By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10
6/20/2023
Dear Neighbors and Friends,
With nearly 400 bills backed up waiting for final approval, a budget in jeopardy, and time running out, a handful of boycotting Senators returned to work Thursday morning, ending a six-week walkout that had brought work at the Legislature to a standstill. Both sides declared victory. But in the end, it was Oregonians who won with the conclusion of this Senate stalemate. A failed session would have been a disaster for all.
Oregonians need legislation that helps provide more housing and removes barriers to construction. They need behavioral health investments that answer the urgency of the mental health and addiction crises playing out across the state. They need reforms to Oregon’s broken public defense system to ensure representation for those charged with crimes. And they need approval of an operating budget that includes record spending in our public schools, wildfire suppression, and drought relief.
After weeks of intense negotiations, legislative leadership reached an agreement that rescues hundreds of urgent, bipartisan bills that are all at the core of our essential work this session, including:
- Building more affordable housing and getting people off the streets
- Making Oregon more affordable for working Oregonians
- Taking action on climate and wildfires
- Funding our schools
- Addressing the drought and safe drinking water issues across our state
- Rural Economic Development
- Referring a constitutional amendment to voters that will allow the Legislature to hold statewide elected officials accountable via impeachment.
Central to this agreement was compromise by Senators on both sides of the aisle on several controversial bills and a statutory readability requirement which most legislation simply failed to meet.
House Bill 2002 was amended and will ensure that Oregon continues to allow abortion care that has been in place for 50 years under Roe v. Wade. In its original form, the bill would have allowed girls under 15 to receive abortions without notifying their parents. Because of concerns about child sex trafficking and other forms of child abuse, the amended version will require parental notification and consent unless two doctors from different clinics agree that parental notification would result in abuse as defined in existing law. The measure passed the Senate Thursday on a vote of 17-3 with Senators Anderson, Findley, and Knopp voting “no”. It now returns to the House where we must “concur” in those changes.
The second bill to receive heavy edits was HB 2005, which was a three-part bill expanding gun-free zones, raising the minimum age to purchase some firearms to 21, and addressing homemade firearms or “ghost guns”. The first two sections of the bill were removed entirely. The bill will now only require the same numbered registration process for homemade firearms as is required by federal law. A ban on untraceable ghost guns will make our communities safer and help law enforcement do their jobs. This measure also passed the Senate Thursday on a vote of 17-3 with Senators Anderson, Findley, and Knopp in opposition and must return to the House for concurrence.
Senate Bill 348, which was written to put the currently contested language of Measure 114 into statute, will not move forward this session. That voter approved measure would limit large magazines for firearms, enhance background checks, and require improved training. The court case challenging Measure 114 will be heard in the Fall.
I was interviewed on KOIN this week.
Finally, there has been much discussion about whether bills are written in a way the law requires so they can be understood by an average eighth grader. The Constitution (Article IV Section 21) and statutes (ORS 171.134) require that all measures introduced in the legislature must be written in plain language. The eighth-grade standard has not been observed for many years. Measure summaries are being re-written to comply.
To be clear, I believe that bills should be written in a way most people can understand. The 1979 statute requires any measure digest or measure summary prepared by the Legislative non-partisan staff be written in a manner that results in a score of at least 60 on the Flesch readability test. That means shorter sentences and simple words. Here’s an example.
Earlier this year, I introduced HCR 21 to honor Officer Gary Lavaughn Sumpter, killed in the line of duty near Toledo. Legislative staff wrote a measure summary that said: “Recognizes and honors Officer Gary Lavaughn Sumpter (1938-1969) for his service to this state.” That wording received a failing score of 48.8. The summary has now been re-written to say, “The bill honors Officer Gary Lavaughn Sumpter for his service to this state”. The new wording has a passing score of 66.7 but doesn’t seem much different.
I also introduced HB 3211, a critically important step to allow work to begin on the Newport Dams. The summary said, “Authorizes holder of certain water right certificates that authorize storage of water for municipal use to change authorized point of diversion and place of use without losing priority of right under specified circumstances”. That summary failed badly at 20.9. It has now been changed to “The bill allows a type of water right holder to change the geographic area from where water is taken as well as the area where the water is used.” The new summary which gets a 64.6 is easier to read, but I’m not sure it is easier to understand.
The new revised summaries often rely on abbreviations and acronyms to satisfy the Flesch test. For example, SB 210 now references “DHS workers” and “TANF”. Abbreviations and acronyms can be useful when everyone who reads them understands their meaning, but if the goal is better readability for laypeople, they aren’t helpful. Sadly, SB 210 does not pass the readability test if the phrases “Department of Human Services,” or “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,” are used.
Both HCR 21 and HB 3211 are now on the agenda to be voted on and approved in the Senate. SB 210 has passed the House and Senate and heads to the Governor’s desk next.
Over this past weekend when I was out and about in our district, I was asked several times whether I was back at work. I’ve been at work – every day! I serve in the House where members attended, debated and voted. This walkout is in the Senate.
I’m pleased and relieved the Senate is back to work, although several members continue to boycott floor sessions. I’m saddened things got this far.
In the House, I have a reputation as a moderate Democrat who works well and often with Republicans. Last session I led an effort to commit $100 million to rural infrastructure projects. This session I was asked to reprise the effort and coordinated a bi-partisan team to address economic development in coastal, southern, and eastern Oregon. We need more of that kind of bi-partisan cooperation.
With less than a week left before adjournment and 300 bills in the pipeline, work at the state Capitol has renewed at a furious pace. The Senate is churning though bills to make up for six weeks of delays. I’m hopeful that the work done in the House and sent to the Senate over the course of the walkout will be heard and acted on. There is much still at stake for Oregon.
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This is the seventh walkout I have worked though during my time in your legislature. I’ve seen walkouts to confront taxes for schools, climate, redistricting, COVID restrictions, and now guns, abortion, and bill readability. Republicans have walked out on Democratic leadership, and Democrats, earlier, walked out on Republican leadership. This problem is about process, not partisanship.
I understand the walkouts. Each of us have issues and values so important that we would use any tool available to advance or impede them. I get that! But taking a larger view, concerns for some issues should not be able to stop work on all issues. As I said on the Capitol steps last week, that is not negotiation. That is obstruction.
Legislators cannot keep playing this game of chicken, where Oregonians are the ones who end up crushed in the collision of left and right agendas. Last year, voters approved Measure 113 in an effort to address the problem. But the walkouts persisted. This week Representative Khanh Pham and I introduced a bill to address the problem more directly.
Reps. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, and David Gomberg, D-Otis, take questions during a press conference on June 6, 2023. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Under the Oregon Constitution, the House and the Senate must have a two-thirds majority of members present to meet quorum requirements. Quorum is the minimum number of members needed to conduct business. If the House or Senate do not meet quorum requirements, the Legislature is unable to vote on any legislation. By changing this requirement to a simple majority, it will ensure that a small number of politicians aren’t able to stop all bills by refusing to show up.
The idea is not radical. Oregon currently is unusual when it comes to the quorum numbers. Among the 50 states, only four– Oregon, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas – mandate two-thirds. Is it coincidental that all four have experienced troubled legislative sessions this year?
More than 40 legislators have signed on to House Joint Resolution 30 that, if passed, would ask voters to approve that a simple majority of lawmakers be present to conduct business. The odds of passing this referral in just one week are unlikely. But it’s a conversation that benefits from getting started now, rather than waiting six months from now or a year and a half from now for future legislative sessions.
Oregon voters have made clear that walkouts are not the answer. This bill will be critical to starting the conversation and finding a workable long-term solution.
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Here is some very disturbing news.
Legislators received word Thursday from the Oregon Department of Transportation Driver and Motor Vehicles Division (DMV) about unauthorized access of our driver’s license information. This data breach is part of a global technology hack that affected more than 2,000 organizations worldwide who use the MOVEit transfer software tool, including the Louisiana DMV, the U.S. Department of Energy, and others.
Up to 90% of Oregonians are affected. Individuals who have a license, permit, or ID card should assume their records are part of the breach. Personal information for about 3.5 million Oregonians could be compromised.
What you can do to protect yourself?
Check your credit report. Federal law allows individuals to receive a free credit report every 12 months. You can request one online at www.annualcreditreport.com or by phone at 1-877-322-8228. Check the reports for any activity you do not recognize. For more information you can also visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website on identity theft at https://consumer.ftc.gov/features/identity-theft.
Be vigilant in monitoring your credit activity. If you wish to freeze your credit files, you must contact all three of the following credit monitoring agencies for assistance:
- Equifax: equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services or 1-800-685-1111
- Experian: experian.com/help or 1-888-397-3742
- TransUnion: transunion.com/credit-help or 1-888-909-8872
Here are more suggestions from the Department of Justice Consumer Protection Office.
Please visit ODOT’s web page about the data breach for more information and updates. Contact ODOT if you have any questions at AskODOT@odot.oregon.gov or (503) 945-5000.
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And now something a bit more positive.
Oregon Business & Industry (OBI), in partnership with Here is Oregon, has announced the inaugural “Coolest Thing Made in Oregon” contest, in which Oregonians will vote for their favorite thing manufactured in the Beaver State. That begins with an opportunity to nominate a particularly cool product yourself! It takes only a minute or two.
Finalists will be chosen from a list of products nominated by the public, and several rounds of voting will produce a winner. The winning manufacturer will receive formal recognition and, more importantly, enjoy bragging rights for producing Oregon’s coolest thing.
Developing a list of finalists won’t be easy. Oregon’s manufacturing sector employs more than 214,000 people and contributes $33 billion annually to the state’s gross domestic product, according to a 2021 ECONorthwest study. You don’t get numbers like this without manufacturing a lot of stuff, in terms of both volume and variety. Most Oregonians know the state produces microchips, wood chips, fish and chips, and potato chips as well as excellent cheese and wines. But our state’s innovative manufacturers also make things most Oregonians don’t know about – yet. These include robots, electric trucks, tiny houses, even battery-powered firefighting fans.
If you’d like to learn more about the competition or nominate a product, please visit the Coolest Thing Made in Oregon page. Nominated products must be manufactured substantially within Oregon and be legal to buy in all 50 states.
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Home for the weekend, I was busy across our sprawling district.
Friday I spoke at the Samaritan Treatment & Recovery Services groundbreaking. This Newport facility will provide 16 beds for adults with substance use disorders from across Oregon, with priority to residents of Lincoln County. Oregon ranks second in the nation for substance use disorder and 50th in access to treatment. Inpatient treatment is a critical first step in the recovery process for many individuals, but there are currently no inpatient services in Lincoln County, and limited outpatient services available.
Saturday morning, I spoke at the Juneteenth celebration in Lincoln City.
Juneteenth, officially called Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal and state holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans (and the reason this newsletter is being sent on a Tuesday instead of Monday). Observed annually on June 19th, the celebration originated in Galveston, Texas, when Union soldiers arrived on June 19, 1865, and Galveston’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. At the Regatta Grounds event Saturday, I talked about Oregon pioneers like Louis Southworth of Waldport and Reuben Shipley of Philomath who came here as slaves. I also mentioned growing evidence that Lincoln County was the location where black men and women first stepped foot in North America.
From Lincoln City, I zipped down the coast to Waldport just in time to join the Beachcomber Days parade. It was a joy to see so many smiling faces, to visit with folks, and to “high-five” kids as I pedaled the parade route. One parade watcher stepped into the street to talk about her concerns for property tax relief. We were nearly run over by the Tooth Fairy in her golf cart so I gave her a card and asked for an email…
I finished the afternoon with a reception at the Freed Gallery back in Lincoln City. The Gallery will be hosting another reception Wednesday to benefit the Siletz Bay Music Festival. I may be committed in Salem as the Session rushes toward adjournment.
Warm Regards,
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email: Rep.DavidGomberg@oregonlegislature.gov
phone: 503-986-1410
address: 900 Court St NE, H-480, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/gomberg