Editor's note: This is the second of a multi-part series on Administrative Law in Oregon

Oregon law defines "rule" as "any agency directive, standard, regulation or statement of general applicability that implements, interprets or prescribes law or policy, or policy, or describes the procedure or practice requirements of any agency." Agencies may adopt, amend, repeal or renumber rules, permanently or temporarily (up to 180 days), using the procedures outlined in the Oregon Attorney General's Administrative Law Manual.

The Oregon Attorney General has developed models for creation and amendment of Administrative Rules. Administrative rules are created for and by executive branch agencies.

​​Administrative Rules are created by most agencies and some boards and commissions to implement and interpret their statutory authority. Agencies may adopt, amend, repeal or renumber rules, permanently or temporarily​(for up to 180 days).

Every OAR uses the same numbering sequence of a three-digit chapter number followed by a three-digit division number and a four-digit rule number. For example, Oregon Administrative Rules, chapter 166, division 500, rule 0020 is cited as OAR 166-500-0020.

Administrative rules are kept on a website by the Archives Division of the Office of the Oregon Secretary of State

The Administrative Rules Unit in the Archives Division within the Secretary of State assist agencies with the notification, filing and publication requirements of the administrative rules process. Every Administrative Rule uses the same numbering sequence of a three-digit agency chapter number followed by a three-digit division number and ending with a four-digit rule number (000-000-0000).


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-07-30 12:13:23

Last Update: 2021-07-30 09:21:07

Governor Kate Brown has announced new mask guidance for Executive Branch state agencies in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recently updated guidance, and based on the spread of the Delta variant.

The new guidance requires all state employees (regardless of vaccination status) in any indoor state agency space to wear face coverings; the requirement also applies to visitors and customers who enter state agency indoor spaces.

"The science and data are clear: the Delta variant is spreading in our communities and is more contagious," said Governor Brown. "This mask requirement will protect Oregonians, many of whom have been on the frontlines of the pandemic and who continue to provide essential services to Oregonians. We also must protect everyone—both agency employees and community members who visit state agencies for information, services, and resources. This new guidance accomplishes both."

Governor Brown announced that the state agency mask guidance is effective immediately.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-07-30 12:07:11

Last Update: 2021-07-30 12:20:08

A portable bathroom in Eugene, Oregon was reported on fire on July 30 at 3:25 a.m. located near West 7th Aly and Lawrence. The structure was up against the building, Growler Guys, 472 W. 7th Avenue.

A caller heard an explosion near W. 7th Aly. Callers reported the fire was going up the building and onto power poles. Eugene Springfield Fire responded and gained access to the building.

Meanwhile, there were other fires being reported in the area, including two additional fully-involved dumpster fires started at apartments in the area reported at 3:58 a.m. Eugene Police was responding during these calls as well.

Community members and Eugene Springfield Fire were providing tips regarding subjects in the area as police searched.

Eugene Police took a person into custody at 4:24 a.m. and he was identified as Daniel David Moore, who had a warrant. He was taken to the Lane County Jail on charges of Arson in the Second Degree, five counts of Reckless Burning, Menacing, Criminal Mischief in the Second Degree.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-07-30 11:44:31

Last Update: 2021-07-30 12:07:11

Jason Beebe, the Mayor of Prineville and an Iraq War veteran has announced his candidacy for United States Senate for the seat currently held by Ron Wyden.

"The battle for the future of our republic has to start from the ballot box. We have real problems that President Biden is making worse, the only way to fix that is in Congress. What if, Oregon surprised the country and we reject the extreme leftist policy of Ron Wyden for a patriot, a warrior, a true neighbor?

"We need to send someone through the primary that can give Wyden a real fight. We need someone that will bring true values that every American and every Oregonian shares.

"Border security, strong national defense, pro-life, 2nd amendment rights and strong protection for our liberty, and a government that needs to get the hell out of the way versus shutting down our economies locally and nationally."

Beebe is married with five children ranging in age from mid 20's and younger twins. He has worked as a data center contractor.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-07-30 08:10:34

Last Update: 2021-07-30 08:49:06

Governor Kate Brown has directed the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Education to create a rule to require masks indoors for K-12 schools statewide for the 2021-22 school year, in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recently updated guidance, and based on the spread of the Delta variant.

“The science and data are clear: the Delta variant is in our communities, and it is more contagious,” said Governor Brown. “My priority is to ensure our kids are able to safely return to full-time in-person learning this fall, five days per week and with minimal disruptions. With many children still ineligible to be vaccinated, masks are an effective way to help keep our kids safe in the classroom, the learning environment we know serves them best.

She continued, “In the meantime, as we ask Oregonians statewide to mask up in public indoor spaces, we will continue working hard to vaccinate more people so we can finally beat this virus once and for all. Vaccines remain the most effective and best way to protect ourselves and our families.”

Critics are noting the lack of precise scientific considerations in such a statewide mandate, considering also that school children have been found to not be "super-spreaders" of the disease. Critics also wonder if the Kate Brown administration simply has trouble letting go of governmental powers it has acquired during the era of COVID-19 restrictions.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-07-29 15:27:30

Last Update: 2021-07-29 15:42:07

Homelessness has been an increasing topic when so many were left homeless from wildfires last summer.

The Oregon Legislature created Project Turnkey as a program to reduce homelessness by acquiring motels and hotels to serve as temporary housing. In November 2020, the Oregon Legislature allocated $65 million initially for Project Turnkey. An additional $9.7 million was allocated in late June 2021 to fund additional projects. Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) was selected to administer funds with guidance from an Advisory Committee of state, local, and community stakeholders.

Project Turnkey has generally been seen as a success to some, but other House legislators were concerned that the rollout didn’t go as smooth as it could have, and suggested that if the program is to continue long term, that the Oregon Community Foundation might not be best suited to administer it.

Project Turnkey increased the state’s supply of emergent housing by 20 percent through acquisitions of shelter properties in 19 Oregon communities across 13 counties. Each Project Turnkey operation is locally created and operated by local government and/or nonprofit community partners, and each is designed to meet the needs of its community’s populations, ranging from fire survivors to domestic violence survivors to Veterans and also to people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Long term, most units supposedly will be converted to transitional or permanent supportive housing, and some will remain shelters. Most Turnkey projects plan on paying for operation costs through a combination of state and federal resources and fundraising dollars.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

“Often, government says ‘We know the solution.’ In truth, the community living the experience and walking through it daily know best what is needed,” said Will Miller, Government Affairs Manager, Native American Youth and Family Center, and Project Turnkey Advisory Committee member.

Oregon Community Foundation offers support for Oregon’s housing needs along a continuum — from shelter to supportive housing to affordable housing to equitable home ownership — through a variety of tools, including research, grants, advocacy, and low-interest loans. OCF’s administration of Project Turnkey is one example of an approach launched to help more Oregonians find stable, affordable housing.

Outside of Portland, Eugene may have the next biggest issue with homeless camps. When City of Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis was asked if Project Turnkey had reduced the street camps, she replied, “We don’t have enough experience with Project Turnkey to know. On the face of it, it is an excellent way to stabilize people who want and need shelter and services. The folks who are disaffected from society and unwilling to change their transient lifestyle are much harder to persuade to move into any kind of shelter or managed site – and I don’t imagine hotels are any better for them than any number of other options, but I could be wrong. They really present our biggest problem.”

It seems that the street campers create the most buzz with their unsightly make-shift shelters, unclean habits, and concern for their warmth in winter. The question remains, when it gets towards freezing this winter, will Turnkey hotel and motels shelter this segment of homeless that prefer camping outdoors?

The Project Turnkey Community Advisory Committee will officially conclude the project with a review of insights and key lessons in a comprehensive report that OCF will deliver to the Oregon Legislature in early August, 2021.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2021-07-29 14:58:37

Last Update: 2021-07-29 15:21:23

Sandy Mayor and Oregon Gubernatorial candidate Stan Pulliam has announced that he wants to make Sandy the new home to the statues of three American presidents that were horribly vandalized and torn down by violent rioters in Portland last year.

In a press release containing an eight minute video link, the mayor flanked by city councilors Laurie Smallwood and Carl Exner, said

The destruction of our cherished monuments was heartbreaking to watch, but what’s even more frustrating is the City of Portland’s acquiescence to the left-wing mob. City leaders refused to refurbish these statues and put them back up on display. An unconscionable decision.

Statues are chiseled from rock for a reason. They are there to remind us of where we came from, not where we are. They should inform with inspiration the great things accomplished, and welcome discussion of the great things done since.

That is why on Monday I will meet with Sandy City Council to make Sandy a sanctuary for memorials that represent the best of Oregon and American ideals.

Venerating our history allows us to celebrate the things that should be celebrated, like American exceptionalism and liberty. It also allows us to learn from our past in order to foster a better future. I will fight to bring these statues to their new home in Sandy where they will stand for generations to come.

If you agree that our freedom in America is under attack as long as the cancel mob is able to destroy statues of our nation’s heroes and silence speech that they don’t agree with.

Pulliam specifically referenced the statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-07-28 13:49:00

Last Update: 2021-07-28 14:06:01

Recent attacks on small business reveal more than just ignorance on the part of those removing tax incentives for owners making over $400k annually. Why set the arbitrary level of annual income at $400k?

Small business owners do different things with their income. They don’t all buy luxury second homes as lawmakers playing the class envy card are claiming. Most reinvest in their companies. They care for their employees and hope a family member may go into the business someday. They reinvest if for no other reason than to stay competitive or be swallowed up. Their reinvestment plans are as individual as there are companies. The reinvestment may be a few thousand or many millions. Guess what, small businesses are not all alike.

For government to decide how best to use the income for millions of self-employed with one size fits all rules is ridiculous. Reinvestment for someone at the lowest income level and the highest income level may be equally risky. The economy depends on taking a risk with innovation. Why penalize just one income level? Lawmakers favoring this legislation for the most part are the ones who have never been employers. Some may know a lot about selling to government, but what’s their experience working in the free market? Often revealing is where their campaign contributions come from.

This is really just continued income confiscation. Tax and spend legislators shift their focus to different targets each session. Large Corporations learn to adjust to tax rules. Small businesses not so much. Plus, if you add up all the millions of small businesses to tax you can confiscate equal or greater funds for government spending than could be gained with another assault on large corporations. Regulations and fees are a way for the unelected to raise additional government revenue.

Oregon’s senior Senator has finally arrived. He is chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Not surprisingly, lobbyists shower most of their donations on committee chairs. Ron Wyden is famous for visiting each of Oregon’s counties each year, even Wheeler County with less than 2000 people. That’s good optics for the Senator who has lived on the affluent upper east side of Manhattan for decades. He is releasing a bill that will increase taxes on small business owners. Of course he has never signed the front of a paycheck in his life. He only knows what lobbyists tell him. Harming small business, the engine of our economy, must not go unnoticed.

In Oregon we had a similar and equally misguided event with the passage of SB 139. It will remove about $30 million from the private economy each year with government centric advocacy replacing reinvestment for economic growth of the private sector. Oregon’s Grand Bargain under Kitzhaber raised taxes on the large Corporations and did no harm to small business. If that was good policy, why suddenly turn the tables and go after the small businesses?


--Tom Hammer

Post Date: 2021-07-28 09:33:16

Last Update: 2021-07-28 10:10:34

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is now recommending mask use in all indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, and some critics are pointing out that Governor Brown may issue a new statewide mandate in the near future.

OHA issued the following statement on July 27th:

In responses to a large jump in cases and hospitalizations and new national guidance calling for masking measures to prevent the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the Oregon Health Authority today is recommending universal mask use in public indoor settings throughout the state to protect Oregonians from COVID-19.

“Today’s reported sharp rise in cases and hospitalizations in Oregon are sobering reminders that the pandemic is not over, especially for Oregonians who remain unvaccinated,” said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state epidemiologist and state health officer.

“The highly contagious Delta variant has increased tenfold in the past two weeks in Oregon, and it is now estimated to be associated with 80% of the new cases in Oregon. The use of face masks provides significant protection for individuals who are unvaccinated as well as an additional level protection from a small but known risk of infection by the virus for persons who have already been vaccinated.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who are vaccinated with currently available vaccines are protected from the virus and the circulating variants, including the Delta variant that is now seen in the majority of Oregon’s new cases.

OHA’s recommendation aligns with the CDC’s new guidance issued today that everyone, including fully vaccinated persons, wear a mask in public indoor settings. OHA’s recommendation applies statewide, and not just areas with higher infections and high transmission, as cases have increased across the state in recent weeks due to the Delta variant.

OHA is continuing to call on local community and public health leaders, and businesses, to encourage vaccination and masking to prevent new outbreaks in areas of substantial and high transmission.

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-07-27 17:27:00

Last Update: 2021-07-27 20:51:21

Governor Kate Brown has signed into law a controversial energy bill package. She did so July 27th, at 11:15 a.m. at Daimler Truck North America and Portland General Electric’s Electric Island commercial vehicle charging center in Portland.

House Bill 2021 sets the most aggressive timeline in the country for moving to 100% renewable electricity sources, by 2040.

House Bill 2021, House Bill 2165, House Bill 2475, and House Bill 3141 were also passed allegedly to "center the needs of Oregon’s most vulnerable communities".

“With these policies, we will create jobs", said Governor Brown. “We will reduce carbon emissions. And, we will make sure the economic, environmental, and health benefits of our energy economy reach all Oregonians, especially those who have been disproportionately impacted by climate change and pollution."

She continued, “I have continued to make climate action an urgent priority as Oregon continues to grapple with repeated climate disasters, the impacts of which are felt disproportionately by Black, Indigenous, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, communities of color, low income, and rural communities."

A recording of that bill signing —with an American Sign Language simulcast—will be available for the public on YouTube. A copy of the Governor's prepared remarks from the bill signing is available here. Photos of the event can be found here.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-07-27 14:57:10

Last Update: 2021-07-27 15:38:52

For some, Electric Vehicles are the future, able to be powered by non-fossil fuels. For others, they are a fairy tale that will never pencil out, create fiscal inequity and cause more problems than they solve. The Oregon Legislature has been creating a regime of subsidy and regulation to support these modes of transportation, led by Eugene Democrat Representative Marty Wilde.

During the recently concluded session, HB 2290, introduced by Representative Marty Wilde (D-Eugene) which requires State Parks and Recreation Department to allow for installation and service of public electric vehicle charging stations in parking spaces that are part of facilities of state park system. It also, authorizes the Oregon Public Utility Commission to allow electric companies to recover costs from retail electricity consumers for prudent infrastructure measures to support transportation electrification.

The Legislature also passed HB 2165 which requires electric companies that make sales of electricity to 25,000 or more retail electricity consumers to collect an amount from all retail electricity consumers, to be expended to support transportation electrification pursuant to plan accepted by Public Utility Commission. It authorizes the commission to allow electric companies to recover costs from retail electricity consumers for prudent infrastructure measures to support transportation electrification if certain criteria are met. The bill was requested by Governor Kate Brown.

Rachel Dawson of Cascade Policy Institute opposed the bill, saying, "Utilities should not be allowed to use ratepayer funds to own and operate electric vehicle chargers, nor should they be allowed to recover costs for electric vehicle infrastructure measures from all ratepayers." She makes the point that,

"Low-income ratepayers and those living in rural areas should not be subsidizing infrastructure or vehicle rebates for those living in more urban areas with the means to purchase an EV on their own dime. This bill will force everyone to pay for a luxury service that very few will use.

"Perhaps instead we should follow in Kentucky’s footsteps. Kentucky utilities are allowed to build and operate EV infrastructure, but only customers who use them are charged for the service. Utilities recoup costs by charging customers a small hourly fee. Electricity customers who do not and will not utilize this infrastructure should not pay for its implementation."

On the regulation front, the Legislature also passed HB 2180, introduced by Representatives Marty Wilde (D-Eugene) and David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford). which requires the Department of Consumer and Business Services to amend state building code to require that new construction include provisions for electrical service capacity for specified percentage of parking spaces -- even allowing a municipality to adopt local percentage of parking space requirements higher than state building code requirements. The code amendments will become effective on July 1, 2022.

While these are some of the larger requirements and regulations just from the last legislative session, the steady annual drip of these proposals is a hallmark of each legislative session. If the environmentalists and the electric car enthusiasts get their way and more and more cars become electric, sooner or later, the subsidies will become overbearing. Perhaps it's time to develop an exit strategy.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-07-26 21:23:59

Last Update: 2021-07-26 22:35:45

Oregon will soon be spending at least $350 million to try to address behavioral health problems across the state. This may be considered an insincere effort to truly fix the problem according to some observers who criticize some of Oregon's latest political moves, including the recent decriminalization of all drugs in the state.

HB 2086 is awaiting Governor Kate Brown's signature. The legislation would supposedly work to coordinate mental health care systems around the state of Oregon, and it seems to also implement some collectivist notions based on skin color.

HB 2086 will appropriate public money to do the following:

• Require the Oregon Health Authority to establish peer and community-driven programs that provide culturally specific and culturally responsive behavioral health services that are directly responsive to (and driven by) people of color, tribal communities and people of lived experience.
• Increase funding to reintegrate criminal defendants found unfit to proceed in criminal proceeding into communities.
• Appropriate moneys to authority to construct and operate secure residential treatment facility to serve up to 39 individuals.
• Require the authority to reimburse cost of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder treatment paid for on fee-for-service basis at enhanced rate based on specified factors.
• Require authority to conduct study of reimbursement rates for co-occurring disorder treatments and study of Medicaid rates paid for behavioral health services compared to physical health services and rates paid for addiction treatment services compared to mental health services.
• Impose requirements on authority regarding reimbursement for services provided by mental and behavioral health providers to medical assistance recipients.
• Require the authority to continually evaluate and revise administrative rules to reduce regulatory burden on providers.
• Direct the authority to adopt rules requiring coordinated care organizations to provide housing navigation services and address social determinants of health through care coordination.
• Require intensive behavioral health treatment providers, coordinated care organizations and insurers to collect and report to authority data regarding access to intensive behavioral health treatment for children and adolescents with high acuity behavioral health needs.
• Require authority to contract with third-party vendor to survey medical assistance recipients about their experiences with behavioral health care and services.
• Require the Oregon Health Policy Board, by February 1, 2022, to establish Behavioral Health Committee consisting of specified members to establish quality metrics for behavioral health services provided by coordinated care organizations and providers.
• Requires authority to make specified reports to Legislative Assembly.

This bill, HB 2086, was drafted at the request of Governor Kate Brown for Oregon Health Authority, along with a declared emergency, which makes the law effective upon passage.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-07-26 12:33:27

Last Update: 2021-07-26 20:42:23