Weekly Update: COVID Surging, Policing Reforms

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Weekly Update: COVID Surging, Policing Reforms

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

You may have noticed a change in the timing and content of these newsletters. My communications director is on family leave, so we are doing our best to keep putting out the newsletter while he is away.

The number of cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are surging in Oregon. Last Friday, Governor Brown spoke about the need to move a number of counties into the Extreme Risk category, which would mean tighter restrictions on restaurants and other businesses, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reported here. This wave was anticipated because of the more contagious variants, but it’s disheartening nonetheless. We all want to be done with this pandemic, and we’re not there yet.

Getting vaccinated and continuing to wear masks and maintain social distancing are absolutely critical if we are going to push back on this trend and get the upper hand once again.

Some good news – federal health officials have given the greenlight to return to using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Upon reviewing the evidence, the FDA and CDC determined the risk of getting seriously ill from the COVID-19 virus significantly outweighed the risk of getting the rare blood clots associated with the vaccine. The restart of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine will improve access to the vaccine in Oregon and around the country. You can read more about Oregon resuming use of the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine here.

Lastly, it’s going to be important to encourage everyone to get vaccinated. I understand that some people are still skeptical or afraid. I celebrate the fact that almost 29% of Oregonians are fully vaccinated and nearly 43% are at least halfway there. To put the pandemic truly behind us and keep each other safe, these numbers need to keep going up. Young people who don’t think they’ll get sick need to get vaccinated, otherwise they just become carriers to more vulnerable people.

Please, let’s all continue to do our part to fight this terrible virus:  Get vaccinated. Wear a mask. Maintain social distancing. Stay hopeful.


Vaccination give us hope

Spotlight on Equitable Policing

Last week I mentioned we would be taking up some policing reform bills in the House. That happened this morning instead (we had to cancel floor votes for most of last week because of COVID precautions).

I’m pleased with the nine bills we passed today. Taken together, they constitute another comprehensive step to hold police accountable and restore confidence that the actions of police will keep everyone safe. Kudos to Rep. Janelle Bynum, chair of the House Committee on Judiciary and the Subcommittee on Equitable Policing, for her steadfast work. The bills received strong bipartisan support, and I’d also like to appreciate the excellent collaboration from Republican legislators Rep. Ron Noble and Rep. Rick Lewis who brought their background in law enforcement to the conversation.

Here’s a reminder of the journey thus far and what we want to accomplish before we finish the session:

In two of the three special sessions last year, the Oregon Legislature approved bills that banned the use of chokeholds (HB 4203), required the duty to intervene (HB 4205), established new transparency about officers whose licenses have been revoked or suspended (HB 4207), restricted the use of tear gas for crowd control (HB 4208), clarified how an arbitrator can rule in discipline cases (SB 1604), and brought Oregon’s law governing when an officer may use physical force into compliance with two Supreme Court cases, Tennessee v. Garner and Graham v. Connor (HB 4301).

On April 9, the House passed HB 2481, a bill that prohibits law enforcement agencies from receiving certain military surplus equipment from the federal government and requires approved purchases to be noticed and signed off on by local governing bodies.

This morning, legislators approved bills that:

  • Require officers to be trained on airway and circulatory anatomy to avoid seriously injuring or killing someone while trying to restrain them and to contact emergency medical services if a restrained person is having a medical emergency (HB 2513).
  • Require officers who witness misconduct of fellow officers to report the violation within 72 hours to a direct supervisor, a superior officer in the chain of command, or the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) and requires investigations to occur within specified time frames (HB 2929).
  • Require the DPSST to standardize background check processes through a statewide system to identify applicants for law enforcement positions who have participated in hate groups, racial supremacist organizations, or militant groups (HB 2936).
  • Require the DPSST to ensure that officers are trained to investigate, identify and report crimes motivated by bias based on the perceived gender of the victim (HB 2986).
  • Provide the ability to sue someone who releases personal information if that person knowingly disseminates information with the intent to provoke stalking, harassment, or injury (aka “doxing”) (HB 3047).
  • Clarify archaic statutory language directing how local authorities can declare an “unlawful assembly.”
  • Limit the use of the charge of “interfering with a peace officer” to instances where an individual knowingly or intentionally interferes with an officer, thereby reducing its overuse in arrests for non-criminal behavior (HB 3164).
  • Restrict the way booking photos can be released and used publicly (HB 3273).
  • Specify what identification must be worn by officers during crowd management situations and how the public can access this information (HB 3355).

Additionally, Senate Bills 204 and 621, now in the House Committee on Judiciary, would allow civilian oversight boards of local law enforcement agencies to access Law Enforcement Data Systems (LEDS) and affirms measure 26-217, which Portlanders overwhelmingly passed.

There are also several bills awaiting further consideration in the budget committee, Joint Ways and Means, including:

  • HB 2162 – requires law enforcement agencies with more than 35 officers to get accreditation, adds public members to the DPSST board, requires equity training of all officers, and requires DPSST to revoke or suspend an officer’s certification if they have engaged in certain actions.
  • HB 2928 – regulates the use of chemical incapacitants, impact projectiles, sound devices and strobe lights by law enforcement agencies and makes further clarifications to the use of tear gas under HB 4208.
  • HB 2930 – establishes a process to adopt statewide standards of conduct and discipline for officers and imposes limitations on arbitrators’ decisions in misconduct cases.
  • HB 3145 – builds off HB 4207 from the 1st special session by requiring law enforcement agencies to report officer discipline when an economic sanction is imposed.

Transforming how law enforcement operates in Oregon will not happen overnight, nor will behavior change simply because we pass good legislation. Yet, we can strengthen accountability and give clear direction for the changes in policing we want and need to see by passing all these bills this session.


The Latest News

  • The Oregon Health Authority has reported 630 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of today, April 26, This brings the state total to 181,321 cases. OHA also reported one new death, meaning 2,486 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Oregon.
  • As of today, 1,175,540 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,738,540 who have had at least one dose. The 7-day running average is now 34,754 doses per day.

Cases and Testing- April 26

Daily data April 26

Hospital Bed Capacity- April 26

Vaccination Trend for April 26

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