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April 2021
Dear friends and neighbors,
We're halfway through the 2021 legislative session, and I am starting to see significant progress on the issues that defined 2020, including the pandemic, wildfire, and racial justice.
To be sure, it's been a particularly challenging few months, marked by the threat of violence, the COVID-forced virtual setting, an ice storm, a week-long quarantine, and political maneuvering that caused long delays on the House floor. Despite the distractions, we’ve stayed focused on work that reflects the lessons learned in 2020, as well as the need for a robust recovery.
Last week was the deadline date for bills to move out of their committee of origin. Bills that are still moving forward have overcome the first hurdle in the legislative process. The spotlight now moves from the policy committees to the Ways and Means realm, where the state’s 2021-2023 budget will be crafted.
For Southern Oregon and other wildfire-impacted areas of the state, budget decisions will be crucial to the scale and timeline of our community’s rebound. As a member of the House Wildfire Recovery Committee, I continue to advocate for funding to help us recreate lost housing, backfill lost property tax, stabilize the Phoenix-Talent School District, and rebuild in a way that welcomes and sustains all those who have been displaced.
As always, heartfelt thanks for your input on questions in front of the legislature. I often note that I have the most engaged, passionate and informed district in the state, and for that I’m deeply grateful.
Best,
State Representative
Oregon House District 5 - Southern Jackson County
HB 2341 - PROPERTY TAX
In the weeks following the Almeda fire, I started reaching out to experts across the state to understand what kind of relief we could provide to these property owners. HB 2341 proposes changes in current property tax law to provide more equitable relief to taxpayers whose homes or businesses are damaged or destroyed, either in a widespread disaster, including wildfire or flood, or as a result of a single act of God.
The bill will make changes to the proration formula used to recalculate the property tax bill after a structure is destroyed. The current approach aims to provide tax relief by adjusting the property’s real market value. Instead, HB 2341 takes a much more straightforward and equitable approach by directly reducing property taxes proportional to the loss. If your house was a third of your real market value, your taxes will be reduced by a third. This change will ensure that all property tax payers see some reduction in their property taxes after a disaster.
HB 3272 - INSURANCE REFORM
House Bill 3272 ensures that Oregonians who are facing one of the worst experiences of their lives will have the protections they need to recover after a personal or widespread disaster. This legislation makes the following changes to Oregon statutes to ensure that policies meet the needs of individuals experiencing catastrophic loss:
- First, the bill requires insurance companies to allow homeowners who otherwise are required to rebuild a burned or destroyed home within a year to request two 6-month extensions. Extensions would be granted in cases where the homeowner encounters unavoidable delays, including issues with permitting, lack of building supplies or the unavailability of a contractor. In the case when an emergency has been declared, all homeowners would have a minimum of two years to rebuild, with the option to request two 6-month extensions. They will also have living expenses commensurately increased to 24 months with possible extensions, and subject to policy limits.
- Second, the bill requires that property insurance policies allow homeowners to rebuild at the current site, or to rebuild or buy in a new location.
- Third, HB 3272 will allow a homeowner to combine coverage for outbuildings in the construction of the home. If, for example, both your home and your guest house burn down, this provision will allow you to use the combined insurance benefits to build your home.
HB 3218 - MANUFACTURED HOMES PROGRAM ACCESSIBILITY
This bill modifies the state's manufactured home programs to make sure wildfire survivors can use the state loan and grant program to purchase new homes to replace structures lost in the fire.
HB 3219 - MANUFACTURED HOMES PARKS' RIGHT TO REBUILD
We need to ensure that manufactured home parks have a right to rebuild after a disaster. HB 3219 does that, and it clarifies the legal obligations of tenants and park owners after disaster.
HB 2630 - SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING
Phoenix-Talent Schools and other Oregon school districts have experienced significant funding reduction due to the loss of property tax revenue. This bill provides budget stability to school districts impacted by the September 2020 wildfires for the next five years as our communities recover.
HB 3160 - OREGON WILDFIRE PREPAREDNESS & COMMUNITY PROTECTION FUND
Oregon needs more fire-fighting equipment and personnel to respond to fires. We need to ramp up the pace and scale of work in the forest to thin hazardous fuels built up after 100 years of fire suppression. We need to help homeowners and landowners create defensible space. We need to restore the waterways, forests and communities where fire has wreaked havoc. First, Oregon must find an ongoing source of funding.
HB 3160 establishes the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund. In simplest terms, this bill will place a surcharge of $10 on some types of property insurance policies, including homeowner, commercial and fire policies (and excluding rental, mobile home and auto policies). These funds will be collected and remitted to the Department of Consumer and Business Services, and appropriated across three state agencies:
- 50% will be appropriated to the State Fire Marshal and used to prepare for and protect against wildfires, to develop and implement community wildfire protection plans and programs and to fund wildfire equipment, training, technology and supplies.
- 25% will be appropriated to the Department of Forestry to restore landscape resiliency, promote wildfire education, reduce hazardous fuels and minimize forest vulnerability to drought, insect infestation and disease through thinning and prescribed burning.
- 25% will be appropriated to the Watershed Enhancement Board to provide grants on federal, state, tribal, local and private lands that improve forest health and reduce hazardous fuels, as well as for recovery activities in areas that have been subjected to wildfires, including reforestation, watershed rehabilitation, drinking water protection, slope stabilization and erosion control.
Oregon must establish an ongoing source of funding to meet our fire protection and recovery needs. HB 3160 accomplishes that by continuously appropriating funds each biennium. Modeled after similar legislation in Washington state, we anticipate that the Oregon Wildfire Preparedness and Community Protection Fund will generate $40 million per biennium.
MINIMIZING BARRIERS TO FIRE PROTECTION
Prescribed fire, the intentional application of fire to live or dead vegetation for land management purposes, mimics natural fires, and is very effective at reducing hazardous fuels and restoring ecological conditions, while costing less than mechanical treatments. Strategically designed by a team of certified fire experts and only conducted under the safest conditions, careful consideration is given to many factors, including the weather and wind, to ensure that the fire practitioners and nearby communities are safe and protected.
Beyond the need for additional financial resources and incentives, the most commonly cited barriers to increased use of prescribed fire in Oregon are concerns about liability, ability to secure insurance for prescribed burns, uncertainty about regulations, and inadequate expertise and staffing to administer burns.
I have been working with Sustainable Northwest, The Nature Conservancy in Oregon and Oregon Department of Forestry to address these barriers with two bills, HB 2571 & 2572:
HB 2571 - PRESCRIBED FIRE LIABILITY
This bill authorizes a study to understand legal and insurance barriers to conducting more prescribed fire in Oregon, and reviews policies and best practices from other states. This information will be used to inform future prescribed fire policies and incentives.
HB 2572 - BURN MANAGER PROGRAM
This legislation launches the State Certified Burn Manager program that is already in statute and ensures that neighboring property owners can work together to plan and execute prescribed burns. By using qualified professionals and transparent programs, we can improve performance and efficiency, reduce liability concerns, and increase the likelihood of private insurance backing and investments in prescribed fire actions.
Affordable and efficient housing are two of my top priorities. Here are a few bills I am sponsoring or supporting:
HB 2842 - HEALTHY HOMES
We know that housing is a social determinant of health. If you had any doubt about that before, our experience on the ground in southern Oregon would persuade you. Families taking refuge in motels, or camping in someone’s living room, or sleeping in a car or sheltering in other substandard housing have little opportunity prepare nutritional food, protect themselves from COVID, or even manage basic hygiene needs.
With the state’s housing crisis, we need to double down on new construction. But while we look to incentivize growth, there’s another aspect of the crisis that deserves critical attention: ensuring that the current housing stock is maintained and upgraded so that it will provide good, safe, healthy and affordable homes for decades to come.
House Bill 2842 is aimed at the intersection of housing and health care. The bill establishes a grant program to provide funding for repair and rehab of homes owned by low income households or to landlords seeking to repair rental units occupied by low income households. Repairs can include energy efficiency improvements, health and safety upgrades including radon, lead or model abatement, installation of smoke filtration or air purification systems, structural improvements, seismic upgrades or other repairs as described. The program will be administered by the Oregon Health Authority via grants issued to eligible entities, including local government, housing authorities, nonprofit organizations, tribes, and Coordinated Care Organizations.
Importantly, HB 2842 aims to learn from this investment. Contracted agencies will provide disaggregated data so that we know the income, race, family size and other related demographic characteristics of participating families. The bill empowers OHA to develop strategies that identify and address housing health hazards as well as recommendations for promoting healthy housing. Finally, the bill establishes an Interagency Task Force on Healthy Homes to collect and review data and help us understand how to leverage housing funding for the best possible health outcomes.
HB 3261 - HOTEL ZONING
HB 3261 complements the implementation of Project Turnkey, a state-funded effort to purchase hotels and motels for use as shelters and long term low income housing. I was deeply involved in the effort to create and fund Project Turnkey, and I’m thrilled that Ashland and Medford both have sites. HB 3261 ensures that other communities can move forward with these projects.
HB 2009 - FORECLOSURE PROTECTION
HB 2009 provides several protections for homeowners, pausing foreclosure proceedings temporarily for qualifying borrowers, delaying payment requirements and lowering the exemption threshold. The bill reestablishes the moratorium through July 1, 2021 to small residential borrowers and gives the governor the ability to extend the moratorium for 90-day increments through the end of the year as the legislature anticipates federal relief distribution.
HB 3115 - UNHOUSED SLEEPING IN PUBLIC
Allows cities and counties to use time, place and manner restrictions to regulate activities including sleeping, lying or sitting that take place on public property. However, these regulations must be “objectively reasonable” and are subject to court challenge. This legislation seeks to balance health and safety concerns with the need to ensure that houseless individuals are protected from fines or arrest for sleeping or camping on public property when there are no other options.
As Chair of the House Energy & Environment Committee, I am working on several pieces of legislation that advance clean energy, reduce pollution and prevent waste. In addition to Healthy Homes, described above, two additional landmark bills proposed this session include:
HB 2021 - 100% CLEAN
This legislation will set Oregon on a course toward 100% clean electricity by 2040! Strong statutory goals will spur development of local renewable energy projects to build community resiliency, and ensure that we are on our way to significant greenhouse gas reductions.
HB 2475 - ENERGY AFFORDABILITY
This bill allows the Public Utility Commission to establish low income rates for regulated utilities, and it ensures that environment justice advocates can participate in PUC decisions that affect ratepayers.
These bills are designed to support small businesses in the wake of the pandemic:
HB 3389 - UNEMPLOYMENT TAX RELIEF
House Bill 3389 will provide $2.4 billion in unemployment insurance relief to small businesses who have been impacted the most in the pandemic.
Because of the impact of necessary public health responses to the pandemic, Oregon businesses faced unprecedented levels of layoffs. Normally, such a jump in unemployment claims would trigger increases in UI tax rates, at a time when small businesses are struggling to get back on their feet. HB 3389 will remedy that by adjusting how UI rates are calculated and excluding 2020 and 2021 from businesses’ “experience ratings.”
HB 3389 provides nearly $100 million in relief this year and has the long-term goal of reducing taxes collected by $2.4 billion while maintaining the solvency of the unemployment insurance trust.
HB 2966 - COMMERCIAL RENT RELIEF
To help businesses recover, HB 2966 extends the grace period to pay back rent as businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A variety of bills will, if passed, expand access and equity in our health care systems:
HB 2508 - TELEHEALTH ACCESS
The pandemic has underscored the need for and benefits of telehealth services. This bill ensures telehealth services are accessible to all Oregonians, especially rural, senior, BIPOC and LGBTQIIA+ communities.
HB 2417 - MOBILE CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAMS
This bill will make grants available for developing mobile crisis intervention teams to facilitate conflict resolution, conduct welfare checks, provide substance abuse interventions, address suicide threats, and respond to nonemergency medical issues.
HB 2010 - PLANNING FOR UNIVERSAL ACCESS
HB 2010 directs OHA to create an implementation plan for a public health services that will enable the state to achieve universal access to affordable, high quality insurance coverage by providing new and more affordable coverage options to individuals and small businesses that struggle to afford health care or health insurance due to premium and out-of-pocket costs.
HB 3108 - UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO PRIMARY CARE
This legislation implements the Universal Access to Primary Care Work Group's recommendations for increasing access to, and affordability of, comprehensive primary care by requiring cost free coverage of annual primary care visits and prohibiting imposition of coverage requirements that restrict access to primary care.
HB 2359 - HEALTH CARE INTERPRETATION SERVICES
HB 2359 requires health care providers to work with registered health care interpreters, and it updates other requirements related to health care interpreter registration and use.
HB 2261 - BAN ON REMOTE SALES OF VAPING PRODUCTS
I am very pleased to sponsor HB 2261, which will prohibit internet and telephonic sales of nicotine-based inhalant delivery systems, commonly called vaping products. This ban will provide maximum enforcement of age purchase restrictions, allow the state to more easily track product adulteration when it occurs, and ensure that Oregon is collecting applicable taxes on the purchase of these products.
This bill is quite a conversation-starter and has been covered by local media outlets and the Associated Press. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to interview for a story about eco-friendly death care options on NPR 1A, a nationally syndicated program.
HB 2574 - COMPOSTING HUMAN REMAINS
HB 2574 amends current law to add natural organic reduction as another choice Oregonians have after death, providing a sustainable alternative to cremation and burial.
Natural organic reduction gently transforms human remains into soil in 4-6 weeks. The process uses large vessels to hold human remains which are combined with straw, wood chips, and other natural materials. The decomposing process creates heat of over 131F, which kills viruses, bacteria, and pathogens, and exceeds EPA requirements for heavy metals, which are stabilized in the soil, not volatilized. The resulting soil is safe for gardens, trees and general land use. This bill conform NOR to existing death care laws and expand upon a precedent that gives Oregonians the right to choose their own method of disposition.
Here are more details about natural organic reduction (pdf).
HB 2575 - TRAUMA TRAINING FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT
House Bill 2575 aims to ensure that police officers have the knowledge and skills they need when they encounter an individual experiencing a traumatic response or a neighborhood full of people with intergenerational anguish. The bill implements pilot projects to provide training in trauma and trauma-informed strategies; it also requires law enforcement agencies to adopt best practices responsive to the neurological and psychological affects of trauma.
This bill was inspired by the work of Jackson County’s Sexual Assault Response Team. Special thanks to Susan Moen, who continues to do groundbreaking work with survivors and trauma.
HB 3229 - HEALTH SERVICES IN JAILS
Requires the Criminal Justice Commission to convene a broad group of stakeholders to review and establish minimum standards, policies, and procedures regarding the provision of health care in our jails. In a year when jail health care systems have been particularly strained, it seems critical to start looking at appropriate standards, as well as the resources needed to provide that care.
I am sorry to report that neither of the beaver bills I sponsored will be moving forward this year. Both HB 2843 and HB 2844 were assigned to the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, which had over 100 bills to hear before a March deadline, and for a variety of reasons, the beaver bills unfortunately were not prioritized.
While this is quite disappointing, there is a silver lining: we were able to begin a conversation about beavers in the legislature, calling attention to the value they provide to Oregon ecosystems, in a way that has never been done before. And, we were able to begin building a tremendous coalition of advocacy groups and Oregonians, like you, who are eager to protect beaver and ensure that they can thrive here in the Beaver State.
I am hopeful that future legislative sessions will provide a better landscape for passing beaver bills. Please continue to advocate on their behalf.
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Join Oregon Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and OSU Fire Program Manager Carrie Berger for a virtual Wildfire Insurance Town Hall on Thursday, April 29, 12:00-12:30 PM. This online event will cover: the insurance claims process during rebuilding; construction scams to avoid; and how to prepare for the 2021 wildfire season.
The video will be available on the DFR video web page after the town hall and also on the DFR YouTube channel and DCBS Facebook page
Here are a few excellent resources for wading through the insurance claims process, provided by United Policyholders, a nonprofit advocacy organization for insurance consumers.
Celebrate Earth Day with a Safe & Sustainable EcoQuest Adventure! This year, Rogue Valley Earth Day will be modified from an in-person event to a covid-safe adventure of hands-on fun. On Thursday – Sunday, April 22-25, all ages can take part in engaging activities at home, outdoors, and across the region. From scavenger hunts to science activities, and discovery hikes to nature crafts, there are numerous ways kids and their parents can take part. Participants can track their progress in an EcoQuest App — and be entered in a raffle to earn prizes! Get started on the EcoQuest here.
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You can follow along with legislative news and media coverage that I am involved with HERE.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1405
District Phone: 541-282-4516
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-375, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.PamMarsh@oregonlegislature.gov
Website and e-Subscribe: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/marsh
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