 * “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
—Helen Keller
Southern Rogue Valley landscape, courtesy Jack Leishman
I begin with true thanks. In the November 8 election, you collectively gave me a gift I spent six months asking for: a second term in the Oregon Senate.
I hope that’s one of the election results you liked. Either way, I will represent you in Salem over the next four years with all the energy and smart focus I can bring to the job. And remembering the huge range of viewpoints in District 3, I commit to listening as openly as I can, even and especially when your take is starkly different from mine. When things get rough I’ll keep striving to remember that holding this position is a high privilege. Thanks for trusting me with it.
Randy Sparacino made a gracious call a couple of days after the election, wishing me well and, as Mayor of Medford, offering strong collaboration going forward. That lines up exactly with addressing what I called the biggest challenge ahead in this recent op-ed column.
There’s a scene at the very end of the 1972 film “The Candidate” that people who’ve won elections talk about. Robert Redford has just won an all-consuming longshot race for the U.S. Senate, and, on his way to the hotel ballroom to give his victory speech, pulls his campaign manager (Peter Boyle) into a side room. Here’s how it goes:
My answer to the question is that we refine the legislative ideas that have been simmering on the back burner for the 2023 session, which begins January 9. Towards the top of my list is
You likely remember the battle set off last summer by the release of the statewide wildfire risk map mandated by SB 762, when landowners received letters that their properties were in high- or extreme-risk zones and would be subject to new risk-reducing regulations. Those letters were the very first many of them heard that any kind of wildfire program was in the works; put mildly, they were not very happy about it. On top of that, the risk map’s risk designations often made little sense when you walked across individual properties, and explanations from authorities sounded complicated and abstract.
So while the other sections of SB 762—early detection and suppression of fire, fuel reduction in key locations, plans to head off ignitions from downed power lines, cleaner air spaces during severe smoke episodes—had a solid launch in 2022, this part really sputtered. One stark truth about our monumental wildfire challenge is this: government alone can’t meet it. Oregonians as a whole, particularly those in the most vulnerable regions, have to see it as all of our challenge, not a blanket of regulation laid on them from outside bureaucracies—which is pretty much what SB 762 looked like when the map came out last summer.
In the months since the map was withdrawn I’ve taken part in a fraction of the hundreds of conversations among citizens, legislators, community leaders and fire professionals about rebooting this part of the program in ways that build public trust and support. The first thing to keep in mind is that Oregonians are already doing a lot of good work on their own to make their properties safer. Supporting and building on that good work will get us where we need to go more directly, and probably more durably, than sudden new regulations from afar.
That’s the premise of the bill I’ll be introducing in the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee next week. It will move through a lot of twists and turns before it becomes law, but the general idea is to build out a network of “firewise neighborhoods” (a few of which are already up and running in communities like Ashland) across fire-prone portions of the state. Trained experts, mostly from the local community, will bring neighbors together around workplans for managing their landscapes to minimize fire ignition and transmission, which proves to be much more effective than individual property owners working alone. Once the work is finished the neighborhood can be certified as “firewise.”
The goal is for firewise certification to qualify property owners for favorable terms from insurance companies: security that their policies will be maintained at reasonable rates and opportunities for premium discounts (or, perhaps more realistically after years of massive pay-outs of wildfire disaster claims, a slow-down in premium increases). A separate bill addressing insurance issues is in the works, emulating and possibly going beyond what California has accomplished. We’ll also be looking at expanding Oregon’s nonprofit FAIR program for homeowners who can’t get insurance in the private market, though that brings up what’s become a national dilemma, at least since Hurricane Katrina demolished New Orleans: how much sense does it make to encourage rebuilding in areas where future natural disasters are almost certain?
There will be other, smaller-bore revisions to SB 762, as well as a foundational discussion on how we’re going to fund our ambitious wildfire program going forward. Stay tuned.
Other bills I’m working on for the coming session—mostly “placeholders” with details still to be filled in—include
- Establishment of a State Bank of Oregon, on the model of the Bank of North Dakota. I’ve written before, and probably will again, about what a game changer this could be for lower- and mid-wealth Oregonians.
- Piloting ranked-choice voting for certain elections.
- Campaign finance reform—the same bill I’ve brought to the last two sessions, which fell short because it bans very large checks from ALL entities, not just corporations and the Phil Knights of the world. I’m hoping that disgust with the bazillions of dollars spent in this year’s election might improve the odds this time around.
- Allowing local governments to pass regulations of their choice to reduce fire risk, as long as they don’t fall below minimum state standards.
- Measures to boost small-scale agriculture with more latitude for farm-direct sales and encouragement of local food systems.
- Speeding up the removal of Oregon public investments from fossil-fuel companies.
- New construction codes encouraging or requiring secondary “gray water” systems that direct water from sink, shower and laundry drains to outside landscape uses.
One urgent topic isn’t legislation per se, but instead a question that will affect countless future bills: how adequate and fair is Oregon’s overall tax system, and what can be done to make it fairer?
An issue guaranteed to heat up the first part of the 2023 session (unless we convene in special session to deal with it before then) is implementation of Measure 114, the gun safety measure Oregon voters narrowly passed on the November ballot. The battle, no surprise, continues.
M 114’s opponents aren’t all of one mind. I still read some of their online claims that the measure unquestionably violates the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. The “unquestionably” part doesn’t stand up, because constitutional scholars, even conservative Supreme Court Justices, are wildly divided on just what that Amendment means. But this particular measure has some practical issues that trouble even some who voted for it.
They center on the lack of infrastructure and resources to carry out new requirements for safety training and the more extensive permitting process that law enforcement agencies have to do. Some Oregon sheriffs are loudly insisting they don’t have the resources to get the job done. Will that keep people waiting months or longer to meet the new training and permit rules, effectively denying them access to firearms? We’ll soon see the courts wrestling with that and more, and there’s a push for the legislature to delay implementation (now scheduled to begin December 8) until it gets sorted out.
Not an ideal way to start a session for those who’d like to see more collaboration in Salem than the last few sessions have offered, but there you are…
My Senate caucus has elected two new leaders ready, willing and able to take our half of the legislature to a new level.
Senator Rob Wagner of Lake Oswego, the current Majority Leader, will become Senate President when we convene in January. He replaces Peter Courtney, whose 20 years at the post is more than three times longer than any other president’s tenure in Oregon history.
Replacing Rob as Majority Leader will be Senator Kate Lieber of Beaverton, a seasoned attorney and social justice activist who joined our caucus after the 2020 election. In two short years she’s led ambitious agendas on behavioral health and climate response, two areas that weren’t her specialties before. It’s a little scary what a quick and thorough learner she is.
I’m thoroughly excited by both selections. These are two whip-smart people fiercely dedicated to making Oregon stronger and more resilient, with more access for more Oregonians to thriving, satisfying lives. Plus they’re both a hoot to work with.
They’re also as skilled as anyone in Salem in the wickedly difficult dance of holding firm to progressive values and priorities while building functional relationships across the aisle. And while it’s dicey to make predictions about Salem these days, here's one that's safe: the Senate won’t be a boring place with Rob and Kate at the helm.
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Since legislative newsletters weren’t allowed through the long campaign season, there’s plenty more to talk about. But l’ll wait for a few committee meetings and opening-round negotiations to get a more accurate take on what’s coming to the table of the 2023 legislative session.
A warm and satisfying holiday season to you and yours.
 Senator Jeff Golden, Oregon Senate District 3
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