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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Before I provide some of the latest news, I wanted to give a couple of updates.
On Monday, after all legislators were officially sworn in at the Capitol, I was elected to my fifth term as Speaker of the Oregon House. I’m deeply honored to continue serving Oregon and my colleagues as their Speaker. We have been dealing with crisis after crisis for the past year, and we have many challenges ahead. For the state’s recovery to reach all Oregonians equitably, our actions must be bold, decisive, and transformative. I’m ready to get to work.
Secondly, I have called for the resignation of Representative Mike Nearman, following his actions to let rioters into the Oregon State Capitol as they were actively attempting to break in during the third special session in December. His behavior was captured on security camera footage that has since been published by several local and national news outlets.
Representative Nearman put every person in the Capitol in serious danger. As we saw last week during the insurrection at the United States Capitol, the consequences could have been much worse had law enforcement not stepped in so quickly. His actions have created immense fear among legislators and Capitol staff. I believe he should resign immediately because he has already breached the public trust and endangered our ability to safely conduct the people’s business.
I remain deeply committed to protecting the safety of everyone in the Capitol. You can read my full statement here, which includes further actions that have been taken.
On Tuesday, Governor Brown announced that Oregon will be expanding COVID-19 vaccinations to include all individuals age 65 and older. She and public health officials will be detailing plans on Friday for the deployment of vaccines to health care providers and mass vaccination sites across Oregon, as well as provide more details on Oregon's distribution plans for seniors and educators. This change is set to take effect on Saturday, January 23. The Oregonian has more information on her announcement here.
As the Governor’s release noted, the federal government announced it would be releasing its full reserve of vaccines available to states rather than holding some doses in storage. This warning didn’t come with advance notice, which will force health care providers in the state to adapt their vaccine distribution plans quickly. I’m hopeful that a new federal administration will provide clearer communication to the states. Oregon Public Broadcasting has more details here about how the state is attempting to speed up vaccine distribution.
Below is a Q&A from the Oregon Health Authority about how/when the vaccine is available:
I am in a Phase 1a group, where do I go?
We don’t have a central phone number yet, but OHA is working with local public health, health care partners, and 211 to determine the best contacts in each community. We will post the community contacts on our COVID-19 website as soon as we have them. Check your local public health website to see if they have additional information.
I don’t know if I’m in Phase 1a; how do I check?
Please check the Oregon COVID-19 Vaccine Sequencing Plan. For additional questions, you can email COVID19.vaccine@dshoha.state.or.us.
Do I need to show any proof I’m in Phase 1a?
OHA does not require proof and does not plan to request verification from vaccinating providers. Vaccine providers themselves may require an individual to declare in some way they are in a Phase 1a group.
I’ve been turned away from getting a vaccine by a COVID-19 vaccine provider. What do I do now?
If you think you fall under Phase 1a, please contact your local public health department to be connected to a vaccine provider.
I’m an education worker. When will I get vaccinated?
Child care, K-12 school and school district staff will be in the first group of Phase 1b, after Phase 1a is completed. Information on where and when to get vaccinated will be provided as soon as it’s available.
Governor Brown today announced updates to the risk level designations for counties, which will be effective Friday, January 15, through Thursday, January 28. There will be 26 counties in the Extreme Risk level, three more than before.
Below is a complete list of counties and their associated risk levels:
Lower Risk (6): Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Sherman, Wallowa, Wheeler
Moderate Risk (2): Curry (moved from Extreme), Lake (moved from Lower)
High Risk (2): Douglas, Lincoln
Extreme Risk (26): Baker (moved from High), Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop (moved from High), Columbia, Coos (moved from High), Crook, Deschutes, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn, Malheur, Marion, Morrow (moved from High), Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Umatilla, Union, Wasco, Washington, Yamhill
As a reminder, you can go here to see what activities are under each risk level.
Oregon is coming off the deadliest month of the pandemic to date. As The Oregonian notes here, December deaths were nearly equal to all deaths from March, April, May, June, July and August combined. Please, please continue to be cautious. The vaccine rollout will take time and the end of the pandemic is still months away. We still must do all we can to protect each other and stay safe.
The Oregon Employment Department (OED) has been implementing the many new provisions of the federal Continued Assistance Act (CAA) that was signed into law on December 27, 2020.
About 72,000 Oregonians faced a looming “benefits cliff” last week without this federal action.
Although the new law was signed after the prior benefits had expired, there will be no gap in benefit coverage. There is no break in the weeks covered by the benefit programs between when the CARES Act expired and when the Continued Assistance Act went into effect. Fortunately, the benefits cliff was averted.
In addition to the extensions and changes to existing benefit programs, there are also new benefits. Last week, OED started issuing payments to more than 59,000 Oregonians who faced a benefits cliff. It will take some time for them to completely implement all of the CAA benefit programs. I will share more information from OED when available.
OED will also be taking the following actions to make additional federal funds created by the CAA available for Oregonians:
- Waiving the normal “waiting week” for the period of March 8, 2020, through the week ending March 13, 2021. Although March 13, 2021, is beyond the current emergency period, this action will provide more benefits for Oregonians. The CAA will fund 50% of those benefits.
- Suspending the requirement to wait 13 weeks to turn Extended Benefits (EB) back on, after a period when a falling unemployment rate turns EB off. Federal and state laws require that EB turns on and off, based on a state’s unemployment rate. Under current rule, once EB has stopped being available because of improving state unemployment rates, it cannot start again until 13 weeks have passed, regardless of how high the state unemployment rate becomes. The CAA allows states to pay EB without that 13-week waiting period. If Oregon’s unemployment rate drops enough to stop EB, but the unemployment rate then increases, we will not have to wait 13 weeks after the last round of EB to resume issuing critical benefits. We do not know if we will encounter this situation, but it is a real possibility based on projections.
You can go here to sign up for a webinar tomorrow at 1:00 pm, Thursday, January 14, which will cover updates to the PEUC and PUA programs. Simultaneous interpretation will be available in Simplified Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, and Spanish.
- Our flu season has been light so far, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reports here. Thank you to everyone who got their flu shot!
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The Oregonian has more details here on the new $100 million commercial rent relief program the Legislative Emergency Board approved last week. The application process, which will be administered by Business Oregon, will likely be up and running in 4 to 6 weeks. You can read more about the actions the Emergency Board took in the Statesman Journal here.
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The Oregonian also reported on the wildfire preparedness funding that the Emergency Board approved last week. You can read more here.
- The Statesman Journal has more information here about the construction of FEMA trailers in Mill City for Santiam Canyon wildfire victims.
- Debris cleanup from the Alameda fire in Jackson County will begin on January 19, the Mail Tribune reports here. KTVL reports here on the $25 million the Emergency Board allocated to Jackson County to help replace some of the affordable and mixed-income housing lost to the devastating wildfire.
- The Associated Press reports here that wildfires produced up to half of the air pollution on the West Coast last year.
- The Oregon Health Authority yesterday reported 1,346 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 129,109. The OHA also reported 41 more deaths, meaning 1,708 Oregonians have died of the coronavirus. You can click the images below for links to interactive data tables about coronavirus in Oregon.
To read past newsletters, you can go to this link. For up to date information, please check this link to the Oregon Health Authority where regular updates are posted: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ERD/Pages/News-Releases.aspx
Please email me at Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov if you have specific concerns that have not been addressed by the OHA. Our office will do all we can to help and protect all Oregonians.
Thank you for reading! We will get through this together.
Best,
Tina Kotek
State Representative
House District 44
Speaker of the House
email: Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1200
address: 900 Court St NE, H-269, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kotek
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