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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Well after a 2nd COVID scare on Monday, we are finally back in the Capitol where we need to focus on bills that will bring relief to Oregonians. Committee work is very busy at the moment as we hear testimony and vote on whether bills pass to the Floor. This week, two of my bills will be up for a vote on the House Floor - HB2985 on transportation accessibility and HB2953 on community-based structured housing. On Tuesday, I testified on a very important bill (HB2987) in the House Committee on Health Care. Please read more about this important bill in the "Bill Updates & Highlights" section below.
Committee Assignments
Joint Committee On Ways and Means
Joint Committee On Transportation - Co-Chair
House Committee On Agriculture and Natural Resources
Joint Committee On the Interstate 5 Bridge - Co-Chair
Joint Committee On Ways and Means Subcommittee On Education - Co-Chair
2019-2020 Joint Emergency Board
Watch all Oregon State Legislature Live-Streams and Meetings HERE
Track all 2021 Session Bills HERE
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Instructions for how to testify:
English instructions here
Aquí están las instrucciones
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House Bill 2481: This bill prohibits police from receiving certain military surplus items from the federal government. A law enforcement agency may not receive any of the following property from a military equipment surplus program operated by the federal government:
(a) Unmanned aircraft systems that are armored or weaponized;
(b) Aircraft that are combat-configured or combat-coded;
(c) Grenades or similar explosives, or grenade launchers; or
(d) Firearms silencers
The bill passed out of the Subcommittee on Equitable Policing and the full Judiciary Committee and is now scheduled for a vote on the House floor on 3/31/21.
House Bill 2607: This bill exempts from construction taxes residential housing being constructed to replace residential housing destroyed or damaged by fire or other emergency event or situation. It applies to residential housing destroyed or damaged on or after January 1, 2020.
This bill passed out of the House Special Committee on Wildfire Recovery Committee and is now scheduled for a vote on the House floor on 3/31/21.
House Bill 5042: This bill funds the Summer Learning Programs that Governor Brown and Legislative leaders announced earlier this month. The Summer Learning Program is a more than $260 million aid package with funds directed towards educational and child care programs over the summer. To see the Governor's testimony on the bill in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means click here.
This bill passed out of the Subcommittee On Capital Construction and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means and is now scheduled for a vote on the House floor on 3/31/21
House Bill 2987 - Newborn Bloodspot Testing Bill
I sponsored a newborn testing bill, which would require the testing of Krabbe and other serious genetic diseases at birth, and we had a hearing on March 30 in the House Committee on Health Care. A very special thank you to Nikki and Joe Monaco for their tireless efforts on behalf of this bill and for sharing their story of Emmett's diagnosis and life with Krabbe.
Joe worked very hard on a video that explains what life with Krabbe is like for their family and for Emmett. Please take a few minutes to watch it on YouTube by clicking the image below:
You can read more about the Monacos, Krabbe, and newborn testing by reading/viewing the stories below:
Vaccine eligibility expands to Group 6
Having different types of vaccines can offer more options and flexibility for the public, jurisdictions and vaccine providers. For example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is easier to store and only requires one dose, which can make it useful for people who may have a difficult time returning for a second dose.
Since supply is still limited, getting vaccinated with the first vaccine available to you will help to protect yourself and others from the spread of COVID-19.
Here are two ways to get linked up to vaccine resources in your community:
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211 is a resource that you can use to uncover vaccine registration information if you are unable to use the Get Vaccinated Oregon tool.
Q&A: Multigenerational households and vaccination
People living in multigenerational households will be able to get vaccinated starting no later than April 5. Many of you have questions about who exactly qualifies in this category.
What counts as a multigenerational household?
- This is a home where people from three or more generations are living. For example, if you are living in a household that includes your parents or in-laws and your own children.
- Sometimes households made up of people from two generations count as multigenerational. These are households where people live with and care for a relative who is not their own child, such as a grandchild, a niece or a nephew.
Which members of a multigenerational households can get vaccinated?
Anyone 16 and older who lives in a multigenerational household is eligible to be vaccinated.
See all eligibility groups on this infographic.
Vaccines by the numbers:
National Numbers:
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Confirmed Cases: 30,213,759
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Deaths: 548,162
- These national numbers come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can view their national and state by state data here.
Oregon Status Report:
- Oregon now has 164,595 total cases (confirmed and presumptive) of COVID-19.
- Today we have 406 new confirmed and presumptive cases, and 6 new deaths.
- A total of 2,395 Oregonians have died from COVID-19 (previous daily case updates from OHA here)
- Washington County has 22,288 confirmed cases, including 223 deaths.
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The Oregon Health Authority recently provided a Public Health Indicators Dashboard to enable communities across Oregon to monitor COVID-19 in the state. The dashboard, which will be updated weekly on Thursdays, provides a transparent report that presents complex epidemiological data in an interactive, easy-to-understand way on a state and county level
Click on the link above to see the article on Oregon Public Broadcasting's website.
Researchers in Oregon have detected the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 in Grants Pass and McMinnville. The variant, which was first detected in the UK, is about 50% more contagious and likely causes more severe illness than the coronavirus that initially triggered the pandemic.
When people have COVID-19, they “shed” coronavirus when they go to the bathroom. This waste ends up in sewer systems where it can be collected and used to determine if there’s coronavirus in the community. The samples can also be analyzed to determine which variants are present.
For several months now, researchers at Oregon State University have been sequencing coronavirus collected in wastewater samples from cities around the state.
“Our most recent wastewater surveillance identified B.1.1.7 in Grants Pass and McMinnville and faint, possible signals in Albany and Forest Grove, so certainly it’s out there,” said Brett Tyler, head of the OSU Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, in a briefing with reporters Tuesday.
Despite the detections in the wastewater stream in these communities, determining actual prevalence of the variant is tricky.
“You don’t get a perfectly uniform sample of the community. It depends on who happened to flush the toilet at the particular time when the autosampler was sipping for sewage,” Tyler said.
But the Oregon State team has been pairing its wastewater findings with the results of door-to-door community testing in many locations. Using the relationship between the two, researchers are able to make some estimates.
For example, Tyler says in Grants Pass, 94% of the virus they tested from the samples was the B.1.1.7 variant. He estimates that between 1 and 5 people in every 1000 residents there are infected with the variant.
As of Tuesday, the CDC only reports that 16 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant have been confirmed in Oregon, but these latest findings suggest the actual case numbers are much higher.
While more infectious, research is showing that the B.1.1.7 variant should still be controlled by the current crop of COVID-19 vaccines.
“We’re in a race between these variants and the vaccination program, and everything we can do to give that vaccination program help in getting ahead, we should be doing,” Tyler said.
How to support your child with the transition back to the classroom
For some children, learning from home the past year has been a welcome break from school days that were difficult to navigate. For others, closing schools was a loss of a daily routine and an environment that they thrived in.
Change can be hard, even for those who are excited about it. Children’s feelings about the transition back to in-person school may be complicated and their reactions may change as time goes on. Parents and caregivers will also likely have new feelings about it, which may not be the same as their kids’ reactions. Here are some ways to help your child with the transition:
- Remember the fundamentals. A regular pattern of a good night’s sleep and eating nutritious meals and snacks goes a long way to fuel flexibility, engagement and problem-solving during the day.
- Re-establish a morning and afternoon routine. Involve your child in deciding the details of the routine. Having opportunities for choice and agency makes handling uncertainty easier.
- If your child is in hybrid learning, a visual aid like a calendar can help them to understand what to expect.
- Ask your child what they are feeling or what you can do to support them. Knowing you recognize that this is an exciting and challenging time and that you are open to listening is reassuring, regardless of whether they have something to share in that moment.
- Encourage them to think of what will be good about returning to school.
- Your child may be worried about bringing COVID home. Reminding them of what you all are doing to reduce the chances of infection can help them feel calmer.
- See more tips in a longer version of this article on OHA’s blog.
If you think your child or family may need more support, contact your child’s primary care clinician or check out the Safe + Strong mental and emotional health resources page.
Forest Grove News-Times, 3/29/21
Centro Cultural de Washington County was recently awarded nearly 430 WiFi hotspots to give to students who lack adequate internet access.
The internet has become essential for students learning remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, but many still lack adequate internet access.
To help students in need boost their internet connectivity, two companies are providing nearly 430 free WiFi hotspots to Centro Cultural de Washington County, a Cornelius-based nonprofit working to support the Latino community.
The donation from AT&T and the nonprofit Connected Nation is part of a $10 million commitment to provide internet access to 35,000 students across the country.
Washington County's largest school districts were able to give out thousands of hotspots to students at the start of this school year, providing internet access to every student who said they needed assistance.
But many Washington County students live in rural areas outside those large districts, where internet connectivity was already low. Additionally, the hotspots districts provided will need to be returned at the end of the school year.
George Granger, president of AT&T Oregon, said in a statement that the donation to Centro is crucial to addressing the needs of the most at-risk students
An estimated 155,000 students in Oregon currently lack access to the internet required for successful online learning, AT&T said in a statement.
The disparity is even more acute in rural and under-resourced neighborhoods, where one in three students of color and students with disabilities lack access, AT&T said.
"Many families we serve face a systemic barrier to internet access," said Juan Carlos González, who represents western Washington County on the Metro Board and works as director of development and communications at Centro. "This barrier has been exacerbated in the pandemic, and it will continue to affect families after safety restrictions are lifted.
"Support from AT&T and others will help Centro relieve these barriers for hundreds of families in Washington County, and it will be a key component of rebuilding a more equitable economy."
Tom Ferree, chief executive officer of Connected Nation, added that the hotspots will help kids catch up on learning lost during the pandemic.
"We must all work together to minimize and mitigate the impact that the pandemic has had on our (most) vulnerable youth," Ferree said.
Wildfire Recovery Resources:
OEM has put together this list of contacts to help speed up the process of replacing these documents:
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Green cards: Phone (800)-375-5283; Website: www.uscis.gov
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Medicare cards: Phone: (800)-772-1213; (TTY) (800)-325-0778 Website: www.medicare.gov
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Military records Phone: 866-272-6272 Website: www.archives.gov/contact/
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Passport Phone: 877-487-2778; (TTY) 888-874-7793 Website: travel.state.gov
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Social Security card Phone: 800-772-1213; (TTY) 800-325-0778 Website: www.ssa.gov
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U.S. Savings Bonds Phone: 844-284-2676 Website: www.treasurydirect.gov
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U.S. tax returns Phone: 800-829-1040 Website: www.irs.gov
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Birth, death, marriage, domestic partnership, divorce certificates Phone: 888-896-4988 Website: www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/Birthdeathcertificates
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Driver’s license, auto titles and registration, ID cards Phone: 503-945-5000 Website: www.oregon.gov/odot
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SNAP (Oregon Trail Card) Website: www.oregon.gov/DHS/Assistance/Food-Benefits
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State taxes (Oregon Dept. of Revenue) Phone: 503-378-4988 or 800-356-4222 TTY: All relay calls are accepted. Website: www.oregon.gov/dor
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Real estate and property - Contact your county government.
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Credit cards - Contact your credit card company directly.
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Credit reports from Equifax, Experian, TransUnion Phone: 877-322-8228 Website: www.annualcreditreport.com
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Insurance documents - Check with your insurance agent.
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Medical records - Call your doctor or your medical insurance company; medical and prescription records are tracked electronically.
The Governor’s office has put together a Wildfire Resources page that you can access from the Governor’s home page. It has links to many of the most important updates about the status of fires and resources for evacuees. This website will be updated regularly.
Legal Resources: Oregon State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Program, Oregon lawyers, through the Oregon State Bar, are partnering with FEMA and the American Red Cross to provide legal assistance on FEMA claims, contract claims, insurance claims, landlord-tenant matters and more.
The Department of Forestry’s Wildfire Response and Recovery Overview has ongoing updates about firefighting efforts, damage reports, and more.
FEMA Updates: FEMA has provided several different Fact Sheets and resources for accessing benefits, determining eligibility and avoiding scams.
Employers and Employees
Education Links
Hillsboro School District (en inglés y español)
Forest Grove School District (en inglés y español)
Oregon Department of Education
COVID-19 Resources for Oregon Higher Education Partners
Local Government
City of Hillsboro (en inglés, español y más idiomas)
City of Cornelius (en inglés, español y más idiomas)
City of Forest Grove (Personal que habla español disponible en este número: (503) 992-3221)
Washington County
Utilities Assistance
Portland General Electric (en inglés y español)
NW Natural
City of Hillsboro Utility Billing
Comcast
CenturyLink
AT&T
City of Forest Grove
Food and Housing Assistance
Community Action.org
Oregon Food Bank
Meals on Wheels
Beautiful Cherry Blossoms at the Capitol and the blue ribbons we tie on every year to remember victims of child abuse or neglect.
Yours truly,
 Representative Susan McLain
House District 29
email: Rep.SusanMcLain@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1429
address: 900 Court St NE, H-376, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/mclain
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