393 also creates a civil cause of action for any person, or person’s parent or guardian, depicted in an image disclosed resulting from commission of the crime of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image.

    HB 2449 - 911 Tax for Emergency Communications: The Emergency Communications Tax, commonly known as the 9-1-1 tax, is used to pay for the infrastructure of the 9-1-1 system in the state and the operating costs of local 9-1-1 centers. The 9-1-1 tax is assessed every month on each phone line or device capable of reaching 9-1-1. This legislation increases taxes for emergency communications from 75 cents to $1.25 per month.

    HB 2932 - Court Immigration Status: This legislation prohibits a court from inquiring into a defendant's immigration status or requiring defendant to disclose their immigration status at time of plea or at any other time during a criminal proceeding. It also requires the court to inform a defendant of potential immigration consequences related to a guilty plea and to grant the defendant additional time to consider those consequences.

    HB 3064 - Justice Reinvestment: This legislation expands the Justice Reinvestment Grant Review Committee from five to seven members and requires two members who represent organizations that provide services for underserved racial, ethnic, or minority communities. HB 3064 also requires grant applicants to provide a statement of commitment to decreasing county use of prison beds through the operation of the service or program the grant will serve. The bill requires CJC to decline or terminate grant awards if the CJC finds that a county has not reduced use of imprisonment.

    HB 3273 - Prescription Drug Take Backs: Approximately a third of pharmaceutical drugs purchased in the United States go unused, are considered hazardous waste, and end up in water systems or landfills. This legislation requires manufacturers of covered drugs that are sold within Oregon to develop and implement drug take-back programs for purpose of collecting leftover drugs for disposal.

    HB 3293 - Extending Time Period for Reporting Sexual Assault: Previously, as with other actions for injury to a person, adults who were sexually assaulted had to bring an action within two years. This legislation extends the statute of limitations to five years from the date the person discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the causal relationship between the assault and an injury. This change is more consistent with the average timeline for which it takes survivors to process the personal impacts of an assault.

    HB 3415 - College Harassment and Sexual Violence Policies: Nationally, 1 in 5 women, 1 in 14 men, and 1 in 4 transgender students experience sexual assault while in college. This legislation requires institutions of higher education to adopt written policies on sexual harassment and assault to adhere to those policies. It also requires staff to receive evidence-informed annual training.


Troopers Help to Clean Elderly Woman's Yard

    Last month in Columbia County, Oregon State Troopers went "above the call of duty" to help an elderly woman who had been involved in a crash. Since her husband's passing, she hadn't been able to tend to her yard. The troopers stepped in and cleaned it up for her. To read more and view a video, click here.