By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10
6/12/2023
It is mid-June and the legislative session is winding down. We actually had plans to finish our work a week early and adjourn around the 15th. But delays and negotiations in the Senate have made that impossible.
Most policy committees have completed their work and closed down. Budget subcommittees are wrapping up as well with the full Ways and Means Committee meeting extra days and nights to review proposals and send them on to the House and Senate for a vote. The building is quiet. But just below the surface, there is plenty of last-minute work underway.
The House is meeting and passing bills. Walkout negotiations in private and public evolve. And other legislative work continues. Read on!
Monday: While we are in session, the House is required to meet at least once every four days. If there is little to be voted on, we may wait and have one long meeting instead of several short ones. But procedurally, we have to at least gavel in and gavel out in a process called “advancing the calendar”. It is a parliamentary necessity that may seem odd or even amusing.
Monday, I had the honor of advancing the calendar and took a moment at the end to adlib a little. You can see the meeting here.
Monday afternoon, my budget subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development met for a final time.
Traditionally, committee chairs have awarded small gifts or mementos to committee members at the end of a long session. That tradition has fallen away with the pandemic and remote meetings. But we are back to normal now (and I say “normal” advisedly) and so Monday afternoon I renewed my own tradition of presenting members and staff with two pounds of Tillamook cheese.
Of course, with changes in legislative boundaries this year, I no longer represent Tillamook County. But cheese still seemed a better idea than bringing live crabs to the Capitol.
Pictured left to right: Senators Meek, Hansell, Co-Chair Woods, Co-Chair Gomberg, Representatives Gamba, Mannix, Cate, and Sosa.
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Tuesday: I began Tuesday with my 7 am broadcast on KBCH radio. Thanks to Brian Kirch for hosting me every week and to everyone listening in.
Legislators work every day. Sometimes they work on big bills and big budgets. That may involve millions of dollars for a project that will change lives. And sometimes they work on more focused issues that affect fewer people – but still change lives.
Several days ago, we became aware of a case where someone had submitted an unemployment claim two years ago and been denied pandemic benefits. The Employment Department said the application had not been received in a timely manner. Losing those benefits made a difference to that family.
I work on cases like this for constituents all the time.
We got copies of all the forms and my staff met with managers at Employment. They confirmed the application arrived late. But then the manager told us they found notes in the file that led them to look further. The forms had been received but were unintentionally mis-filed by the applicant! Once identified, the Employment Department quickly resolved the problem.
Tuesday morning, it was my happy duty to call one Oregon family and tell them more than $6,500 had been deposited to their account. They burst into tears.
There are many ways a legislator can change people’s lives. Tuesday started well.
Later in the morning, a press conference was held on the Capitol steps. Fifteen speakers lined up to detail the consequences of the Senate failing to meet.
We talked about schools, wildfire, behavioral health, and climate. Council President Jan Kaplan of Newport talked about the future of the Big Creek Dams. I was asked to talk about rural economic development.
“I’m not giving up on this session, on Oregonians, on the bills we need passed, our budget, or on the Senate!”
Toward the end of the program, I was asked if I was freeing up my July schedule for a special session. Watch my response here.
I finished work in two other committees that afternoon and then scooted for the Coast. Friends were gathering to help celebrate my 70th birthday. Check out this delightful kite cake! I told them, being 20 in the 70’s was a lot more fun than being 70 in the 20s…. 
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Wednesday: Wednesday morning at 6:00 am, I was at Devils Lake to greet thousands of grass-eating carp as they arrived and were gently deposited into the water.
Rep. Gomberg, Mayor Wahlke, and the Mr. Fish Truck delivering carp to Devils Lake.
Grass carp work well, cost less, and don’t add chemicals to our water. The problem is that they are an invasive species that can quickly impact the health of our rivers and lakes if they escape and breed. Because of this, ODFW requires anyone using grass carp to obtain a permit which includes the requirement that the carp be sterile.
I’ve been working behind the scenes on this for months and brought the leadership of ODFW out to the lake to see the weeds for themselves in August. Learn more about our new carp here.
I then drove East to Salem for legislative meetings and a floor session where I carried three budget bills. The day concluded with a 5 pm Ways and Means Committee meeting covering about 30 items that lasted nearly two hours.
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Thursday: This was a big day for Coastal Oregon and Rural Oregon on the House floor. I presented three bills for approval with major consequences to our lives and livelihood.
House Bill 2914 would address the scourge of abandoned and derelict vessels left to leak and rot in our state waterways. Those vessels are difficult and expensive to remove, and sadly, the cost of doing so is taken from the money administered by the State Land Board which would otherwise go to schools. My bill created a process for removing abandoned boats and a new fund to cover the cost. It passed unanimously. My only regret is that the bill could not cover recreational vehicles abandoned on our roads and highways. Watch the discussion here.
House Bill 3382 is a measure that would ultimately allow the Port of Coos Bay to request permission to expand their navigation channel and pursue a $2 billion plan for a major shipping terminal that could create thousands of new, clean jobs. Permits and multiple public hearings would be required. The measure generated strong opposition as originally introduced and evolved through eleven sets of amendments. In the end, I believe it was a balanced and workable bill that protects our coastal environment and also provides opportunities in a part of Oregon that have suffered economically. Listen to the extended debate here. The Bill passed 53-3.
Finally, HB 3410 is the result of a small group of Democrats and Republicans working together to promote rural economic development. We prepared a total of nine bills which were approved in four different policy committees and then sent on to Ways and Means. There the package was combined into one large bill. As I detailed last week, HB 3410 appropriates $32.2 million for rural infrastructure and revitalization around the state to help farmers, fishers, small business, recreation businesses, county fairs, the maritime industry, and rural housing construction. It will change local economies, create good jobs, improve livelihoods and lives. A second portion of the package is scheduled to be included in the end-of-session bill with $35 million in bonding support for industrial lands, water and sewer, and ports. You can hear my floor speech here. The Bill passed 48-4.
Thursday ended on a sad and angry note.
I have been working on a measure this session to bring more transparency and accountability to the Oregon National Primate Research Center. The facility in Hillsboro has a long history of complaints for animal welfare violations including an episode where two monkeys were scalded to death in a cleaning system.
My bill passed the House and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. It was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee May 3rd. Now we have learned that there was another fatal accident that same week. A mother and infant were being moved from their cage and the parent became protective and aggressive. The door was closed and “impacted” the infant. It was euthanized soon after. OSHU released news of the fatality June 7th. Why it took a month is unclear. You can read the statement here.
Oregonian photo
Oregon continues to lead the nation in animal research accidents and violations. Reasonable people can disagree on whether using animals for medical research is scientifically valid or ethical. But we have to agree that it’s not being done very well here.
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Friday: Friday morning, Ways and Means met again. Twenty-five budget bills were on the agenda. Since June 2nd, we’ve met three times and heard 85 measures. That’s not unusual at end-of-session as the budget comes together. It was my honor and responsibility to carry about 15 of those bills. We’ll meet again on Monday.
Later in the morning, I met with Capital Chronicle reporter Julia Shumway about my resolution, HCR 21. The measure honors Toledo Reserve Officer Gary Lavaughn Sumpter who was killed in the line of duty. It passed the House in April and is waiting for a vote in the Senate. Her story was published earlier today.
“Every day since May 4, the first bill on the agenda for the Oregon state Senate has been a resolution to honor a small-town reserve police officer shot and killed by a teenager during a car chase in 1969. Every day since May 4, the Senate has adjourned without a quorum, leaving Gary LaVaughn Sumpter’s family waiting, as they have for more than 54 years, for their father’s sacrifice to be recognized by the state.”
Afterwards, Susie took her weary husband away for a quiet birthday retreat to the Oregon Gardens and dinner with friends in Silverton.
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Saturday and Sunday: At seven in the morning at the hotel, my phone lit up with news of a House Democratic Caucus meeting to discuss the walkout again. This has become an almost daily occurrence as negotiations continue.
We did find time after breakfast for a visit to the only house in Oregon designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Then we scratched our afternoon plans and I returned to the Capitol.
The Wright-designed Gordon House in Silverton.
Negotiations continued through the weekend and I’m hopeful that the situation can be resolved with enough time for the Senate to address roughly three hundred non-controversial bills holding there. As I said on the Capitol steps, I have not given up on this session.
Sunday, I retreated to my coastal garden with a chainsaw, chipper, and weed-wacker. As I often say, its much like being in the Capitol except you can see the results. We’ll be back in Salem Monday.
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I wanted to dive in a bit deeper on House Bill 3382, which will allow local government to consider a land use exception to Goal 16 (estuarine resources) for navigation channel improvements in the Port of Coos Bay. The bill was sponsored by every single coastal legislator and supported by Congresswoman Val Hoyle and former Congressman Peter DeFazio.
As originally written, the measure would have allowed dredging in all of our deepwater ports along the Pacific coastline and Columbia river without permitting or public comment. That was a terrible idea! I got involved to change the bill and amend it to protect our estuaries and also carefully allow Coos Bay to begin to build back their once-vital Port potential.
My amendments eliminated four ports, including Astoria and Newport, and limited the bill to Coos Bay. They limited who could apply for a permit to either the Port or one of our federally recognized tribes. They required public hearings and approval by locally elected city and county governments, depending on where the work will be done. They required full mitigation of any environmental effects. They specified that the improvements could not be used for import or export of fossil fuels. They limited where in an estuary work could be done. And rather than bypass our cherished land use system, they relied on that system and the established process of rules and exceptions.
In my floor speech on the bill, I listed a dozen federal, state, and local permitting requirements that would be required before an application could be considered.
While a number of witnesses rightly testified against the bill as originally written, my amendments led environmental groups like the Oregon League of Conservation Voters to remove the bill from their list of “major threats”.
There are two major container ports on the Pacific with another on Puget Sound. Coos Bay has the potential to attract container shipping with some channel improvements. What sets Coos Bay apart is that it is now supported directly by rail service. Taking containers from ship to rail and not to trucks will reduce the carbon footprint of each container, helping us further de-carbonize our supply chains.
Coos County is struggling. With the demise of the local timber industry, unemployment is at 7.8% and the average income of a Coos Bay resident is $21,335 a year. A container port could produce thousands of good-paying, clean jobs in a part of Oregon that absolutely needs our help.
The Port of Coos Bay is a state port and unlike Newport, their Board is appointed by the Governor. Only that Board, or a tribe may make application. The amendments we crafted provide a model for improved tribal consultation in all decisions. And it bears repeating, public hearings, full mitigation of environment effects and no fossil fuels!
Oregon International Port of Coos Bay
Eleven amendments were crafted with the involvement of local communities, conservation advocates, state agencies, ports, developers, and the Governor’s office.
This project is outside my district. It would have been easy for me to avoid this mess. But I stepped up because I believe our coastline and estuaries are worth protecting. Providing that protection and also allowing reasonable development is a very delicate balancing act. I chose not to leave that effort to others and got involved at no small political risk to try and make things better. I believe we succeeded.
The bill passed in Oregon’s House of Representatives last Thursday on a vote of 53-3. It now advances to the State Senate.
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It seems my weekly reports are getting longer as the session end draws near. I apologize for that.
I want to conclude today by wishing a happy graduation to all who are completing a diploma or degree! You deserve to celebrate your hard work and this important milestone on your educational journey! Be proud of your accomplishment! Remember to thank your teachers, family, and loved ones who have supported you though this endeavor. Oh – and thank your community too who pays most costs for our schools, colleges, and training programs.
I wish you opportunity, ambition, support and success as you take your next steps!
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email: Rep.DavidGomberg@oregonlegislature.gov
phone: 503-986-1410
address: 900 Court St NE, H-480, Salem, OR, 97301
