"Adjournment sine die is the conclusion of a meeting by a deliberative assembly, such as a legislature or organizational board."

The 2023 Legislative session has come to a close. Unfortunately, the Democrat’s agenda again divided Oregonians this session. Despite this, some legislation passed that will benefit Oregonians in the Mid-Willamette Valley and across the state. It is frustrating that the Majority again focused too much attention on partisan issues rather than addressing head-on the cost of living, the drug crisis, and other pressing issues facing Oregonians. I will continue to be a voice for balance and common sense in Salem.

Serving you again as your State Representative from House District 15 is an honor. Please never hesitate to reach out if you have issues with state government, questions, or concerns.

 - Shelly

Dru Draper-Policy Director, Me, Renée Perry-Chief of Staff, and Claire Wright-Legislative Assistant

For Immediate Release

Date: June 26, 2023

Contact: Dru Draper

Email: dru.draper@oregonlegislature.gov

Representative Boshart Davis Recaps 2023 Legislative Session

SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon House of Representatives raced against the clock on Sunday to finish the 2023 Legislative Session. Per the Constitution, the Legislature needed to adjourn on Sunday before midnight.

Representative Shelly Boshart Davis fought for and against legislation to benefit the people of House District 15 and Oregonians across the state.

• HB 2426 – Give consumers a choice at the pump by allowing gas stations to open up 50% of their pumps to self-service.
• HB 2645 – Gives law enforcement more tools to protect communities from fentanyl.
• HB 3584 – Requires schools to notify parents electronically in the case of a security threat at their child’s school.
• HB 2073 – Puts certain agricultural processors on the same playing field for purposes of the corporate activities tax.
• SB 489 – Gives family farms relief from the death tax when passed down to the next generation.
• HJR 16 – Refers measure to voters to ask if Oregonians want the Legislature to have the power to impeach statewide elected officials.
• HB 3204 – Increases access to virtual charter schools to give parents more control over their children’s education.
• Preserved Oregonian’s income tax Kicker.
• Prevent the rest of Oregon from becoming Portland by killing HB 3501, which would have allowed tent cities everywhere.
• $250,000 to Every Child Linn Benton (ECLB) for programs to mobilize the community to uplift children and families impacted by foster care.

Representative Boshart Davis (R-Albany) released the following statement:

“Unfortunately, the Democrat’s agenda again divided Oregonians this session. Despite this, some legislation passed that will benefit Oregonians in the Mid-Willamette Valley and across the state. It is frustrating that the Majority again focused too much attention on partisan issues rather than addressing head-on the cost of living, the drug crisis, and other pressing issues facing Oregonians. I will continue to be a voice for balance and common sense in Salem.”

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ODOT Letter

I recently joined a bipartisan group of legislators to send a letter to the Oregon Department of Transportation and the DMV asking to give Oregonians impacted by their data breach 1 year of credit monitoring. In the private sector, this is standard practice. Our government should do the same.

2024: Impeachment on the Ballot

In the final days of the Legislative session, on unanimous votes in both the House and Senate, House Joint Resolution 16 passed, which will ask voters in 2024 if they want the legislature to have the power to impeach a sitting statewide elected official. No matter your party, impeachment is an important accountability measure. Oregon is the only state in the nation without an impeachment process.

Pumping Gas: You Now Have A CHOICE

HB 2426 was passed in the House on March 20, 2023. Last week, the Senate passed HB 2426 giving Oregonians a choice in how they fill up at the pump.  I  have been working on this legislation for years now, and I am excited that it finally passed!

Tax Relief for Farmers: HB 2073 and SB 498

Another set of bills that passed in the last hours of the 2023 session were two bills to help family farms.

HB 2073 will put certain agricultural processors on the same playing field as others for purposes of paying the corporate activities tax (CAT). I introduced this bill early on in the session as HB 2142 but it ultimately got included in HB 2073, a broader CAT reform bill.

SB 498 increases the estate tax credit for generational farms, ranches, fisheries, and forests. The estate tax is an unfair double tax imposed after someone’s death. Over 96 percent of our state’s farms and ranches are family owned and operated. Oregon’s tax law should not punish an industry that feeds Oregon and provides essential jobs. Nor should our estate tax policy be in direct conflict with the desire to preserve and protect our family-owned farms and ranches. While I believe we need to do away with the entire estate tax, this is what we could get passed this session.

Increase Access to Justice for Sex Abuse Survivors

I proudly sponsored HB 3632 to increase the statute of limitations for first-degree sex crimes from 12 years to 20 years after the crime. Minors will also benefit from this extended timeline by allowing them to come forward before they are 30.

I-5 Bridge Funding

I have talked A LOT this session about the Interstate 5 Bridge Replacement project. While we had a chance to pass bipartisan legislation on the issue, the Legislature settled for the bare minimum by simply passing the funding needed to have a competitive application for federal funds. No doubt this is a good thing, especially since we used General Obligation bonds to finance the plan which will prevent politicians from taking money from other transportation projects around the state.

MIDDLE SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL CAMP

Come join us for volleyball!

June 26th - 28th @ The Boys & Girls Club of Albany

Registration link here

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR HOOP JAM

From our friends at Boys & Girls Club of Albany: 

Volunteers are a crucial part of Hoop Jam!

Grab a friend (or 3) and sign up to help make this event a success!

August 12th and 13th at LBCC 

If you are interested in helping keep score/time, we would love your help, as this event relies on a lot of volunteers to make it run smoothly. Listed below are the time slots we are looking to fill with volunteers. You could sign-up for one, or multiple. Each volunteer will also be given a lunch ticket for each shift. Snacks and drinks will also be provided. 

Sign up to help here

Gov. Kotek’s staff knew Monday that hackers had accessed millions of driver’s license files. Oregonians didn’t find out until Thursday. OregonLive Gov. Tina Kotek’s staff was told Monday that Oregon Department of Transportation driver’s license and identification card files had been hacked as part of an international security breach and she was personally briefed the following day, her office said. However, the breach that exposed an estimated 3.5 million driver’s license and ID cards issued by the state of Oregon was not publicly disclosed by state officials until late Thursday morning and only after an inquiry from The Oregonian/OregonLive, which had pressed the agency 24 hours earlier about a possible hack. The breach, the largest the state has experienced in at least five years, is under investigation by the FBI. 

Who Really Owns the La Mota Weed Dispensary Chain? Willamette Week We’re talking with Sophie Peel about her continuing coverage of the problematic rise and devastating fall of dispensary chain La Mota and how its association with former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan led to Fagan’s resignation from office. Among the new discoveries packed in Sophie’s story are court depositions that raise questions about the partnership of La Mota co-founders Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell. Sophie says, “I’m still struggling to understand what their dynamic is.” 

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler considers outlawing hard drug use in public KGW Portland police are also responding to an increase in deadly fentanyl overdoses. Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office confirmed with KGW that he is now considering outlawing hard drug use in public and introducing criminal penalties — something many Portlanders have been asking for. “Yeah, they need to go to jail or rehab — either way they have to, 'cause they’re going to die,” said one man who works downtown and sees the crisis every day. Wheeler’s office is expected to release more information later this week. KGW has reached out to the judicial system and local law enforcement to ask how such an ordinance would work alongside Measure 110. This story will be updated once we hear back.

Self-service gas bill passes Oregon state Senate, moves to Gov. Kotek for signature KGW "Giving stations the option to have some of those closed pumps be open as self service would benefit consumers, station owners and workers," said Rep. Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors. "Personally, at the grocery store, I usually use the attended checkout lanes. But if there's a long line and I'm in a hurry, and I only have a few items, I will go to the self-checkout lanes. I expect I will do the same thing with pumping my own gas. … Giving consumers a choice in this way just seems like common sense to me." Another sponsor of the bill, Rep. Shelly Boshart-Davis, a Republican from Albany, said gas station owners reached out to state lawmakers and asked for help. "In committee, we heard from many local small-business owners about how they can't find workers for these positions now," Boshart-Davis said in March. "In fact, most likely you've experienced it as well: long lines at the gas station because pumps are roped off or cones are in front of pumps — because they don't have enough staff to work them."

Oregon lawmakers vote to allow self-serve gas statewide, ending decades-long ban OregonLive House Bill 2426 would require gas stations to staff at least half of their open pumps for people who want assistance. But it would allow other pumps to be open for self-service. Stations are prohibited from charging different prices at self-serve and attended pumps. The bill passed the Senate 16-9. While the bill had bipartisan support, each no vote came from a Democrat, while four Republicans and the Senate’s lone Independent Party member did not vote.

Oregon motorists might soon be able to pump their own gas OPB Oregonians, get pumped. If you’re so inclined. After more than seven decades of banning drivers from pumping their own gas, Oregon lawmakers on Wednesday voted to boldly enter the self-service era — where every state but New Jersey has been waiting. If signed by Gov. Tina Kotek, House Bill 2426 will enable retail gas stations to designate up to half of their pumps as self-serve. Drivers won’t have to leave the comfort of their cars, though. Gas stations in Oregon’s most populous counties will still be required to employ an attendant and offer full-service fueling with no difference in price.

Oregon lawmakers tee up $1 billion in bonds for new Interstate 5 bridge over 8 years OregonLive Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, said in passing a funding plan to fund the new Interstate Bridge, lawmakers “did what needed to be done.” “Using general obligation bonds makes it clear to the federal government that this project is a priority for Oregon,” Boshart Davis wrote in an email. “Using existing funds would have robbed money from approved transportation projects around the state. What this plan doesn’t do is meet the growing needs of our transportation system broadly by funding needed projects like the Rose Quarter.” Boshart Davis referred to an earlier funding proposal that would have included a commitment to fund an expansion of Interstate 5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter.

As Lawmakers Start Doling Out Cash, Bridge of the Gods Loses Funding While a Bend Project Gains It Willamette Week One of the chief sponsors of HB 3622, Sen. Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles) pronounced himself “shocked and appalled” that his colleagues removed funding for the Cascade Locks project, which lies in his district. “I was asked to sponsor a bill that included funding for three bridges (Burnside, Bridge of the Gods and Hood River),” Bonham says. “That bill included a project labor agreement that I opposed in conjunction with the Burnside project, but I accepted that bad concept in order to move forward with the global investment in the the necessary bridge projects. To see the Bridge of the Gods removed feels like a betrayal of the commitment I made to sponsor the bill to begin with.” Bonham adds that it’s particularly galling because another project funded under the auspices of the Oregon Department of Transportation in HB 5030—$5 million for a bicycle-pedestrian overpass over Highway 97 and railroad tracks along Hawthorne Avenue in Bend—got funding. “My understanding of the Bend project is it is very much still conceptual and was not a part of any public process in Salem,” Bonham says. Bonham, of course, is one of the Republican senators who walked out of the Capitol on May 3. When Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) negotiated a return last week, Bonham stayed out, only returning today, after the amendment to HB 5030 with the funding list had been printed. The Bend project is in Knopp’s district.

State Proposes to Audit OLCC’s Purchase of Expensive New Headquarters Property Willamette Week Back before the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission made Pappy Van Winkle bourbon a household name and got enmeshed in the tangled relationship between Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and the troubled cannabis firm La Mota, there was the issue of the agency’s 2022 purchase of some very expensive land in Canby for a new warehouse and headquarters building.

Wild Clackamas County Car Chase Involving La Mota Owner Aaron Mitchell Ends With Nanny Indicted Willamette Week On June 8, a grand jury in Clackamas County indicted the 19-year-old nanny for the owners of La Mota after a 5-mile car chase that took place in the early morning of Oct. 1, 2022. In the car that morning with the the young woman, whose name is Arlen Alva, was the owner of the embattled La Mota dispensary chain, Aaron Mitchell. Now, Alva faces one felony charge and two misdemeanor charges for which she could face jail time. The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office dropped charges against Mitchell. According to law enforcement documents obtained by WW, the car chase, which reached speeds of 100 miles per hour, took place along Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard in Milwaukie. It ended only after deputies deployed spike strips and surrounded the La Mota-owned vehicle with their guns drawn. Alva, who, according to a police report and the indictment, evaded arrest and fled police in a gray 2021 Mercedes-Benz, drove with an intoxicated Mitchell as her passenger.

Contentious Bill to Reshape Fish and Wildlife Commission Moves Through House Willamette Week As the Oregon Legislature shifts to warp speed to finish its work before the June 25 closing date, many bills are coming unstuck. One contentious piece of legislation key to oversight of Oregon’s natural resources—House Bill 3806—moved unanimously out of the House Rules Committee on Friday and quickly passed the House floor by a 52-7 vote. The bill moved after lawmakers adopted an amendment proposed by state Rep. Annessa Hartman (D-Gladstone) that broke a logjam.

Here's what Oregon's new minimum wage rates will look like starting July 1 KGW Starting July 1, the minimum wage in Oregon will go up 70 cents an hour. The minimum wage won't be the same dollar amount across the state, however, as Oregon's minimum wage system is different than other states. Oregon has three levels of minimum wage: the standard rate, a lower rate for rural areas and a higher rate for the more expensive Portland metro area. … Starting in July, everyone goes up 70 cents an hour, bringing the new minimum wage rates to: $13.20 an hour in rural Oregon $14.20 an hour, considered the "standard rate" for more populated areas $15.45 an hour for the Portland metro area

PREPARE FOR WILDFIRE SEASON

From our friends at Linn County Sheriff's Office: 

Did you know the Linn County Sheriff’s Office also runs the county’s Emergency Management? This is a duty, like all of our others, we take seriously and we want to help you prepare for this fire season. Although we may only be in the middle of June, Wildfire Season is unfortunately here! We have already seen some small and larger fires pop up around Oregon.

With help from the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM), here are some key things to keep in mind for the upcoming wildfire season:

Stay Informed

Sign up for emergency alerts to be notified when there is an evacuation. In Linn County, we have the Linn-Benton Alert System. You can sign up for this by visiting here.

People should become familiar with their county emergency management and can visit here to see more information for Linn County. Those who use social media are encouraged to follow local emergency services in their area such as the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and other police and fire agency profiles.

Have a Plan

OEM offers an evacuation checklist that can be used as a guide. Establish a communication plan with a list of important contacts and a safe place for loved ones to meet if they are separated during an emergency. Identify multiple evacuation routes from home, work or school and plan for transportation needs. Discuss the plan with loved ones, friends and neighbors and practice it so everyone knows what to do during an emergency.

People with disabilities should consider individual circumstances and specific needs when planning for evacuation, such as special equipment, medication, transportation and service animals.

Have an evacuation plan for pets and large animals such as horses and other livestock. Prepare a pet evacuation kit in a tote bag or pet crate. Pack food, water, leashes, bedding, identification, medication and vaccination or medical records. Plan for transportation of large animals and identify sheltering options before you will need them.

Make a Go-Kit

Assemble an emergency kit of essential supplies that can be grabbed in a hurry. Pack an easy-to-carry backpack or bag for each member of the household with health and safety items such as food, water, medication, flashlights, phone chargers and clothing. Visit here for a complete list of items you should have in your Go-Kit.

Find more information and resources at Wildfire.Oregon.gov/prepare.

We hope you find this information useful and that you and yours have a safe Summer!

SWIM LESSONS

From our friends at Mid-Willamette Family YMCA: 

We have changed our swim lesson registration process.

Sign up online from the comfort of your home. Every 3rd Monday of the month. 

Make sure to get your account set up as we have a new registration system.

Here is our new registration program link

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT IS COMING UP

From our friends at Albany Oregon Police Department: 

What is National Night Out?

National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer and a more caring place to live. Plan a little get together, register on our website and we will stop by for a visit! We have red and blue party lights and like to bring the fun

August 1st 

Register here

Talk soon,

Capitol Phone: 503-986-1415
Capitol Address: 900 Court St NE, H-389, Salem, OR 97301
Email: Rep.ShellyBoshartDavis@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/boshartdavis