Weekly Update: COVID Numbers, Wildfire-Impacted Wells and More

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Weekly Update: COVID Numbers, Wildfire-Impacted Wells and More

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The 2021 legislative session is in full swing, with committees meeting virtually Monday through Thursday. As Senate President Courtney and I noted in this op-ed in The Oregonian, we are expanding our use of technology to ensure transparency and public participation during the public health restrictions warranted by the pandemic. Oregonians will be able to testify at every public hearing remotely, without having to worry about taking time off to go to Salem.

You can visit www.oregonlegislature.gov to find out more. If you don’t have regular access to the internet or have a different question, please call 1-800-332-2313 for assistance.

Thank you for your patience as we navigate these interesting times. The Legislature has important work to do on your behalf. It’s critical that legislators hear as much as possible from Oregonians in every community. I hope you will be part of the process to solve problems for our state.


Weekly COVID Report – Numbers Tick Up

Here is the most recent data from the latest Oregon Health Authority COVID-19 Weekly Report, which you can read the full report here.

  • During Monday, January 25, through Sunday, January 31, 2021, OHA recorded 4,786 new cases of COVID-19 infection – a 16% increase from last week’s total.
  • Hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 rose 14%, to 251 (an average of 36 per day).
  • There were 76 Oregonians who died in association with COVID-19, similar to last week’s total of 74.

The increases are another reminder that we are far from out of the woods. It was encouraging, however, to see that based on data aggregated here by The Washington Post, Oregon is 49th in the nation when it comes to confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita over the last week (that is, only one other state has fewer cases per capita than we do).

Thank you again to every Oregonian who continues to take this pandemic seriously and make sacrifices to save lives.

The pandemic continues to create disparate impacts in our society. As Oregon Food Bank CEO Susannah Morgan noted in this interview with KGW, we are currently experiencing the worst rate of hunger we’ve seen in a century. Research from Oregon State University indicates the number of people worried about feeding themselves has grown to as high as 25% of all Oregonians.

On that front, the Oregon Department of Human Services will continue to administer increased food benefits this month to help Oregonians struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This benefit increase applies to current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who are receiving less than the maximum allotment. Additionally, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, there is also a temporary increase in SNAP benefits of approximately 15% for all recipients.

SNAP recipients do not have to take any action to receive additional benefits as they will be placed directly on their Oregon EBT cards. More information is available here.


SNAP

Vaccine Update

Starting this coming Monday, February 8, people age 80 and older can begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Everyone 65 and older will be eligible for a vaccine by the end of February.

Here are dates that each age group becomes eligible for the vaccine:


Senior Vaccine Timeline.JPG

Next week, the OHA will launch a new tool that will allow people to determine if they are eligible for a vaccine and register to get email alerts or text notifications about vaccine events in their area. The tool will be open to all Oregonians and information will be available in 11 languages. In the meantime, Oregonians can:

  • Visit covidvaccine.oregon.gov 
  • Text ORCOVID to 898211
  • Email ORCOVID@211info.org 
  • Call 211 or 1-866-698-6155 (TTY: dial 711 or call 1-866-698-6155)

As a reminder, if you have already received your vaccine, there is still reason to be cautious since it takes time for the immune response to kick in. Recently, two members of Congress who had received both of their shots tested positive.

So let’s all keep wearing our masks, washing our hands, watching our distance, and taking care of one another.


Support for Wildfire-Impacted Domestic Wells

The Oregon Legislature recently allocated funds to the Oregon Health Authority to support wildfire victims with their domestic well water testing. This will benefit an estimated 2,000 households that rely on wells for drinking water.

Information can be found here, including how to do a damage assessment, action steps to protect domestic wells, and guidance on getting well water tested.

The assessment helps guide well users on what they can do themselves and what steps a licensed professional should handle. There are multiple steps to ensure safe drinking water, including repairing and replacing damaged well components, re-pressurizing and refilling the well, flushing water lines, treating the well for microbial contaminants, and testing.

Property owners can select from a list of approved environmental laboratories in Oregon, and the OHA will provide vouchers for testing services. Applications for free well test vouchers are open now through May 15, as supplies last. All vouchers expire on June 7, 2021.


Experiencing Homelessness and Martin v. City of Boise

We all know the number of Oregonians living on the streets has increased over the last few years. Cities don’t have enough shelter space for everyone who needs it and the pandemic has made physical distancing a necessity, so it’s not surprising there are more people living in public spaces. In 2019, the federal court ruling in Martin v. City of Boise required local governments to reconsider how they treat people who are experiencing homelessness.

This week, I introduced House Bill 3115, which Oregon Public Broadcasting covered here. This bill follows a long workgroup process with cities, counties and the Oregon Law Center to operationalize Martin v. City of Boise in order to protect individuals experiencing homelessness from fines or arrest for sleeping or camping on public property when no alternatives are available.

The goal of the bill is to clarify these constitutional principles as local jurisdictions in Oregon work to ensure their local laws are in compliance with the federal court decision. Many cities have been doing the work to update their ordinances, and the hope is this bill will help with those continued efforts.

Rather than impose outright bans on survival activities including sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry, cities can comply with the courts by passing reasonable ordinances that take into account the perspective of all stakeholders, including persons experiencing homelessness.


District Spotlight: NW Metals Update

As a follow up to a previous newsletter, the public comment period for NW Metals’ air permit application with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will close at 5 p.m. this coming Monday, February 8.

I’ll be submitting my own public comments, asking the DEQ to deny the Air Contaminant Discharge Permit (ACDP) due to the owner’s history of violating DEQ orders. If the DEQ will not deny the permit, I’ll ask that they make the permit as strict as possible. Additionally, I’ll be asking for the following changes:

  • Issue a Limited Duration Conditional Permit before issuing a full Air Contaminant Discharge Permit.
  • Require a Fugitive Emissions Control Plan.
  • Identify all emissions points.
  • Include permit conditions that are protective and enforceable.
  • Require a bond and offsite mitigation.

You can find more information about the air permit for NW Metals here. If you would like to send comments, email your concerns to NWRAQPermits@deq.state.or.us by 5 p.m. on Monday, February 8.


Redistricting Update

This year, like every ten years, states will assess and adjust the boundaries of state legislative and Congressional districts. This process is known as redistricting and relies on the 2020 Census data to be completed.

Yesterday, in response to delays at the United States Census Bureau, the bipartisan leadership of the Legislature’s redistricting committees requested that the Legislature explore potential legal options to extend the timeline for redistricting since the earliest that states will have the necessary census data will be late July. The Oregon Legislature is required to complete redistricting by the end of June.

In a letter to Senate President Courtney and me, the chairs and vice-chairs of the committees requested that we seek legal options that may be available to the Legislature to address this situation. These options may include petitioning the Oregon Supreme Court to determine how the language of the Oregon Constitution applies to this unprecedented situation and if an alternative timeline is necessary.

Senate President Courtney and I will explore all options to ensure the Legislature can fulfill its constitutional duty to rebalance the population of Oregon’s electoral districts.


The Latest News

  • The Oregonian reports here that adults in custody at Oregon’s prisons will start receiving COVID-19 vaccines next week. This follows a ruling by a federal judge, which Oregon Public Broadcasting covers here.
  • The Oregon Employment Department has settled a class action suit over barriers to applying for benefits in languages other than English. Oregon Public Broadcasting has details here.
  • The first round of funding through the Landlord Compensation Fund could start very soon. The Legislature passed a bill last December to start the fund in conjunction with an extension of the statewide eviction moratorium. The Oregonian has more information on this here.
  • Think Out Loud spoke with a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) representative here about temporary housing being offered to wildfire survivors who lost their homes.
  • The Oregon Health Authority reported 730 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total of new and presumptive cases to 145,320. The OHA also reported seven more deaths, meaning 1,998 Oregonians have died of the coronavirus. As of today, 103,566 Oregonians have been fully vaccinated. There have been 486,856 total doses administered. You can click the images below for links to interactive data tables about coronavirus and vaccines in Oregon.

OHA COVID-19 Update 020421.JPG

OHA COVID-19 7-Day Average 020421.JPG

OHA COVID-19 Hospital Capacity 020421.JPG

OHA COVID-19 Vaccine Update 020421.JPG

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

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