 * “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
 Join me if you can at the Ashland Library, Tuesday, July 18 at 5pm to talk about the legislative session we just completed, as well as what’s to come.
Improving the prospects for property owners in hazardous wildfire zones was a major focus this session. SB 80 will put a lot more coherence, transparency and public involvement in the wildfire mapping process, and SB 82 should improve transparency and cooperation between insurance companies and policy holders who live in hazardous areas.
At the same time this remains true: no matter what we do at the state level, homeowners insurance across much of Southern Oregon will be more and more problematic. Recent decisions by State Farm and Allstate Insurance to stop writing new policies in California underscore the challenge. Oregon may not be far behind. I know we’ll continue to explore what’s possible in Salem, but the real solution—a broad-based program to reduce the number and intensity of fires in our community—is a long-term enterprise unlikely to offer much relief soon.
In the meantime, the Fire Marshal’s Office continues to distribute grants to help communities. Here are the latest.
What about those absent Senators? Plenty of people want to know if the ten Senators who walked out and stayed out this session will actually be barred from running for re-election, as prescribed by Measure 113, which we passed by a wide margin last November.
Not if some of those Senators have anything to say about it. They’re loudly announcing plans, here, to stay in the Senate no matter what voters might think. Expect plenty of courtroom fireworks before this is resolved.
In the meantime a ballot measure may be in the works to deal with walkouts head-on. Oregon Representatives Khanh Pham and David Gomberg are spearheading a campaign, here, for Oregon to replace the current two-thirds quorum for conducting business with a simple 50%-plus-one majority, which is exactly what 46 states and the US Congress have. They don’t have walkouts.
You’ll be hearing plenty more about this.
Housing and land use planning I spent a lot of space in the most recent newsletter describing the session’s final drama, the battle around HB 3414, which would have prompted the biggest change in Oregon’s land use system since it was created fifty years ago. The bill failed in a cliff-hanger in the session’s final hours. This article lays out a good broad context of why this was such a big deal.
Note its final lines: “[Governor Kotek] hopes to find common ground—and an agreement for more ground—before next year’s session. ‘The topic is not going away,’ Kotek says. ‘Housing is a crisis.’”
On that we all agree. What I hear in Salem is unprecedented consensus that it’s time to ease some of our 50-year-old regulatory guidelines to increase housing supply. At the same time there are plenty of us who think that if that’s not done thoughtfully and cautiously, we could end up losing protections that have helped keep Oregon livable without helping the people who most desperately need housing.
Smart people are steadily at work on this. If we stay focused on finding the best balance among values that can be hard to reconcile, we’ll pass a good bill, either in special session or at the very beginning of next February’s regular session.
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Hope to see you at our Town Hall next Tuesday!
 Senator Jeff Golden, Oregon Senate District 3
Resources
Jackson Care Connect: Extreme Heat Resources
Jackson County- Emergency Alerts and Community Information: Citizen Alert
ACCESS: Food Pantries
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