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June 29, 2021
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The 81st legislative session ended on Saturday at about 5 p.m. It was a wild and wooly six months, with logistical obstacles, including quarantines, ice storms, and the need to operate in a largely virtual world. There were moments when I wondered how we would get the work done. Still, we persevered, and I am extremely proud and grateful to have been a part of a legislative session that passed policies and directed investments that will benefit families and communities all over the state.
When we convened last January, we had a clear agenda driven by the events of 2020. We knew that pandemic response, wildfire recovery, and racial justice reforms would and must headline the work. My personal commitment was to secure relief and resources for the families and communities devastated in the Almeda fire, and to address the underlying issues that are driving high risk wildfire conditions on the ground.
As you will see in the summary below, the legislature allocated approximately $400 million for wildfire recovery, and we drafted and passed legislation to respond to specific issues that reflected our Almeda experience. An addition $188 million was invested in wildfire prevention and suppression activities, including forest stabilization, detection cameras, prescribed burn management, and defensible space education and enforcement.
Recognizing that conditions on the ground are spurred by greenhouse gas emissions created by our consumption of fossil fuels, we passed House Bill 2021, which will set a course toward 100% clean electricity by the year 2040. Electricity consumes about 30% of our energy use, so while HB 2021 is a great step forward, it will need to be followed by much more work to mitigate the factors driving climate tumult.
Please stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks regarding my summer town halls, where we’ll have a chance to discuss the legislative session in more detail. In the meantime, please let me know if you have questions about any of the legislation or funding described below.
A thousands thanks for sharing your input, suggestions and concerns. This complicated and sometimes bemusing process of democracy is a shared responsibility. I am so grateful to have your engaged partnership in the work.
Best,
Pam Marsh
State Representative
Oregon House District 5 - Southern Jackson County
P.S. Heartfelt appreciation to my staff, Nolan Pleše and Paige Prewett, for their tremendous support. If you’ve communicated with my office, you know these two are the rockstars who make everything work.
Hundreds of bills were passed in this legislative session. Included here are a variety of bills that will translate into significant progress for Oregon, or bills which are of significant interest to many of my constituents.
** Indicates bills that I was a Chief Sponsor
* Indicates bills that I was a Regular Sponsor
Wildfire Funding - $600 million
Recognizing the devastating impact of the September 2020 wildfires, and the need to build community resiliency to protect against future disaster, the 2021 legislature allocated more than $600 million for wildfire recovery, response and prevention programs. This includes $150 million for housing and land acquisition; $75 million to house and care for survivors; $10 million for programs to incentivize fire-resistant building strategies; and more than $100 million toward infrastructure, including $13.6 million for construction of a Public Safety Building in Phoenix
HB 3272 - Insurance Reforms **
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 can 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 will 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 guesthouse burn down, this provision will allow you to use the combined insurance benefits to build your home.
HB 2341 - Property Tax Proration **
After the Almeda fire, I reached out to experts across Oregon to learn what kind of relief we could provide to property owners 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. This bill changes the proration formula used to recalculate the property tax bill after a structure is destroyed to ensure that property owners are fairly treated. Under HB 2341, your taxes will be reduced proportionate to the loss. If your house was a third of your real market value, your taxes will be reduced by a third. The bill is retroactive to July 1, 2020.
HB 3219 - Manufactured Home Parks Right to Rebuild **
Ensures that manufactured home parks have a right to rebuild after a disaster. The bill also clarifies the legal obligations of tenants and park owners after disaster.
HB 3218 - Manufactured Homes Program Accessibility **
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.
SB 762 - Proactive Approach to Wildfire
Senate Bill 762 provides a comprehensive response to the extraordinary threat and concrete reality of wildfire in our community, and across the state. It does so by: 1) providing the resources and oversight needed for wildfire prevention and response; 2) systematically identifying and mapping areas of significant risk; 3) employing mitigation strategies to ensure that structures are more resistant to disaster.
SB 762 takes active steps to address wildfire resilience and response:
- Develops a statewide map of wildfire risk to inform decision-making and investment.
- Ensures safe and reliable electric utility systems before and during wildfire events.
- Establishes defensible space standards and provides financial resources to protect communities and critical infrastructure from wildfire.
- Provides resources to protect vulnerable communities from wildfire smoke.
- Invests in community driven restoration of forests and rangelands to reduce wildfire risk, protect lives and property, and increase landscape resiliency.
- Requires new construction in high hazard areas be built with ignition resistant materials.
- Adds firefighter capacity and air defense resources to provide improved wildfire response and ensure firefighter safety.
- Establishes the Oregon Wildfire Workforce Corps Program to reduce wildfire risk to communities and provide workforce training to the next generation of land managers.
- Provides upgraded agency business systems and oversight for expedient financial management, cost controls, and reporting
SB 762 ensures public engagement and oversight:
- Appoints a Wildfire Programs Advisory Council composed of local governments and members of the public to advise a new State Wildfire Programs Director, monitor and provide recommendations for program implementation, and engage with communities.
- Requires stakeholder engagement and input from public boards and advisory committees in development and review of the statewide wildfire map, defensible space standards, building codes, and land use recommendations.
Here is a video link of my House Floor speech about SB 762 on June 26.
SB 762 Funding - $188 million
As part of the $600 million wildfire funding package, $188 million was allocated to carry out the functions required in SB 762. Many thanks to Senator Jeff Golden, who shepherded this legislation through a complex legislative process.
HB 2571 - Prescribed Fire Liability **
Authorizes a study to understand legal and insurance barriers to conducting more prescribed fire in Oregon, and to review policies and best practices from other states. This information will be used to inform prescribed fire policies and incentives.
HB 2927 - Emergency Agencies Reorganization at State Level *
Reorganizes Oregon's emergency services structure to build a more robust and facile agency to make sure the state is equipped to respond to natural disaster or other catastrophe.
OR-Alert - Statewide Emergency Alert System
Approved by the Legislature's Emergency Board earlier this year, OR-Alert is a comprehensive emergency alert system that will operate statewide, rather than in individual counties, to improve communication in the event of a disaster. The system will allow notifications to be sent out to devices automatically, including social media, text message and landline calls. It is expected to be available to all Oregon counties, and is slated to be up and running this summer. While the system will automatically engage by sending messages to cell phones and other devices that are in the public record, you can customize your alerts and ensure that you receive them by registering here: http://www.rvem.org/
HB 2021 - 100% Clean **
This historic legislation creates a clear path for Oregon to achieve 100% emissions-free electricity by 2040 – a critical part of our efforts to address climate tumult. Key measures of HB 2021 include:
- Sets a timeline for reduction in baseline greenhouse gas emissions in the following increments: 80% by 2030; 90% by 2035; 100% by 2040.
- Requires utilities to develop a clean energy plan that 1) incorporates the clean energy targets; 2) sets annual goals to measure progress, including acquisition of resources, short- and long-term storage, energy efficiency and use of demand response resources; and 3) results in an affordable, reliable and clean electric system.
- Directs each utility to convene a Community Benefits and Impacts Advisory Group to work toward supporting opportunities such as living-wage jobs, workforce equity, and energy resilience that minimizes burdens to environmental justice communities.
- Prohibits new gas plants. Existing gas plants may remain in utility portfolio but will be subject to declining emissions.
- Establishes strong labor standards for large renewable projects.
- Creates a $50M Community Renewables Investment Fund. The Department of Energy (ODOE) will distribute grants for community renewable energy projects that are 20 megawatts (MW) or less in size. ODOE will also study ways to encourage development of small scale and community-based renewable energy projects for economic development and resilience.
Here is a video link of my House Floor speech about HB 2021 on June 25.
HB 2475 - Energy Affordability
Allows the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to create a new rate class for low-income payers to ensure that all consumers can afford their utility bills. The bill also enables environmental justice advocates to participation in decision making in front of the PUC.
HB 2165 - Electric Vehicle Affordability
Allows utilities to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure and extends and expands subsidies to assist low-income individuals who want to purchase electric cars.
SB 582 - Plastic Pollution & Recycling Modernization Act *
Modernizes Oregon's recycling system by expanding access to recycling, upgrading facilities that sort recyclables, and involving producers and manufacturers in the structure and funding of improvements. SB 582 will increase accessibility to recycling in rural areas and apartment complexes and ensure that we have a sustainable path to deal with all kinds of packaging – like plastics – not currently recyclable.
HB 2574 - Natural Organic Reduction/Composting Human Remains **
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, using large vessels to hold human remains that are combined with straw, wood chips, and other natural materials. The decomposing process creates heat of over 131F, which kills viruses, bacteria, and pathogens. The resulting soil is safe for gardens, trees and general land use. This bill conforms NOR to existing death care laws and expands upon a precedent that gives Oregonians the right to choose their own method of disposition.
HB 2018 - Groundwater Resources
Directs the Oregon Water Resources Department to contract with the United States Geological Survey to produce and publish ground water budgets for all major hydrologic basins in this state, to contract for the production of a report on statewide consumptive water use, to expand ground water level monitoring network, and to measure progress in estimating and monitoring ground water levels, recharge and use. Understanding our groundwater resources is the first step to figure out how to manage and allocate this increasingly precious resource.
Water/Sewer Budget Package - $420 million
The Legislature approved a massive water and sewer package to improve access to clean water in cities and counties across Oregon. The package makes $420 million in investments in drinking water, wastewater, and groundwater programs and infrastructure projects across the state, including $3 million to the City of Ashland for improvements to the TAP (Talent-Ashland-Phoenix) intertie; $2.7 million to the City of Medford for southwest Medford water and sewer infrastructure; and $5 million to the City of Phoenix for transition costs required to take over the Charlotte Ann Water District.
HB 2009 - Foreclosure Protections Extension *
Extends the moratorium on residential foreclosures through July 1, 2021 and gives the governor the ability to extend it further in 90-day increments through the end of the year as the legislature anticipates federal relief distribution.
HB 3389 - Unemployment Tax Relief *
Provides $2.4 billion in unemployment insurance relief to small businesses most impacted by the pandemic. Because of the impact of necessary public health responses to COVID-19, Oregon businesses faced unprecedented levels of layoffs. Without intervention, those claims would trigger increases in unemployment insurance (UI) tax rates at a time when small businesses are struggling to get back on their feet. HB 3389 remedies that by adjusting how UI rates are calculated for individual payers and by instituting a recalculation of the look-back period that determines the solvency of the unemployment fund, and therefore the rate schedule. HB 3389 provides nearly $100 million in relief this year and has the long-term goal of reducing taxes collected by $2.4 billion.
SB 278 - Rent Relief & Eviction Moratorium 60-day Extension
This is the last piece in a series of bills passed to protect landlords and keep renters whole during the pandemic. The state’s eviction moratorium expires July 1. Tenants who need help paying rent are encouraged to apply for the Oregon Emergency Assistance Rental Program, which can provide as much as 12 months of unpaid rent back to April 2020, and three months of prospective rent. However, it became clear in the final weeks of the legislative session that Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) will not be able to get checks to tenants in time to pay July rent. As a result, many tenants would be vulnerable to eviction despite the fact that they had applied for assistance. This legislation provides a 60-day extension for tenants who present their landlords with evidence that they have applied for state assistance. Landlords will be guaranteed payment for that 60-day period. The bill also increases reimbursement from the Landlord Compensation fund from 80 to 100% coverage, retroactive for all months in the landlord’s application.
HB 2966 - Commercial Rent Relief
Extends the grace period to September 30, 2021, for a commercial tenant to repay any outstanding rent, late charges, utility charges, or any other service charge or fee incurred during the emergency period between April 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020.
Economic Development Package - $110 million
The legislature approved $110 million in economic development funding to support brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, main street revitalization, investment in emerging business sectors, and grants for the live events industry.
SB 778 - Office of Immigration and Refugee Advancement *
Establishes the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement to operate a statewide immigrant and refugee integration strategy. According to the American Immigration Council, one out of every ten Oregonians is foreign-born, and one of every nine Oregon residents is a native-born American who has at least one immigrant parent. Over two-fifths of Oregon’s fishers, farmers, and foresters are immigrants, as well as more than one-fifth of all production employees. The Office's advancement activities will include partnering with existing immigrant and refugee programs, collecting data on immigrant and refugee populations in Oregon and their needs, and engaging in the legislative process at the state and federal levels.
HB 3265 - Sanctuary Promise Act
Places restrictions on the use of public resources to assist in enforcement of federal immigration laws and arrests of individuals based on violations of immigration laws. The bill will ensure that undocumented residents can safely access services, go to work, and drop their children off at school.
HB 2266 - Access to Capital
Usually business loans must be fully secured, either through collateral, personal assets, and/or the guarantee of a high net worth individual. This means that entrepreneurs need pre-existing assets, wealthy family members, or investors in order to get a business loan. HB 2266 requires Business Oregon to make awards to lenders to establish loan programs for underserved businesses that do not have the necessary collateral requirements for traditional loans at affordable rates. This bill also creates a revolving loan fund for minority-owned, women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, and emerging small businesses that are certified by the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity. The measure appropriates $10 million for this program.
HB 2935: The Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act *
The CROWN Act prohibits discrimination based on hair style and texture. Oregon currently prohibits school and workplace discrimination based on race, but the applicable definitions do not explicitly include hair type, texture, or style. House Bill 2935 prohibits discrimination by including physical characteristics like hair type, texture, and style within the definition of race in school discrimination policies, interscholastic organization activities, and in unlawful employment practices. It also prohibits school or employer dress codes or policies from disproportionately impacting members of a protected class.
HB 2411 - Building in the Trenches ** &
HB 2654 - Utility Easements for Provision of Broadband **
These two bills address the significant challenges inherent in developing broadband infrastructure in the vast rural and frontier areas of Oregon. HB 2411 requires the Oregon Department of Transportation to notify broadband providers when a highway trenching project could be used for the installation of broadband conduit. HB 2654 will expedite the installation of broadband infrastructure by clarifying that an electric utility has the option to use or contract for use its electric easement for broadband services while creating a mechanism for compensating landowners if their property is devalued.
In many areas of the state, our electric and transportation infrastructure is the only development that spans miles of otherwise empty territory. Using these facilities to also provide broadband services is the least impactful, most expedient, and fastest way to get service to far flung communities.
HB 2508 - Telehealth Access *
The pandemic proved that health care can be delivered efficiently and effectively via the use of technology. House Bill 2508 permanently increases reimbursement rates for telehealth providers, improving access for patients especially in rural and underserved areas.
Broadband Budget - $121 million
The Legislature approved $121 million for broadband planning and infrastructure grants to be distributed to local communities, schools, libraries and key projects throughout the state. The budget also includes full funding for the Oregon Broadband Office.
HB 2842 - Healthy Homes **
Aimed at the intersection of housing and health care, HB 2842 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.
The Healthy Homes program ensures that the current housing stock is maintained and upgraded so that it will provide good, safe, healthy and affordable homes for decades to come. This is a groundbreaking approach, and the way we begin to address the upstream social determinants of health that drive medical costs.
HB 3261 - Project Turnkey/Hotel Zoning **
Hotels and motels that may not fit the bill for today’s travelers are the perfect place to provide people in crisis with stability and the support they need to move toward permanent housing. House Bill 3261 addresses conversion of hotel and motel properties by clarifying that shelter and affordable housing are allowed uses, as long as the facilities impacted are within an urban growth boundary. Local governments can still require the new use to comply with building codes, occupancy limits, and reasonable site and design standards.
In late 2020, the State Emergency Board allocated $65 million to Project Turnkey for the acquisition of motels/hotels to be used as homeless shelters. The project has established 800 shelter rooms in communities across the state, including facilities in Ashland and Medford. I was an early advocate for the project, and have been thrilled to see local communities embrace the opportunity to establish programs.
HB 2004 - Emergency Shelter Funding *
Allocates $9.7 million to the Oregon Community Foundation for grants to local agencies to acquire motels/hotels that can be used as homeless shelters. This is an extension of Project Turnkey and reflects community demand for the program.
Housing Budget - $765 million
The Legislature approved a historic investment of $765 million dollars for affordable housing and permanent supportive housing, down payment assistance, homeless services, tenant support, and more. This includes funding for a navigation center in Medford.
HB 2417 - Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams **
Makes 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. $10 million has been allocated for crisis intervention teams for mobile crisis; $5 million is allocated for the implementation of 988, Oregon's suicide prevention hotline.
HB 2261 - Online Vaping Sales Ban **
Prohibits 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. HB 2261 is the result of input from Ashland High School students who suggested that we pass legislation addressing online purchase of vaping products.
HB 3352 - Cover All People *
Allocates $100 million to provide medical care to uncovered people including undocumented adults, DACA recipients, legal permanent residents with a 5-year ban, and young adults who age out of Cover All Kids. Cover All People helps achieve healthy communities and reduces costs in health care in the future by extending comprehensive health care coverage benefits to Oregon’s most underserved communities.
HB 2591: School Based Health Care *
Provides grants for school-based health centers, school nurses, and a telehealth pilot to expand healthcare access for students across Oregon. These grants will enable 10 schools to provide a health needs assessment, and then develop either a school nurse model or a school-based health center to meet identified health needs; three school districts to develop a mobile school-linked health center; and three school-based health centers to pilot a telehealth model with school nurses that are located in a different school.
SJR 12 - Health Care as a Right *
This Senate Joint Resolution sends a constitutional amendment to Oregon voters for enshrining health care as a right for all Oregonians.
Behavioral Health Care Package - $350 million
The Legislature invested $350 million in behavioral health programs to expand access to mental health and addiction services, and to grow and diversify our state’s mental health workforce. Part of this investment includes residential centers and housing for Oregonians with behavioral health needs.
Long Term Care Package - $193 million
The Legislature allocated $193 million to strengthen the state’s long-term care system and workforce, including: $113 million for provider rate increases to support higher wages for workers in long term care facilities; $30 million for the Oregon Essential Workforce Health Care Program (SB 800); $30 million for capital improvement and emergency preparedness grants for long-term care facilities; and $11.7 million for workforce development and training.
HB 3229 - Health Care Standards 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’s critical to examine appropriate standards and the resources needed to provide that care.
HB 2575 - Trauma Informed Practices Training **
Our law enforcement officers confront trauma nearly every day, but conventional public safety training hasn’t prepared officers on the ground to recognize trauma or know how to respond in a way that assists the individual – or that avoids making the trauma even worse.
HB 2575 addresses this gap. The bill 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. It establishes a pilot program to train law enforcement officers about trauma and the use of trauma-informed practices. It also requires law enforcement agencies across the state to adopt best practices for dealing with trauma.
HB 2575 was inspired by the work of Susan Moen and the Jackson County Sexual Assault Response Team, which has been at the forefront of this work.
HB 2929 - Reporting Officer Misconduct *
Requires officers who witness misconduct or minimum standard violations to report the violation within 72 hours to a direct supervisor, a superior officer in the reporting officer’s chain of command, or the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST).
SB 193 - Unanimous Juries & Suspending Limits on Court Settlements
Requires that conviction in a criminal case must be reached as a result of unanimous agreement of the jury members. A not-guilty verdict can be reached by concurrence of at least 10 of 12 jurors. The bill also removes the statutory cap on noneconomic damages for claims for bodily injury and retains the cap on noneconomic damages for wrongful death.
HB 2481 - Prohibiting Purchasing of Military Style Weapons
Prohibits Oregon law enforcement agencies from receiving certain military surplus vehicles, aircraft, grenades, grenade launchers, and firearms silencers from the federal government. Law enforcement agencies will still be able to acquire many pieces of equipment necessary to carry out their duties.
SB 5514 - $9.3 Billion K-12 School Budget
The legislature passed a record $9.3 billion state budget for K-12 schools. This is a 3.3% increase in the State School Fund budget from the 2019-2021 biennium.
HB 3109 - Eliminating Barriers for Child Care **
Even before the pandemic, Oregon was already in a child care crisis. Many factors contribute to the lack of child care capacity, including worker shortages and turnover, and the lack of subsidies to help parents pay for care. But starting a child care center requires the prospective operator to run a gauntlet of regulations and requirements. Chief among those barriers are land use rules that too often prevent centers from locating where they need to be – close to where parents or guardians live and work. HB 3109 addresses siting issues by removing zoning barriers for commercial and industrial zones, and prohibits the use of additional standards or regulatory burdens for siting child care centers or homes
HB 3073 - Child Care Restructuring *
HB 3073 establishes the Early Learning Division as an independent state agency and modifies the name of the agency to the Department of Early Learning and Care. This bill will consolidate all early child care services in one state agency, including licensing, registration, and the distribution of state and federal childcare funds. Streamlined management is the first step to establishing a more affordable, accessible and equitable child care system in Oregon.
HB 2378 - Competency Based Education **
Directs the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to establish a pilot program to expand competency-based education (CBE) in Oregon's public post-secondary education programs (colleges, universities, adult education, training and licensing programs). CBE is a system of instruction and assessment that relies on students demonstrating progress toward specific skills, in contrast to the current model predicated on student credit hours. CBE presents a unique opportunity to supplement traditional higher education approaches in order to increase access to, and foster completion of, degrees for many students who may have historically been underrepresented in higher education.
HB 2835 - Higher Education Navigators
Low income and returning students in higher education face many barriers, often including real life challenges like child care, housing and food. HB 2835 requires each public university and community college to provide a navigator who will help students identify and apply for benefits to support basic needs. For many students, help with real-life issues will make the difference in their ability to continue with studies or complete a degree. .
HB 3000 - Hemp Regulation and Enforcement *
Oregon is home to a thriving and legal cannabis industry, and an emerging hemp sector. Unfortunately, it is has become clear that illegal operators have established a significant presence in the state, especially here in Jackson County. It’s critical that we take quick and assertive action to halt the proliferation of illegal, undesirable and unsafe grows.
HB 3000 creates the statute’s hemp program. It also focuses on the enforcement of illegal hemp/cannabis operations:
- Creates a Class A misdemeanor for unlawful production of cannabis in excess of the amount allowed by state law or at a location that is not licensed or registered by ODA, OHA, or OLCC.
- Increases the funding for the Criminal Justice Commission grant program to $3 million, allowing more jurisdictions – and Southern Oregon in particular – to receive needed resources to combat the illegal operations.
- Enables local law enforcement to use this law immediately to investigate grows of cannabis that are not within a state program.
- Allows law enforcement to accompany ODA to licensed hemp operations for the purpose of providing protection to agency staff, pursuant to rules promulgated by ODA.
- Allows the Governor to order the Oregon National Guard to assist ODA enforcing hemp laws.
- Allows destruction of unlawfully produced cannabis as contraband.
- Allows ODA and OLCC to test cannabis plants grown under the ODA hemp program to confirm the plants are actually hemp.
- Allows ODA to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for a crop that exceeds 10% THC.
SB 803 - Catalytic Converters Theft Determent *
To counteract the rampant theft of catalytic converters, this law prohibits scrap metal business from purchasing converters, except from a commercial seller or the car’s owner. It also requires scrap metal businesses to retain the vehicle identification number and license number associated with the converter, making it easier to track.
SB 554 - Secure Firearms Requirements & Gun Free Zones
Requires firearm owners to store guns safely with a cable lock, in a locked storage container, or in a gun safe when not under the control of the owner. The bill also designates the State Capitol as a gun-free zone and allows schools to prohibit concealed carry of firearms on campus.
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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