The agenda for the meeting has been posted on the district website. Those wishing to submit public comments are encouraged to let their voices be heard.
Parents groups have been weighing their legal options.
The Oregon Legislature nearly passed SB 1702 through a joint committee hearing on the first day of the second special session of the year, a session which is meant to focus on fixing a broken state budget.
The bill would have prioritized the processing of claims in Oregon’s plagued unemployment claim system, but for one group of people only, that being “teachersâ€. Certainly, countless other Oregonians who continue to struggle without help do not get the special treatment that the teachers’ union is requesting through their lobbying of the legislature. This bill would have been passed with the severely overused “emergency clause†attached to it as well if it had not been halted in committee. Senator Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) voted no on the legislation to halt it in committee.
Governor Brown issued a press release lamenting the death of the bill. “It’s appalling that Senate Republicans today voted down a common sense fix to the unemployment process that would put money in people’s pockets faster. The bill would have eliminated red tape for education employees, freeing up staff to process other claims more quickly,†she said.
From the Senate floor, Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod (R-Stayton) responded, “My conclusion is the number of Republicans equals the IQ of the governor.â€
Girod later said in a press release, “A bill that would have prioritized public employees to receive unemployment benefits over Oregonians who have been waiting without help for months, had bipartisan opposition and died in the Joint Committee on the Second Special Session of 2020.â€
“Governor Brown, this is your mess,†continued Girod. “Your commitment to pandering to special interests knows no bounds. You wanted your special interests to jump the line and receive unemployment benefits ahead of Oregonians that have been waiting for assistance and haven’t been getting it for months.â€
“I am trying to protect the tens of thousands of unemployed Oregonians, through no fault of their own,†said Senator Lynn Findley (R-Vale). “Oregonians are begging for help, some filing for bankruptcy, and the governor is blind to those pleas, and instead prioritizes public employees.â€
Concerns expressed about Democrat leaders muting the public
The second special session of the Oregon legislature kicked off today, with the Oregon Capitol building declared off limits to the Oregon public, legislators and staff being the only personnel allowed inside.
Senator Fred Girod (R-Stayton) and other republicans voted against these special rules today, and in hopes of include those members of the public, the Senator has issued a statement regarding his vote on the Senate Rules.
Largely the same as the rules in the first special session, they exclude Oregonians from the legislative process by locking them outside the Oregon Capitol. Girod said, “This is the building of the people, and it is wrong for the super majority party to continue to lock Oregonians out of the legislative process. It is a symbiotic relationship: Oregonians have a right to be involved in the creation of legislation, and legislators need their input and advocacy to craft sound policies for the state. I shouldn’t have to say this, but we are elected to represent Oregonians, not bulldoze them to appease special interests.â€
The Majority party Democrats are unlikely to grant such a request for the public to be included, which critics are noting could lead to policy creation that will likely be unsuccessful and not in the interest of Oregonians.
Editor’s note: This is the fifth of a multi-part series analyzing the latest version of the school re-opening guidelines and the prospects of schools re-opening in the Fall.
As the state struggles to deal with government shutdowns during the COVID-19 epidemic, various stakeholders in the the world of K-12 education have taken to trying to use the crisis to their advantage.
Arguably the most powerful public employee union in the state, the Oregon Education Association -- representing teachers, along with it's sister union, the Oregon School Employees Association -- representing classified school employees, submitted a letter as testimony to the policy committee which considered legislation for the first special session, held in late June. The subject of the letter was to urge legislators not to remove the cap on virtual schools. The cap currently limits the number of students that can transfer from their traditional public school to a virtual school at 3% of enrollment.
Arguing in the letter that virtual schools “have dismal educational outcomes (one graduated just 33 percent of its seniors last year),†virtual schools have countered that students who come to them are often at the bottom of the heap of the public school student body -- a a factor often driving their desire to transfer.
As the Governor -- who is, after all the state superintendent of public instruction -- cheerleads Oregonians with cries of "We're going to get through this together..." she might take a moment to have the education unions take their share of the pain.
Or at least not use the crisis to try to carve out an advantage for themselves.
When Oregon Governor Kate Brown said "Revenge is a dish best served cold", she wasn't kidding, and apparently she didn't mean it was just one dish. The hits keep coming, from abuse of power, to creating police reform with inadequate stakeholder input. Now rural districts in Oregon are about to get burned, literally.
Among many things being chopped, or drastically reduced are; veterans affairs, housing, disability services, clean air Oregon, rebates and tax incentives, transportation, education, poacher and predator prevention services, gang task forces, two prisons, addiction help, and more. But the kicker might be wildfire mitigation and extinguishing needs.
Oregon is set to have record wildfires this year due to logging contracts gone unfulfilled, and an inappropriate forest management plan, which came after the Oregon Forestry Board was bound and gagged by environmental groups last year. Oregon was already falling behind in terms of proper practice for fire mitigation, and as fire crews lose vital funding, Oregon may lose its footing on fire season.
Governor Brown took to Twitter in order to remind Oregonians it's that time of year again, and perhaps set the stage for why Oregon is about to burn, yep, her go to villain "COVID-19".
What's possibly most perplexing about this photo, is that state parks are not yet open, especially to camping. So what's really going on here?
Oregon media is exclusively covering Portland mayhem, and while everybody is chatting about police reform bills, (which are being tabled until September) Oregon's legislature is making massive budget cuts starting Monday. The area that will see the steepest decline in funding is Natural Resources. The budget for Natural resources covers everything from farmer rebates, to poacher prevention. What's possibly most ironic is the deep cuts to "Oregon Clean Air", created after last year's famed HB 2007. A bill so drastic, thousands flocked to the capitol and created the grassroots group #TimberUnity, in order to fight it. That fight resulted in a walk out, and thus the promise of revenge by Kate Brown. If only leaders had a COVID-19 crystal ball, but as they say "hindsight is 2020".
Uncontrolled fires, pump millions of C02 ppm into the atmosphere per minute, and are one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions on the planet. Taking diesel trucks off the road, and stopping logging contracts seem sort of silly, in comparison. Had the super majority spent the better part of last session actually working on ways to manage the rain forest, that is Oregon, we might not be in this situation right now. Time and time again we see how pandering to a base, rather than legislating, is costing valuable resources. This time the costs may become incalculable. Homes, farms, life, and many acres of timber will go up in flames if these budget cuts are not amended.
The education union has taken advantage of the opportunity to cash-in on the COVID-19 outbreak to receive benefits for which it is currently ineligible. SB 1702 describes the bill as a temporary authorization of payment of unemployment insurance benefits to individuals performing services in other than instructional, research or principal administrative capacity for educational institution or institution of higher education in circumstances in which payment is currently denied.
Payments that are currently denied are excess of any salary, like bonus payments. How does a COVID-19 outbreak with a shortage of funds justify paying bonuses? Especially for research that isn’t of an emergency nature?
To throw the public off track, this statement was added to the bill: “If the United States Secretary of Labor serves notice that any provision of section 2 of this 2020 second special session Act, or rule adopted under section 2 of this 2020 second special session Act, fails to meet the requirements of the Social Security Act or the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, the nonconforming provision or rule shall no longer be of any force or effect.â€
So what does SB 1702 say that the U.S. Secretary of Labor might not like? “The denial of benefits and compensation under ORS 657.221 (1) to (4) does not apply to benefits and compensation otherwise payable to individuals for weeks beginning on or after May 1, 2020, and ending before December 1, 2020.†When has the federal government questioned state authority for lifting restrictions on compensation?
ORS 657.221 states what is ineligible for benefits of certain educational institution employees. The provisions SB 1702 wants to suspend or allow for payment is research based on other than instructional research payable at the same rate as other services and if not performed during a customary vacation period or holiday. Benefits are not paid when more than 50% of time is performed for an education service district. Employees who terminate employment due to labor negotiations or dispute, the separation shall be considered an involuntary leave or layoff.
Suspending laws that has the effect of increasing compensation beyond regular compensation doesn’t benefit those really needing help. It deserves questioning. Is this political payback setting the stage for a repeal in the regular session?
Why we can’t have a discussion about law enforcement.
Joint Committee On Transparent Policing and Use of Force Reform met and had further discussions about the use of tear gas to control riots. The proposal is LC 742 which would regulate police use of pepper spray, sound devices or kinetic impact projectiles.
You'll remember that during the first special session in late June, the Legislature passed HB 4208 which placed strict limits on the ability of law enforcement to use tear gas to control riots and never for any other purpose.
(2) A law enforcement agency may not use tear gas for the purposes of crowd control except in circumstances constituting a riot, as described in ORS 166.015.
(3) Before using tear gas in circumstances constituting a riot, a law enforcement agency shall, in the following order:
     (a) Announce the agency’s intent to use tear gas;
     (b) Allow sufficient time for individuals to evacuate the area; and
     (c) Announce for a second time, immediately before using the tear gas, the agency’s intent to use tear gas.
During the discussion Sen. Floyd Prozanski suggested the consideration of water cannons as an alternative to chemical means of riot control. Committee Co-Chair Rep. Janelle Bynum bristled at the suggestion and an animated exchange ensued.
Other police reforms are on the table, as well as budget issues.
In the wake of President Trump signing an Executive Order to extend pandemic benefits by $400, he obligated states to pick up $100. Governor Brown is uncertain whether Oregon can do that. The big criticism for the federal $600 per week benefit is that employers can’t get employees to come back to work. But, in release of the Second Special Session bills, up-front is an increase of unemployment benefits for those working part-time.
SB 1701 does nothing to balance the budget. To the contrary, it permanently amends ORS 657.150 unemployment laws increasing the excluded amount when claiming unemployment from $132 per week (in Portland) to $300 per week statewide.
Under current law a person making minimum wage has to work a day and a fourth before unemployment is reduced based on wages. This proposal allows that same person to work almost three days before unemployment is reduced. It allows a person to work 3 days a week and get 3 days of full unemployment paid. Put another way, a person can make $1200 a month and still get full unemployment benefits.
How will that get full time employees back to work? It will force employers to split jobs into part-time work and keep the unemployment rate high. How do we pay for the higher unemployment once federal money stops flowing? We should question this redistribution of wealth which we will all pay for in increased costs.
Just because it’s a conspiracy theory, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown told lawmakers on Tuesday that she is actively considering travel restrictions to slow the spread of the COVID-19, especially southern interstate travel. The details are unclear how it will affect Oregonians doing business in other states, or traveling for vacation and could include quarantine following travel. This action is being considered after Oregon’s infection rate has plateaued and California’s rate is declining. So, what is the point?
In 2017, lawmakers approved a $5.3 billion statewide transportation packaged that includes a road fee (toll) plan. To set the road fee plan in motion the Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee has met six time since November with five more meetings scheduled this year. The committee consists of government, industry and transit-related stakeholders tasked to ensure equitable I-205 and I-5 toll processes, and to help develop a framework for the toll project.
The Equity and Mobility Advisory Committee reviewed the mobility and equity strategies for I-205 and I-5 toll projects offering recommendations for how to toll the metro area's busiest highways. The June 29, 2020 meeting summarized that most agreed that improved transit needs to be one of the benefits that comes out of toll revenue; that toll revenue will provide improvements to roads and infrastructure; that there must be the potential for tolls to decrease emissions, though only if paired with incentives to use public transit; and that using carpools and apps connecting people to get to work and other events or activities can provide a sense of community and decrease the number of cars on the freeway.
Retired State Representative Jeff Kropf reports that polls show that next to violent protesters moving voters towards law and order candidates, that tolling freeways that are already paid for upset voters.
In response, Initiative Petitions 10 was collecting signatures to put the toll issue on the ballot in November that will restrict tolls or user fees to approval by voters, except on new freeways. It failed to draw funding, so it did not make the ballot, but backers are committed to trying again.
From the Vote On Tolls Act of 2020:
"No personal or recreational vehicle, or commercial truck usage, of transportation infrastructure in Oregon may be subject to any transportation fee or toll, unless ... approved by both a majority of voters in the state and a majority of voters in each county in which the fee or toll applies."
When the Governor talks of restricting travel to stop the spread of the COVID-19 from other states, is it another conditioning act to usher in tolling?
