Friends and Neighbors,

October 20, 2023

Dear Neighbors and Friends,

I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, staying healthy, and have been looking out for your neighbors and friends during this past week.

Tonight’s newsletter reports on last weekend’s Bike Town Hall, provides the Department of Forestry’s final report on this year’s wildfire season, and gives you the schedule for the next round of interim committee hearings and task force meetings that will begin on November 6.  You’ll also find links to info about COVID, the legislative committee looking at addictions treatment and Measure 110, and some federal appropriations crucial to bringing down greenhouse gas emissions.

As I mention further down in the newsletter, I leave tomorrow morning for two weeks in China, heading up a delegation of Oregonians meeting with counterparts in various parts of that country, particularly in Oregon’s two sister provinces of Tianjing and Fujian.  Oregon also is party to a “Sister National Parks” relationship between Crater Lake National Park and Wushi Shan, a stunningly beautiful mountainous region in Fujian.  (The Superintendent of Crater Lake will be joining us on the delegation, as will representatives of the LanSu Chinese Garden in Portland.) 

While there, I’ll also have the honor of providing opening remarks for the 3^rd Forum on Climate Change and Sustainability in Oregon and China, which will include business and academic representatives from Oregon and our Chinese sister provinces. And the trip will culminate with this year’s China-U.S. Sister City Conference, bringing together representatives from all over the U.S. and China.  It will be held in Portland’s sister city of Suzhou, recognizing the 35^th anniversary of that relationship. 

This is, as you know, a stressful time for national relations between our two countries.  I believe that it’s especially important at this time to encourage person-to-person and jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction exchanges and potential partnerships.  I know I’m going to learn a lot from these discussions and interactions.  I look forward to sharing more with you when I return.

Finally, I cannot end this newsletter without asking you to join me in hoping, praying, that a path to peace can be found in the Middle East.  As I write this, my heart, and I’m sure yours, is filled with the horror and uncertainty of events in Israel and Gaza.  I have family in Israel and I have friends who have family in Gaza. So many innocent lives are being lost, the memory of so many historical injustices resurrected and sadly renewed. There are no easy answers here. This is a terribly difficult situation, an immediate test of our humanity.

Please do reach out and let us know if you have any questions about anything in this newsletter.

Change of Date for Next (Decaf?) Constituent Coffee

Our next constituent coffee SHOULD be November 4^th, the first Saturday of November.  However, I won’t be available that day. (I’ll be leading a Trade/Culture/Education/Climate delegation to China.)  The following Saturday is Veteran’s Day, and I’ll be participating in the parade and recognitions on November 11^th.

So, we’ll be rescheduling it for the EVENING of Thursday, November 9^th, 6:30-8:00 p.m. 

This month the Coffee will be via Zoom (Register for Zoom access here​). Feel free to consume the beverage of your choice!

This will be an opportunity for me to catch you up on the latest news from the Legislature, particularly details from our next round of Legislative Days (more on that below).  I’ll also of course want to hear your priorities, and answer any questions that you might have.

Hope to see you there!

Another Great Bike Town Hall!!!

I’m happy to report that our 14^th bike town hall was another fun, thought-provoking, engaging learning experience.  It was well-attended (70+ riders) and the weather was fantastic!

We focused on southeastern portions of the district, mainly in the Lents neighborhood.  We focused a lot on efforts to address housing and homelessness—meeting with workers at a family shelter, affordable housing developers, jobs creators for the houseless, among others. We had a great conversation with members of Portland Street Response and the Fire Bureau, who are engaging with houseless individuals who are experiencing substance-use and behavioral health disorders. It’s incredibly challenging work, but incredibly important.  They are saving lives. 

Someone from the Portland Bureau of Transportation talked to us about the next phase of creating safe bike routes.  We heard from a PPS student about Portland Public Schools’ Climate Action plans, using resources from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to make schools healthier and less carbon intensive. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the different stops and interactions (and photos), take a look at Jonathan Maus' detailed coverage for Bike Portland.

As Jonathan mentions in his coverage, this year’s bike town hall was somewhat bittersweet for me, as it will have been my last as a legislator. It brought back so many rich memories of past bike town halls and the many constituents and other friends that I’ve gotten to know over the years.  It’s been such a privilege.

Coming Soon: Another Round Of Leg Days

It seems as if it was just a few weeks ago that we had our last round of interim committee meetings (AKA “Leg Days”).  Well, it was!  But in just a couple of weeks it’ll be time for the next round.  The next round of Leg Days will begin on Monday, November 6, and will continue through Wednesday, November 8.  In addition, Thursday, November 9, is reserved for task force meetings.

You can find the schedule of committee meetings here.

Another feature of Leg Days is that the Senate meets in full session in order to confirm the Governor’s appointments to various boards and commissions, and to serve as agency heads.  This time that will occur on Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m.  One thing to note, though, is that we will again NOT be meeting on the Senate Chamber floor.  As a result of the Capitol seismic/remodel project, the chamber will not be available.  I believe that we’ll again be meeting in Hearing Room A instead.

I have two meetings on Task Force Thursday: the first meeting of the Task Force On Substitute Teachers  that was created in SB 283 (2023),  and the Joint Public Education Appropriations Committee, which looks at how close or how far are last round of K-12 appropriations came to fully funding our Quality Education Model.  You can follow their work at the websites for each.

In the next week or two you should start seeing the agendas for these meetings appearing on the legislative website, olis.oregonlegislature.gov. Click on Committees and find the committee or task force that you want.

I usually try to provide you with an easy overview of all the agendas just before Leg Days begin.  I won’t be able to do that this time since I’ll be in China until the day before Leg Days begin.  So you’re on your own this time! 

And Another Important Deadline

As it happens, this year's Leg Days week concludes with another important legislative deadline: all bill draft requests for the 2024 session must be submitted to Legislative Counsel by 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 9.  Since the 2024 session is a short session (lasting from the first week of February through the first week March), the number of bill requests is extremely limited.  Each legislator is limited to two personal bill requests, and each committee is limited to three committee bills.

Legislative Counsel has until January 8 to return the completed drafts, and legislators then have until January 12 to secure initial sponsorship signatures and submit the drafts for introduction.  Committees (which meet that week for the final round of Leg Days) must also vote to approve committee bills for submission by January 12.

The 2024 session begins on Monday, February 5.

Fire Season Wraps Up

Now that fall is fully upon us, we can safely say that fire season is effectively over for us in the Northwest. This afternoon legislators received the final season report from the Oregon Department of Forestry, and I’ve copied it for you below.  As you’ll see from the statistics, the number of acres burned this year by wildfire was far below our 10-year average—wonderful news!  Some of that was due to Mother Nature being kinder to us this summer.  But as you’ll see, much of it is due to the hard work, effective coordination, and resources that the Legislature provided to combat wildfire in 2021.

One troubling thing to note is that while the number of fires caused by lightning strikes was way down this year, the number of human-caused fires was far above the 10-year average.  That should give us pause, and I hope cause us all to think about what we can do to keep our forests and bordering communities safer.

Good afternoon, 

This will be the final update for the 2023 wildfire season. As of Wednesday, October 18, 2023, all ODF districts and forest protective associations have terminated fire season. The most recent cycle of wet weather systems across the state has successfully reduced fuel conditions to a level where the risk of a large destructive wildfire is very low. Of the few remaining large fires in Oregon, they are in the final stages of mop up and restoration and none of them are on ODF protected land.

2023 FIRE SEASON STATISTICS

The 2023 season will be remembered as the year of partnerships. Numerous examples across the state have highlighted the combined efforts of fire suppression to collectively minimize the impacts of wildfire. These partnerships, in combination with early detection, aggressive initial attack, and utilization of efficient and effective aircraft, were key components to the significant reduction in acres burned this year. Despite widespread, extremely dry fuels and severe drought conditions coming into fire season, the success of these partnerships are proven in the fire statistics below. By all accounts, these numbers are outstanding given the typical number of fires (975 starts on ODF protection) with 100% of the 10-year average, all while keeping acres burned to a minimal 17,968 (15% of the 10-year average of 119,856 acres)!

October 18, 2023

ODF INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAMS

Even with the exceptional initial attack, ODF had three ODF IMT deployments this year. The first of these deployments was ODF IMT1 to the Golden fire in the Klamath-Lake District on July 22^nd. With strong winds, this fire moved very quickly along Highway 140, north of Bonanza. In the end, a total of 2,137 acres were burned along with 48 primary structures, and 69 additional outbuildings were lost. The second team deployment was ODF IMT3 on August 25^th to a cluster of 19 individual fires. Collectively, these made up the Tyee Ridge Complex, following the August 24^th dry lightning event that stretched from the California border to the Washington border across the western part of Oregon. These fires were on mixed ownership of private and BLM lands in extremely difficult terrain which created significant safety issues and fire control challenges. In all, the complex burned a total of 7,946 acres. After ODF IMT3 completed their 14-day assignment, returning home for rest on September 18^th, ODF IMT1 was deployed to complete final mop up and suppression repair work so management of the fire could return to the local unit.

SAFETY

Even in the midst of a very busy fire season, the agency had an excellent safety record with zero significant injuries or accidents despite exposure hours. ODF remains committed to prioritizing safety and stands firm on maintaining an exceptional safety record into the future. 

EMERGENCY FIRE SUPPRESSION COSTS

With the cost of fire suppression continuing to increase across the country, the successful efforts of the 2023 fire season emphasize the need to keep fires small to avoid future large fire costs. This year, the gross cost of fire suppression to the agency was $73.8 million; net fire suppression cost totaled $35.2 million. 

In addition to fire suppression on ODF protection, the agency also provided assistance through mutual aid support of local fire service and federal partners. These fires are commonly referred to as “non-stat” fires as they are not included in the typical fire season statistics used by the agency, however, they increase the workload of ODF firefighters. Year to date, ODF has assisted with 276 non-stat fire responses across the state. 

As the agency transitions out of fire season, there are still many projects and tasks related to fire season that are ongoing or will be scheduled. Those include payment of fire season invoices, reconciliation and auditing of fire costs, and conducting after action reviews (AAR) from the field level to the executive level of ODF. The intent of the AARs is to be even better prepared for the 2024 fire season with a focus on the components that went well in 2023. With attention given to these elements, the agency will be better positioned to replicate them into the future. The remaining focus of the AARs will be to highlight the challenges faced during the 2023 fire season so that the agency can consistently provide system improvements to the complete and coordinated wildfire protection system in Oregon.

We would like to thank all who aided in the complete and coordinated wildfire protection system in 2023. The combined efforts and partnerships were critical to a very successful fire season which exceeded projected fire season predictions. Our sincerest thanks to you all.

Sincerely,

Michael H. Shaw                        

Chief of Fire Protection             

COVID Q&A from the Oregon Health Authority

Q: What is going on with the new COVID shot? Where and when can we get them? – Gabriele, Bend

A: The rollout of the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine has been frustrating for many, including OHA. Shipping and manufacturing delays have been widespread, in Oregon and across the country. We urge you and all Oregonians to be patient and not give up.

In Bend, where you are, the Deschutes County Public Health Services website states “COVID-19 vaccines are NOT yet widely available in our community,” and we are seeing similar messages for other counties.

Using the Vaccines.gov search tool, I’m seeing a handful of pharmacies in Bend that have 2023-2024 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in stock for people ages 12 and older, including Walgreens, Fred Meyer, Rite-Aid and Safeway. (The availability of COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12 is a real problem.)

The newly authorized 2023-2024 Novavax vaccine is starting to show up at some pharmacies, including the Costco at 2500 NE Hwy 20 in Bend. It is a fine alternative to the mRNA vaccines, because it is also updated with the Omicron XBB.1.5 spike protein.

In the meantime, we recommend getting other vaccines that you might need, such as flu and RSV, while we wait for the COVID-19 vaccine supply to build up.

Q: In the absence of COVID-19 testing data, I have been tracking the wastewater data on the OHA website. The last published wastewater data for Bend looks to be September 5, 2023. Has the Oregon wastewater testing program been suspended? Thank you. -- Nancy, Bend

A: Earlier this month, some of OHA’s data dashboards got a makeover, including the COVID-19 wastewater data dashboard. Now, the dashboard also offers data for flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Looking at COVID-19 trends, the latest reporting from Bend (from samples taken Oct. 10) show no change, or “a plateau,” in SARS-CoV-2 viral concentration. The previous sample date from Bend was Oct. 3, which showed a “sustained decrease” from earlier samples. This data is updated every Wednesday.

We apologize for any confusion. Rest assured the wastewater monitoring program at Oregon State University is going strong, and there are no plans to end it.

Some Additional Links to Stories of Interest

• The new Joint Interim Committee on Addictions and Community Safety Response, recently created by legislative leadership to look at further ways to address the addictions crisis on our streets and potentially seek changes to Measure 110, had its first meeting this week. You can follow their work on the Committee website.  By clicking on the 10/18 meeting link, you can find a number of written materials and can watch the meeting.  Here’s coverage from OPB's Dirk Vanderhart and from the Capital Chronicle's Julia Shumway.
• We received news this week that the federal government will be sending a  billion dollars to states in the Northwest to develop renewable hydrogen projects. (Unlike other parts of the country, whose projects include hydrogen generated from non-renewable sources).  Here’s reporting from the Capital Chronicle's Tom Banse. 
• Speaking of federal appropriations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, here’s a story from Stateline (which reports on legislative action around the country) about federal appropriations under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (IIJA) to support projects aimed at reducing emissions in the transportation sector. As you’ll see in the article, Oregon’s share in this round is $82 million. Here are the specific projects in Oregon.
• As of last week, more than 7 million Americans had received the new COVID vaccine.
• A recent study shows the effectiveness of COVID vaccines at reducing the chances of Long COVID.

Best,

Senator Michael Dembrow
District 23

email: Sen.MichaelDembrow@oregonlegislature.gov
web: www.senatordembrow.com
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301