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Dear Friends & Neighbors,
I hope you’ve been enjoying your summer and staying safe as the COVID-19 delta variant causes another surge in Oregon’s case rate and deaths. The surge has pushed case counts and hospitalizations to record high levels and has pushed health care workers to the brink.
In an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, Gov. Brown announced on August 13 that masks would be required in all indoor spaces. And on Tuesday, she issued new statewide outdoor mask requirements that are set to take effect on August 27. You can read through the new outdoor masking requirements here.
It is my hope that the new mask requirements will reduce case counts and bring much needed relief to our state’s hospital systems, but masks are only part of the solution. Hospitals are reporting that most of their COVID-19 positive patients are unvaccinated. So please, join me in getting vaccinated and masking up to keep our communities safe, and to keep hospital beds open for non-COVID-19 patients who require care. For more information about the now Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer vaccine, click here.
As Co-Chair of the Redistricting Committee, I’ve been spending much of my summer working to set up the infrastructure for the redistricting process that the legislature will complete by September 27, 2021. I have many updates below for you on how you can make your voice heard in this critical process.
As always, please email me at: Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov or call (503) 986-1438 if you have any questions or need assistance with a state service.
Sincerely,
 Andrea Salinas
State Representative
First, the Oregon Redistricting Committee has moved our previously scheduled in-person public hearings across the state to a completely virtual venue due to the spread of COVID-19. Despite this change, many of the previous dates (Sept. 8-13) will remain the same.
Along with the twelve additional public hearings the committee will hold, we are also accepting written testimony, and allowing the public to submit their own district lines for the Committee to consider.
I cannot overstate how important it is for every Oregonian to engage in redistricting one way or another. It’s a process that will directly affect how you are represented for the next decade, and might lead to changes in funding for communities, transportation lines and accessibility, quality of schools, affordable housing resources, and emergency response support.
I appreciate hearing from all of my constituents on every topic, but if you want your thoughts and comments to be considered by the full Redistricting Committee, you must come to the committee to testify, submit written comment, or submit your own map. Emails to my legislative account cannot be considered as public testimony and won’t be included in the public record.
Due to the increased spread of COVID-19, the Redistricting Committee is altering it’s previously planned in-person schedule to a completely virtual one. To see the updated schedule, click here or view the images included below.
 
To sign up to testify, click here: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/redistricting/.
The hearings are organized by Congressional District, so be sure to sign up for the district you live in. If you’re unsure of what congressional district you’re in, click here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.
Redistricting is a complex process that may be hard to understand. Follow the graphic below to familiarize yourself with the process and be prepared to testify.
We’re also interested in hearing more about what you think of the maps the Redistricting Committee draws. Those maps will be completed and released to the public on September 3rd at 8:00 a.m. To watch the Committee present their DRAFT maps, click here: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021I1/Committees/HRED/2021-09-03-08-00/Agenda.
The deadline for public map submissions will be September 7th at 5 p.m., so those submitted maps can be appropriately considered by the committee as they work to draw the first iteration of the new House, Senate, and Congressional lines.
For maps submitted by the public to be considered by the committee, they must be complete. This means they must follow constitutional requirements and include both a state house and senate map for the legislative maps. You need not submit both legislative and congressional maps.
Key Information for Map Submissions:
- ESRI, the mapping tool that is accessible to the public, does protect against some common errors in drawing districts like ensuring the population count follows constitutional requirements. Unfortunately, ESRI does not protect against the state requirement that 2 house districts be nested within 1 senate district.
- To access to ESRI application, click here.
- For tutorial videos and step-by-step instructions, click here and scroll to the “redistricting software information” section.
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PLEASE turn your maps in early!
- Time permitting, committee LPRO staff will evaluate maps to ensure they’re complete and ready for consideration by the Committee. If they are not complete, LPRO will alert the sender of the issues. You can then fix the issues and resubmit before Sept 7th @ 5 pm.
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Include a narrative along with your map submission:
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Everyone who submits maps is encouraged to do so along with a narrative about why they drew the lines the way they did. This is very important. Without the reasoning behind the lines, we lack crucial understanding about how communities function and how they might be impacted by changes in representation.
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Things to include in your narrative:
- Information about your community: how has your community grown? How does that change how the lines should be drawn for equal representation?
- Do current district boundaries divide any communities in your district that you think should be together?
- Has your community come together for common interests or services? What were those projects? Were they successful?
- Use data on income, education, housing, and transportation, for example, to compare different areas of your district.
- All maps submitted that meet the criteria will be posted for public review. For more information about HOW to submit your map click here.
 
Can’t make the public hearing times, or nervous to speak in front of people? We still want to hear from you! Simply write up some written comments and submit them following the instructions below. There’s no need to submit a map along with your written comment if you don’t want. Written comments should focus on feedback to the committee on the maps that we publish (which will be released Sept. 3rd at 8:00 a.m.). You can also share more information about your community!
Things to include in your written comment:
- Information about your community, such as how has your community grown? How does that change how the lines should be drawn for equal representation?
- Do current district boundaries divide any communities in your district that you think should be together?
- Has your community come together for common interests or services? What were those projects? Were they successful?
- Use data on income, education, housing, and transportation, for example, to compare different areas of your district.
Send your written comments as either an attachment or in the body of the email to Oregon.redistricting@oregonlegislature.gov.
Important reminders for your submission:
- Make sure you include in the body of the email to which meeting you are submitting testimony, and/or which county/congressional district you live in.
- Make sure that all the information you provide in your testimony is information you feel comfortable being part of the public record.
Finally, I have really enjoyed working on this process for all Oregonians. I hope you will take the time to engage and voice your views on the new legislature and congressional maps for Oregon!
email: Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1438
address: 900 Court St NE, H-485, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/salinas
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