NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: Hot News From Oregon

7/8/2024

By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10

Dear Neighbors and Friends,

What a wonderful Fourth of July across the district! And with the holiday landing mid-week, the heavy traffic from the valley seems a bit more spread out.

I hope you’re staying cool in the heat. Over the weekend, we saw 103 degrees in Portland, 102 in Salem, 106 in Ashland, 101 in Bend… and 77 here at the beach. This time of year, I always remind people to be patient and considerate and drive carefully. It only takes a moment to slow down and let someone turn into traffic. Ten seconds later you will have caught up – but they will remember your kindness much longer.

We Oregonians are not used to extreme heat. Closer to the ocean, we are spared the brunt of the hot weather. But for many, staying at the coast is not an option and we need to drive inland for work, health care, or other commitments.

Governor Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency for all of Oregon on Friday, as the state prepares to take the brunt of a heat wave that could send temperatures soaring into the triple digits through Tuesday. “Both the record-breaking temperatures and the duration of heat present a clear and present danger, particularly for children, elders, people with disabilities, and people who work outside,” Kotek said in a statement. “I am urging Oregonians to take every precaution and check on your family and neighbors.”Emergency declarations are a bureaucratic tool that enable state agencies to more freely share funding and resources with local governments and other groups as they set up cooling shelters, hand out water, and take other steps to protect human health. That process is coordinated by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, or OEM.All of that said, if you do encounter hot weather, don’t wait for the government to help you. There are a few easy, common-sense actions you can take to stay cool. These include wearing light clothing, eating light meals, and staying hydrated. If possible, stay somewhere with a fan or air conditioning to keep the air cooler around you.Be prepared. Know the signs of a health risk. Take care of yourself, your families, your neighbors and your pets. More information is available here.

Minimum wages increased by 50 cents across Oregon on the first of July.

That wage in the Portland area will rise to $15.95. In urban counties outside the Portland area, the minimum wage will be $14.70 an hour. And in rural counties, the minimum will be $13.70.

When the Oregon Legislature overhauled the state’s minimum wage in 2016, lawmakers set varying minimum wages for different parts of the state to account for differences in the cost of living. Legislators also mandated annual increases that are now pegged to inflation, which is why Oregon’s minimum wages went up on Monday.

Of course, the legal minimum means little in a tight labor market. Most entry-level jobs across our district pay more than $15. The share of workers earning the minimum has fallen rapidly – from 7.4% in 2017 to 4.1% in each of the past two years, according to the Oregon Employment Department.

Oregon’s retail and hospitality sectors have the highest share of minimum wage workers – nearly 1 in 10 hospitality workers make the minimum wage. Many of those hospitality jobs are in restaurants, bars or other venues where tips supplement paychecks. Oregon is among nine states that don’t have a lower minimum wage for workers who receive tips.

The average Oregon hourly wage is much higher than the minimum, $31.17 last year. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009.

Here are a few other bits of news you might find interesting or helpful:

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is seeking public comment on a proposal to adjust rates for camping and other facilities in state parks starting in summer 2025. Regular adjustments to rate ranges are necessary to respond to increases in utility costs, operations and maintenance needs, and inflation. Rates vary by park and season. The proposal would increase the top end of the range to $29 per night before taxes. See the proposed rates. Public comments on the proposed rule change will be accepted through 5 p.m. August 30, 2024 and can be submitted here.

As of July 1, Oregonians have new consumer privacy protections. The Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, which was signed into law in 2023, took effect on Monday and outlines consumer data rights while aiming to hold companies that have access to consumer data to “high standards.” Under the bill, consumers can get a list of specific entities that received their personal data and have a “right to correction” – meaning you can edit any inaccuracies. Additionally, consumers have a right to delete the data a business has about them, and the right to opt out of businesses selling, profiling, or using their data for targeted advertising under the bill.

Oregon State Treasury released its annual report this week. Details include returning record amounts of unclaimed property back to individuals, the nation’s first state-based retirement savings program, a College Savings Plan tax incentive, and a pathway to net zero carbon emissions for the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund. You can view the report on the Treasury website and can watch a video recap from the Treasurer here.

Oregon is the first state to join the IRS Direct File software program, which allows people to file their taxes for free. Surveys show the average American spends $270 to file their taxes. Next year, the state and federal Direct File programs will be linked on the Oregon Department of Revenue’s website. Once a taxpayer completes their federal return using the software, they’ll be directed to the state system to complete their state return. There are several other free options, but they’re mostly for lower-income or older taxpayers.

I continue to serve on the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services. The Commission recently urged the Governor to review the Department of Human Services following the death of a resident at a senior living facility. The Governor has now called for an audit of the Department. “Governor Kotek is formally asking this Commission to provide her with recommendations for policy changes needed to ensure resident safety.”

Business Oregon has announced $3 million in grant funding to 34 County Fair Operators in Oregon that experienced significant revenue losses due to statewide shutdowns from health mandates that affected Oregon during the COVID-19 pandemic. The awards ranged from approximately $30,000 – $94,000 each, depending on how much revenue each county lost. The funding was part of a Rural Economic Development Package I authored in 2023.

Business Oregon has also announced awards of $3 million to 15 currently operating Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to improve their services to Oregon small businesses. The SBDCs assist clients with business plan preparation, financial management, personnel management, and marketing. The SBDCs also help facilitate access to capital by bridging the gap between small businesses seeking capital and lenders looking for qualified buyers. The funding was another part of a Rural Economic Development Package.

Here is some particularly distressing news.

Hateful acts directed at Oregonians because of their religion drove an increase in reported bias-related crimes and non-criminal incidents over the past year, according to a report released Monday by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

Oregonians in 2023 reported nearly 3,000 incidents of bias to a confidential state hotline, and about 20% of those incidents were related to the victim’s religion – most targeted at Jewish people. As it has since the commission began collecting data in 2020, race remains the largest motivating factor behind bias incidents.

Over the past four years, the hotline has fielded nearly 10,000 reports that varied in scope and severity, including reports of spitting, burning LGBTQ+ pride flags, nooses left on doorsteps, local elected officials spreading anti-Jewish tropes in public meetings, books by authors of color and queer authors being banned, trans students being forced to use their former names in yearbook photos and race-based homicide.

The hotline has found trends in bias incidents. Anti-Asian incidents, for instance, peaked in 2021 – coinciding with the COVID pandemic. Hate directed at Hispanic Oregonians spiked in 2022, an election year with a lot of attention directed at asylum seekers being bused to cities around the country. And in 2023, after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the war that followed, incidents directed against Jewish and Muslim Oregonians spiked.

Hotline workers counted 456 hateful incidents directed at Jewish Oregonians, a 144% increase since 2023. The number of anti-Muslim incidents increased by 263%, from 27 in 2022 to 98 in 2023.

If you call the Bias Response Hotline, 1-844-924-BIAS, you are connecting with trauma-informed hotline advocates who are trained in crisis intervention and can provide bias response advocacy, including assistance in reporting a bias crime to law enforcement.

I had a ball at the La De Da Parade in Yachats.

That’s Congresswoman Val Hoyle and I, some great trail stewards, and Mayor Berdie.

Some photos from Yachats News.

The coming week is flooded with virtual meetings – the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (OSSPAC), the Oregon Ocean Science Trust, and the Governor’s Council on Senior Services. And then over the weekend, Susie and I are slipping away for some private time.

I hope you and yours can find some fun as well.