Search Results

Written by Trish Garner, LWVOR Action Committee The Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health has overturned 50 years of precedent and deprives women of the ability to participate equally in our Nation's economic and social life. Its disregard for women's health, privacy and reproductive rights is shocking and untenable. The reasons SCOTUS used to justify this decision? First, the word "abortion" isn't explicitly stated in the Constitution. Secondly, it held that because the right to abortion wasn't "deeply rooted" in the law of the land when the 14th Amendment was ratified by "the people" in 1868, the right to abortion can't be protected by the 14th Amendment's guarantee of liberty. Of course, as noted by dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in 1868 "people" didn't include women. The fact that the right to an abortion has long been the law of the land also failed to convince the Court to adhere to its own "stare decisis" doctrine, which is Latin for the concept that court rulings should remain as decided unless there is a very good reason for change. The rationale behind this doctrine is that the people need to be able to rely on consistency and integrity in judicial decision making. In fact, the Dobbs ruling thrusts many previous decisions onto precarious ground. Although Justice Samuel Alito's opinion summarily dismisses concerns that the Dobbs ruling jeopardizes other decisions based on the 14th Amendment right to liberty, logic dictates otherwise. Justice Sotomayor characterizes this assurance at the level of "Scout's honor." In fact, the Dobbs ruling thrusts many previous decisions onto precarious ground. Some of these decisions involve rights to: marry a person of a different race (Loving v Virginia, 1967); make decisions about the education of one's children (Pierce v Society of Sisters, 1925); obtain contraception (Griswold v Connecticut, 1965); live in nontraditional family units (Stanley v Illinois, 1972); not to be sterilized without consent (Skinner v Oklahoma ex rel Williamson, 1942); to marry a person of the same sex (Obergefell v Hodges, 2015); and more. At least in his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas is more forthright. He indicates the Court should reconsider all these precedents. What can we do? Demand that Oregon enact a state Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing reproductive rights. Support the Women's Health Protection Act, which would provide federal protections to reproductive health services. Be vigilant and make our voices heard.

June is for fresh beginnings! Thank heavens for the extended rains; here’s hoping for a calm, beautiful summer! I hope COVID is diminishing. LWVOR is sending a hybrid delegation to the LWVUS Convention 2022 this month, half the size of our all-virtual, full 2020 delegation. The board is thrilled to resume an in-person retreat in a couple of weeks, even though we are short-handed! We are in very good financial help and enviably covered in Voter Education and Action (always room for more!). Please keep reading for news, keep in touch, be well, stay safe, and enjoy some strawberries! THIS MONTH… LWVOR Board Hail & Farewell, Openings, find one that fits you! 😊 Action, Oregon Revenue Forecast June Events, LWVUS Convention Voter Education, May Primary 2022 Recommended Reading LWVOR BOARD HAIL AND FAREWELL! Civics ED & Mock Elections–OPEN! A couple of committee helpers need a Board Director to oversee this important function, well-supported by staff and the Social Studies person at the Oregon Department of Education. Outgoing Chair, Retired Social Studies teacher Toni Lampkin is happy to help with the transition! Thank you, Toni! Program /Studies–OPEN! This lull time is perfect to learn the ropes to oversee the study process! We have two well-run study committees wrapping up now and will begin recruiting study proposals this fall for adoption at our May 2023 Convention. Professor Sheila McGinnis is stepping down from this well-organized process, happy to help with the transition. Thank you, Sheila! HR Chair–OPEN! Our staff are really good with project timelines and we need a liaison for staffing on the board. Ideally, experience with managing employees, perhaps labor or nonprofit law would be a real plus but is certainly not necessary 😊. We are recruiting and interviewing applicants again as staffer Amanda Crittenden leaves for school in July. We have an almost complete HR Handbook in the works. Thanks to outgoing but not departing HR Chair Kathleen Hersh, who kept us on track for staff meetings, thank you! Communications–OPEN! We are developing this committee and want a Chair to coordinate high-level vision for our extensive communications, from newsletters written by the president and VOTER Editor, Direct Mail from the Development Committee, Social Media overseen by our Digital Media staffer, and website, etc. The work is all being done smoothly, an informative communications survey has been done. We invite you to step in and whip this into shape! Technology–OPEN! We invite a tech savvy professional or motivated amateur with a little time to donate monthly, to step up and initiate progress on problems we may not even be aware of! We are not talking about helping members install printers or software. 😊 We need professional advice to adopt a security plan and as a responsible nonprofit advocating for Cybersecurity and Privacy nationally. We are looking forward to hearing from you! Co-Secretary–OPEN! Amelia Nestler is continuing as a Co-Secretary, covering but needing a partner to share taking minutes for our monthly virtual meetings! We use a minutes template to record decisions and usually have the simple draft right after meetings. This is an important job, but not a heavy lift if this is your skill set. Thanks to Amelia for continuing, along with having a toddler, being our officially appointed member of the Oregon Drinking Water Advisor Board, and wrapping up the Biocides & Pesticides study! Thank you for smooth transitions for these offices! Development Freddi Weishahn, from Lane, will work with continuing Development Chair, Jackie Clary. Freddi is already picking up on grants and direct mail letter work, thank you! Treasurer and Budget (musical chairs) Kermit Yensen is incoming Treasurer, taking over from our long-serving wonderful Treasurer, Ruth Kistler. With our deepest gratitude, we bid farewell to Ruth! Kathleen Hersh has been elected as off-board Budget Chair, a position she’s been looking forward to, now taking over from Kermit. We are in good hands, thank you! Membership, MLD Lisa Bentson, from Lincoln, will be Membership and MLD Chair, taking the reins from Kathleen Hersh. Lisa asked for more info during our LWVOR Council. After several chats about board work scope and time commitment, and the upcoming board retreat, the board voted to welcome her as an incoming director, in a separate vote after Council. Her Lincoln-League mate Ruth Kistler and I reassured her that her local League would really appreciate having a direct line of communication and influence on the state board. Welcome, Lisa! ACTION, REVENUE FORECAST The bottom line is: Unexpected revenue growth this year leaves us with unprecedented balances this biennium, followed by a record kicker into 2023-25. The projected personal kicker is $3 billion, to be credited to taxpayers when they file their Spring 2024 returns. The projected corporate kicker is $931 million, and that will be retained for educational spending. Even so, if balances are not spent, net resources for the 2023-25 biennium will have increased by $427 million relative to the March 2022 forecast. Thanks to Peggy Lynch for this update! Note: Action needs a number of volunteers with specific interest to learn or expertise already, for example, Revenue, Health Care, Forestry, Mental Health, Judicial Issues, and more! Follow our Legislative Reports! JUNE EVENTS The LWVUS Convention 2022 will convene virtually and in-person, June 23-26, anticipating a much smaller in-person gathering. An ambitious 67 non-recommended items will be considered, a logistics absurdity, honestly, with 11 concurrent caucuses scheduled, for example, to try to educate and persuade delegates to support them. LWVOR will present a caucus for Privacy & Cybersecurity concurrence toward two sections of our position, partnering with LWV Colorado, who will also present an election security concurrence, derived from our full position. None of these were recommended by the LWVUS Board, which is focusing on Voting Rights, Fair Elections, Redistricting, and Campaign Finance Reform. We submit that protecting our elections as critical cybersecurity infrastructure is an emergency priority! The LWVUS Structural Transformation Plan is a hot topic for Bylaws consideration at convention. At issue are simplifying the confusing 3-level membership issue, national, state, and local, with “PMP” (per member payments) funds all over the map, additionally confusing with donations. Our delegation will meet by ZOOM on Wednesdays beforehand to collaborate on issues like this and how to give a fair shake to all of those concurrence recommendations! Thank you to Mimi Alkire for organizing our delegation into a WhatsApp group! Stay tuned for reports on proceedings in the next few months, including news from our Board after the retreat. VOTER EDUCATION, MAY PRIMARY 2022 Thank you to our dedicated team of local League Reps around the state, to our Voters’ Guide production team, including our staff, with help from Jan Watson, the Vote411 pro, stepping in to help from LWV Mississippi! We don’t have analytics yet from our Voting In Oregon LWVOR website but we do have preliminary VOTE411 usage analytics for the weeks before our primary. Our Vote411.org numbers for April 11 to May 18, tracked clicks from 155 Oregon locations. The average reading time was almost 7 minutes, with almost 7,000 visits. That is a LOT of serious interest from voters! Thank you to voters for reading, to candidates for adding their campaigns, and to our volunteers and staff for working on this! RECOMMENDED READING Here’s to summer reading, the precious, healthy escapism, taking a breath and diving into a great book! I hope you can open this NYT’s essay, Did the Pandemic Change Summer Reading for Good? I Hope So. And make time for some of her suggestions. Then consider a look back at Madeleine Albright’s 2018 book, Fascism, A Warning. Last week’s Washington Monthly review includes references to Putin invading Ukraine, abortion, book-banning, shaping children into loyal supporters, and rejecting facts, like “Don’t Say Gay”. From the review: "Fascism is not an ideology, nor is it a political party. It does not belong to the right or left, nor to one region of the globe. Fascism is a commitment to obtain and retain power using whatever means necessary, even violence." Between us, I support a favorite local independent bookstore and I also want to rebuff a *simply wrong* comment floating in social media about the irrelevance of public libraries today! My public library has an eAudiobook, 3 print copies, another large print copy, and an eBook from Library2go. The paper copies are all on the shelf and the audio and digital copies have waiting lists! Thank you for reading the state League update. Becky Gladstone, President, LWVOR Thank you for reading this newsletter! You can Manage Your LWVOR Subscriptions yourself for this monthly President’s Newsletter, the Legislative Reports, and the quarterly VOTER.

Date: May 18th, 2022 To: All League Members From: Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR President Marge Easley, Gun Safety Portfolio Chair Signatures Needed for IP 17, Safer Firearm Owners and Less Lethal Ammunition As we all know, gun violence has reached a crisis point in our state and in the nation. It is up to all of us to find solutions. Several days ago, the LWVOR Board voted to endorse IP 17, a statewide gun safety initiative sponsored by Lift Every Voice Oregon (LEVO). The initiative is now in the signature-gathering phase with the goal of being placed on the November ballot. The campaign is relying heavily on volunteer support, and we are asking League members for their help before the July 6 deadline. Here’s a brief summary of the initiative: Requires a permit-to-purchase for all firearm purchases, which includes classroom and live-fire safety training. This is the gold standard for gun safety regulations and has a proven track record of reducing gun violence where enacted. Requires a background check before purchasing a firearm, and no sale is complete before the check is completed. Includes an improved database system to assist the tracking of guns that are lost, stolen, or used to commit crimes. Prohibits the manufacture, sale, transfer, and possession of magazines over 10 rounds, with exceptions for law enforcement and military. Nine states and D.C. have already enacted such bans. ACTION REQUESTED: Please go to www.lifteveryvoiceoregon.com. If you’re willing to gather multiple signatures, click “Train to Gather Signatures” and follow the instructions provided. If you’d like to download and sign a one-signature petition sheet, please click “Sign Initiative Petition from Home.” After signing, you must also complete the circulator information at the bottom before mailing to the address provided. Please get the word out to friends and family members about IP 17 and how they can be part of the solution to prevent gun violence. Questions? Please contact Marge Easley, marge.easley@frontier.com

Date: May 6th, 2022 To: All League Members From: Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR President Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator Housing Planning Regional Forums Mark your calendars! The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) would like to invite you to provide your feedback on housing planning in Oregon. In the coming months, DLCD staff will be hosting a series of regionally-based forums to discuss housing issues and policy solutions. The feedback from these events will be used to inform legislative recommendations the agency has been directed to develop and submit to the Oregon Legislature for consideration in the 2021-23 legislative session. To learn more about this effort, please review a Framework Report our team prepared in February outlining the legislative direction and parameters of the process. In these forums, DLCD staff will be facilitating discussion to hear your feedback on housing issues facing your community and potential proposals or solutions to address those issues. All forums will be held virtually. To attend a meeting, please visit the following Zoom link at the date and time associated with your geography listed below: Topic: Housing Planning – Regional Forums https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85288162044?pwd=djhVblkwV1pWS1dlN2pDV0hCT3Fkdz09 Time: See below for the schedule Meeting ID: 852 8816 2044 Passcode: 748783 One tap mobile +12532158782,,85288162044#,,,,*748783# US (Tacoma) +13462487799,,85288162044#,,,,*748783# US (Houston) Regional Forums by Date and Time Monday, May 9 - 3-5PM South Coast – Coos County and Coastal Douglas/Lane Counties Thursday, May 12 - 10am-12PM North Willamette Valley – Marion/Polk/Yamhill Counties Thursday, May 12 - 2-4PM Southern Oregon – Josephine/Jackson Counties Tuesday, May 17 - 1-3PM Central Oregon – Subregion Wednesday, May 18 - 1-3PM South Coast – Curry County Tuesday, May 24 - 1-3PM Southern Oregon – Douglas County Thursday, June 2 - 2-4PM North Coast – Clatsop/Lincoln/Tillamook/Columbia Counties Friday, June 3 - 1-3PM Central Oregon – Subregion Tuesday, June 7 - 1-3PM South Willamette Valley – Benton/Lincoln/Lane Counties Wednesday, June 8 - 1-3PM Metro Satellite Communities – Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas Counties outside of the Metro Wednesday, June 22 - 1-3PM Metro Region - Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas Counties within the Metro Thursday, June 23 - 2-4PM Eastern Oregon Thank you. If you have questions about any upcoming forums or would like an Outlook calendar invitation for a specific forum, please reach out to housing.dlcd@dlcd.oregon.gov

IN THIS ISSUE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN UPDATING LOCAL LEAGUE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES JOSEPHINE COUNTY CHARTER UPDATE LWVOR CONCURRENCE FOR LWVUS CONVENTION 2022 1ST CALL TO COUNCIL ELECTION THREATS NEED LWVOR’S EXPANDED ADVOCACY IN MEMORIAM: REMEMBERING BARBARA ROSS, A PILLAR OF OUR COMMUNITY PROFILE OF NEW LWVOR OFFICE MANAGER, ABBY HERTZLER PRESIDENT’S COLUMN By Becky Gladstone, LWVOR President LWV grassroots work begins with you! Please reach out to friends and colleagues and invite them to step up! DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a League priority. We want liaisons to bring their voices to the League. We need to expand our diversity from local grassroots up through boards. Native outreach is a focus for a grant we’ve crossed fingers for. We would like a Youth member on our board. Now is the time! Please contact us! Voter Education Reps and LWVOR staff, with hired LWV Mississippi support, are hard at work organizing VOTE411.org for the Primary Election, including our various Voters’ Guides! Be sure you send your campaign events to LWVOR at lwvor@ lwvor.org. Encourage your local candidates to look for their Vote411 invitation emails and to write to Vote411@lwvor.org with any questions. UPDATING LOCAL LEAGUE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES – PORTLAND CHAPTER By Debbie Kaye Separate from our Bylaws, the LWV of Portland has a “Policies and Procedures” document. Other League chapters around the state may have a similar document. Our “P & P” document starts by stating, “Policies as used here are procedures or practices that become established through experience and usage and are subsequently adopted as the best means of carrying out the purposes … as stated in its Bylaws”. Because our League is both a 501(c)(3) and a 501(c)(4), we have two sections: General Policies and Education Fund Policies. Examples of sections within the General Policies include the Nonpartisan Policy and how it pertains to specific roles within the League; Action, including who may speak for the League; Financial Controls; Reaching Member Agreement; Interest Groups; Diversity; and Anti-Discrimination. The Education Fund sections include rules about Recording League Meetings and Sponsorship of Candidate Forums. We update our P & P document when the stated policies no longer match our current needs and practices. For example, our current P & P doesn’t describe our process for Program Planning. We also noticed that the sections on Local League Autonomy, Reimbursements, Financial Controls, Social Media, and Recording Meetings are outdated. In March 2022, our Board held an online Zoom retreat to conduct a deep review of this document. We are incorporating the recommended updates and will vote on the revised P & P at our June retreat. Then it will replace the outdated document on our website. JOSEPHINE COUNTY CHARTER UPDATE By Dorothy Yetter The Commission was created on 28 April 2021 by the Board of County Commissioners with Order No. 2021-018. Nine members were appointed and our first meeting was held 9 September 2021. We set ourselves up for business, electing officers and hammering out bylaws, by 1 December 2021. After a few attempts to wrap our arms around the enormity of the task, we settled on a read- through and ‘mark-up’ of the existing document. Even as we do that, we have discovered that we need to invite experts to provide us with their observations in their areas of expertise such as finance (for instance, what is the actual budget process in use?) or administration (for instance, what recourse do exempt personnel have to political reprisal?) While that is the meeting-to-meeting activity, we have a few over-arching questions considering if the current structure of county government is adequate to the task. That currently manifests as: How many commissioners? Some advocate our county is small enough and homogeneous enough to be governed by the current 3, elected at large. Others think the county is more diverse and needs more commissioners actually from those diverse communities – either resident in that community or elected specifically by that community. Does the county need a County Executive? It would separate powers, split the administrative (executive) functions from legislative, but is it more overhead than we need? Is our product to be a report of recommendations or as a complete re-write of the charter? If a re-write, what form would that take? We know that those questions exist but before we tackle them, we do need to nail down the products of county government. County Counsel will be providing us with the statutory requirements but beyond that, there are the things some would like our county government to do. After deciding on those, then we have to determine what government structure will give us the tools to effect those objects. Right now, the Commission is going through the current charter, finding little things that should be cleaned up. We have not addressed the BIG question of “balance” but that question is wrapped up in the points above (number of commissioners and county executive). LWVOR CONCURRENCE FOR LWVUS CONVENTION 2022 By Rebecca Gladstone Photo by Lewis Kang’ethe Ngugi on Unsplash. LWVUS Convention is scheduled for June 23-June 26, 2022. LWVOR is taking our Privacy and Cybersecurity advocacy position (in segments) for adoption by concurrence at the 2022 LWVUS Convention. Their priority is to relate “recommended items” to elections so we are presenting with that perspective. Cybersecurity races to keep up with increasingly sophisticated and challenging threats. When LWVOR adopted our “election security” position in 2021, we didn’t foresee the need to link cyber warfare or other critical infrastructures like power and communications to elections. LWVOR advocated in February for elections workers and candidates’ personal privacy and harassment protection. Now we need to promote our position to protect elections from social media “MDM” interference, with thanks to the CISA MDM for the “Mis, Dis, and Mal-Information” social media campaign applied to Election Security Infrastructure. We hope for enthusiastic concurrence support, especially from the Oregon delegation! If you will attend, register for program information. You may need to log in to see the LWVOR details on the proposal page. LWVUS program planning advised us to segment our comprehensive position into smaller proposals: • Information Security and Personal Information Protection • Electronic Business and Social Media: Cybersecurity Responsibilities • We are working with LWV Colorado, which has excerpted from us and slightly revised an Election Security concurrence Our LWV Convention caucus request was accepted on April 5th. Please plan to attend! Scheduling details will be forthcoming. 1ST CALL TO COUNCIL By Robin Tokmakian Every even-numbered year, The League of Women Voters of Oregon holds their required state- wide council meeting. In addition to the LWV Oregon Board, each local league sends two delegates and each member-at-large group sends one delegate. The business of the council includes the election of the 2nd Vice President, the treasurer, and three at-large members of the board as well as a budget for the upcoming year. A quorum of 15 delegates, in addition to the LWVOR Board of Directors, is required for all decisions on the agenda. Only emergency changes to the program may be considered and such changes require eight weeks of notification to the membership. This year, the LWV Oregon Council will be during the week of May 9-14 and will be virtual. The business portion of the meeting in the afternoon of May 14, 2022. If you are interested in volunteering to help with Council, please contact Robin Tokmakian at rtokmakian@lwv.org. ELECTION THREATS NEED LWVOR’S EXPANDED ADVOCACY By Rebecca Gladstone LWVOR is advocating adoption of our privacy and cybersecurity position for elections. We have applied our position to protecting election workers’ privacy and to Legislative reports of crippling cyber-attacks. Social media’s “liar’s dividend”, which causes doubt in real news, calls for our attention, as well. Election cybersecurity is based on emergency preparedness. For example, an Oregon wildfire burned down a USPS site, affecting vote-by-mail there. Oregon’s power grids and transportation infrastructure are all vulnerable. Cyber attacks can disrupt elections by disrupting airports, GPS networks, traffic signals, bridges and dam-water controls, services from special districts, state agencies, and many businesses and organizations. We must safeguard cell and internet access. Democracy depends on us protecting all of our critical infrastructures. More information about LWVOR’s cybersecurity position can be found at LWVOR Cybersecurity and Privacy Today. IN MEMORIAM: REMEMBERING BARBARA ROSS, A PILLAR OF OUR COMMUNITY By Marion McNamara Our devoted and beloved League member, Barbara Ross, died April 4, on the 54th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Like Dr. King, Barbara’s life work focused on making the world more just and compassionate, albeit on a smaller canvas. She began her career as a social worker, and by the late 1970’s added public service to her resume, serving as a Benton County Commissioner, a Corvallis school board member, and a state representative. She brought her passion for fairness to every job she undertook. Barbara‘s family has always been a support to her, and she to them. Her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were an important part of her life, and were able to be with her in her last days. Barbara was mentor to many of those she met throughout her long career. She had a reliably good sense of spotting talent and introducing people to opportunities for service and growth. Several current state legislators got their start in politics with Barbara’s advice and occasional gentle pushes. The gift of her guidance was not limited to those who were up and comers. Working with her church, she was part of an effort to help people get back on their feet, providing material and emotional support. She volunteered to help with re-entry for people leaving incarceration, spending several hours a week conversing with them. And most recently, Friday evenings would often find her delivering food, clothing, and conversation to homeless women. Everyone who worked with Barbara valued her focus, determination, analytical abilities, kindness, and effectiveness. Her most recent work with the League was leading the Police Accountability study through a rapid research, interview and production process. She attracted a large and very capable committee; they completed the study in under a year. She went on to co-lead the Justice Interest Group with James Ofsink. This group continues to monitor many police-related organizations and to advocate using our position. At our annual business meeting last year, the Board was pleased to present the Volunteer of the Year award to Barbara. Here is the wording from the award: PROFILE OF NEW LWVOR OFFICE MANAGER, ABBY HERTZLER Greetings! My name is Abby Hertzler and I am thrilled to be joining the League of Women Voters of Oregon as the new office manager. Although I was born in the Midwest and raised on the East Coast, I have called Oregon my home since 2014 when I moved to Salem and fell in love with the beauty of the state and the wonderful community I found here. Living in the state capital afforded me the opportunity to live and work in the “room where it happens,” and I loved seeing the view of the Capitol building framed by the blooming cherry trees every spring. My first event at the Capitol was Oregon’s birthday bonanza, a lively and cheerful event that sparked my interest in the processes that are undertaken in those hallowed halls. I find the League’s work in building more informed communities, empowering citizens and utilizing education and advocacy to influence public policy in Oregon to be of the utmost importance in these uncertain times, and I have a deep admiration for the work that the League does to work towards building a better Oregon. The passion and dedication I have seen in my first weeks here has been inimitable, and I am thrilled to be joining such a wonderful group of talented and kind individuals. I look forward to using my years of administrative, communications and organizational experience to support the League in its laudable mission.

Hello LWVOR Members and Supporters! Remember Happy May Day, baskets of flowers on doorknobs? Let’s reconnect in-person! LWVOR is working on the May 17th primary, the Council to welcome new Board members, organizing Action to collaborate for the 2023 legislative session, then an in-person Board retreat in June. Local Leagues–you should have delegations set for both the LWVOR Council and the LWV Convention. THIS MONTH… Voter Education Upcoming Events LWVUS UN News Action Civics Education Recommended Reading VOTER EDUCATION For this May 17 Primary Election, contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org to help with this critical work. Please help your local Leagues to GOTV: Get Out The Vote! Promote VOTE411.org. For direct digital GOTV support through Outreach Circle, contact Elizabeth Anderson. We do not endorse, support or oppose candidates or political parties. This Chicago area League sent donuts for Election Worker Appreciation Day! LWVOR will continue legislation with the Secretary of State to strengthen harassment protections for Oregon’s elections workers, which is a tougher job than it should be. Think of ways your League can support our elections workers! UPCOMING EVENTS Please see the LWVOR calendar for local and other events as we receive them. LWVOR Council 2022 Our Council will again be virtual, Friday May 13 and Saturday May 14. I will miss being in Newport, seeing our delegates in-person, but invite you to a President’s Meet & Greet on Friday from 6-7pm, also our Workshop Friday, The Future of the League in Oregon. Our Saturday business session will conduct the required League business of voting for some officers and adopting the budget, for example. Presidents, register your delegates here. If you want to observe the proceedings, register here. LWVUS Convention 2022 We will coordinate and brief our delegation virtually before the hybrid virtual and in-person meeting in Denver, June 23-26. We will convene as a delegation to prepare and are counting on LWVOR delegates to lobby for support for our (unfortunately “not recommended”) two cybersecurity and privacy concurrences. We urgently need these to protect our elections, for example by protecting our critical cybersecurity infrastructures: DEFENDING DEMOCRACY is our League Mission! Our caucus will discuss defending elections, voting rights, and personal privacy through cybersecurity. We need the Oregon concurrence proposals today. IMPROVE ELECTIONS, a true critical infrastructure, by defending against cyberattacks. Today we must rally for cybersecurity to protect our elections, the heart of our Democratic process, and the multiple critical infrastructures that enable us to vote. Elections can be crippled by cyberattacks to power grids, communications, and directly to governments and elections. From airports to stoplights, to all government services, including elections, to the private sector and to each of us – we are all vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These can profoundly affect our elections and democracy at large. Cyber-retaliation for sanctions against Russia may be linked to supply chain disruption here but cyber-attacks in Ukraine knocked out government sites. We need to be ready with positions to protect these critical infrastructures. VOTING RIGHTS & REDISTRICTING Cybersecurity and privacy directly affect a confluence of elections vulnerability. Voter suppression from inaccurate census data needs strong cybersecurity. Census participation barriers included privacy concerns. Foreign interference in our elections, through bad social media, is well established. The new CISA “MDM” Team aims directly at defending elections from Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation in social media, a welcome elections improvement. Our moderation aim is for civil discourse, not censorship. MONEY IN POLITICS The Oregon League has testified to numerous bills with these positions and we look forward to talking with you about them. LWVUS UN League members: Now is the time to consider attending the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt Nov-7-18, 2022. If interested, please contact Robin Tokmakian (rtokmakian@lwv.org) to request an application form (or download attached form) or more information. This is a self-funded opportunity. Deadline is July 1, 2022. ACTION Advocacy at the BALLOT BOX! Be sure to vote and help others for May 17! Our Voter Education volunteers will research state ballot measures (to be certified in August) and prepare Voters’ Guide and Speakers’ Bureau coverage for voters. The Action Committee will decide which measures may merit taking a League position, then forward those recommendations to the board. Our Voter Education never simultaneously presents any League measure positions. Please SHARE: The League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties. Sometimes, we support or oppose ballot measures based on our studied, nonpartisan positions. Legislative Advocacy We need more volunteers to observe hearings and report to us, and to help with research. We need your expertise (or willingness to learn) about issues including health care, broadband, and many others listed in our Legislative Reports (Subscribe). Our member experts write testimony to influence legislation by applying League positions and perspectives. Please apply your knowledge! Step up and find a way to help. Contact us today! CIVICS ED From Toni Lampkin: The LWVOR‘s online Civics Education curriculum is being updated and will be available to all students and teachers. Included in these materials is information for teachers to conduct a class or school Mock Election. We are hoping to also provide an online Mock Election available for this fall. Oregon teachers and Leagues are continuing to participate in the Case Study Method Institute to expand their teaching skills. This program was previously known as the Harvard Case Study Method. By expanding to a virtual training, they have been able to accommodate many more teachers. Applications are still open for the August 2022 workshop. From Donna Cohen: See this website to register for these events. Patrons/members who live in the Library/sponsor areas get registration priority, then it opens to others, a couple of weeks in advance. Civics for Adults: To Enhance Civic Knowledge and Inspire Political Engagement Free. Virtual. More info: https://www.civicthinker.info/ Citizen Activism 101—Making Change Happen Thursday, May 19. Evening; time TBA. Sponsor: Tigard, OR, Public Library. Register. Beyond Voting: Elections and Campaign Finance Wednesday June 1, 11-12:30. Sponsor: Wilsonville, OR, Public Library. Register: TBA The Constitution: Fulfilling Democracy’s Promise? - Democracy, The Constitution and Representation in Congress. Tuesday, June 21, 6-7:30 EST. Sponsor: Schenectady, NY, Public Library. Register: TBA RECOMMENDED READING For May 2022, our “recommended reading” is to use, share, and promote our voting information. See our Voting in Oregon webpages, which include our Voters’ Guides, in English and Spanish, audio for each, our Vote411.org access, and Video Voters’ Guide interviews and event recordings. From my desk to yours, please take care and find something to appreciate every day. We send condolences to our Rogue Valley League, for Shiena Polehn. We are a grassroots political organization and, importantly, our members mentor and support each other. I am counting on that being easier with things opening up in warmer spring weather. Thank you for making a difference with the League! Becky Gladstone, President, LWVOR Thank you for reading this newsletter! You can Manage Your LWVOR Subscriptions yourself for this monthly President’s Newsletter, the Legislative Reports, and the quarterly VOTER.

LWV grassroots work begins with you! Please reach out to friends and colleagues and invite them to step up! DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a League priority. We want liaisons to bring their voices to the League. We need to expand our diversity from local grassroots up through boards. Native outreach is a focus for a grant we’ve crossed fingers for. We would like a Youth member on our board. Now is the time! Please contact us! THIS MONTH… Voter Education Upcoming Events Action Recommended Reading Have you seen our SHOP? VOTER EDUCATION Voter Education Reps and LWVOR staff, with hired LWV Mississippi support, are hard at work organizing VOTE411.org for the Primary Election, including our various Voters’ Guides! Be sure you send your campaign events to LWVOR at lwvor@lwvor.org. See the calendar info below. Encourage your local candidates to look for their Vote411 invitation emails and to write to Vote411@lwvor.org with any questions. This is a screen shot of the recent Lane League debate with the Springfield City Club, tip o’ the hat to Paula Grisafi! Please check for local and other events and promote them to the LWVOR calendar. If you don’t see your events, send them to us! Want a brief sprint volunteer task? Our Voter Education volunteers research state ballot measures after certification in early August to prepare Voters’ Guide and Speakers’ Bureau coverage for voters by September. We never simultaneously present Voter Education and advocacy positions. Please SHARE: The League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties. Sometimes, we support or oppose ballot measures based on our studied, nonpartisan positions. The LWVOR may take positions on the November 2022 state ballot measures, after certification in August. UPCOMING EVENTS LWVOR Council This will be a virtual event, registration details here. Local League leaders should register their two delegates. Observers can register themselves - registration information coming soon. The business meeting will be held on Saturday afternoon, May 14th. LWVUS Convention 2022 LWVOR has filed to present concurrences for our Privacy and Cybersecurity position. LWVUS encouraged us to bring smaller portions of our very comprehensive full position. LWV Colorado will bring a portion as Election Security, nearly as we developed it a few years ago. Please stand by to bring your support! ACTION Volunteer organizers are needed! Please contact Chair Alice Bartelt, lwvor@lwvor.org. The League Redistricting and Campaign Finance Reform initiative work is now working toward 2024 ballots. Please be ready to help collect initial filing signatures later this spring. The LWVOR may take positions after certification in August. Recommended Reading From Yale U Press: "A fresh, persuasive and deeply disturbing overview of the baleful and dangerous impact on the nation of widely disseminated false speech on social media. Richard Hasen, the country’s leading expert about election law, has written this book with flair and clarity.”—Floyd Abrams, author of The Soul of the First Amendment What can be done consistent with the First Amendment to ensure that American voters can make informed election decisions and hold free elections amid a flood of virally spread disinformation and the collapse of local news reporting? How should American society counter the actions of people like former President Donald J. Trump, who used social media to convince millions of his followers to doubt the integrity of U.S. elections and helped foment a violent insurrection? What can we do to minimize disinformation campaigns aimed at suppressing voter turnout? With piercing insight into the current debates over free speech, censorship, and Big Tech’s responsibilities, Richard L. Hasen proposes legal and social measures to restore Americans’ access to reliable information on which democracy depends. In an era when quack COVID treatments and bizarre QAnon theories have entered mainstream, this book explains how to assure both freedom of ideas and a commitment to truth. LWVOR Store Have you seen our stuff? Show your League support! Check it out here. Thank you for reading this newsletter! You can Manage Your LWVOR Subscriptions yourself for this monthly President’s Newsletter, our Legislative Reports, and the quarterly VOTER. Here’s to Spring! From my desk to yours, Thank you for making a difference with the League! Becky Gladstone, President, LWVOR

Date: February 26, 2022 To: All League Members and Supporters From: Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR President The League strongly urges immediate support to fund Oregon cybersecurity defense: FUND HB 4155: Oregon cybersecurity defense, League testimony; We are not protected. DEADLINE: Session ends in days, contact your legislators to heed these dire warnings! All of us are vulnerable to impending cyberwar, now beyond cyber criminals, with active cyber-retaliation threats against US sanctions to protect Ukraine. Delaying HB 4155 to the 2023 session would truly make us “sitting ducks”. We must act now. Do cyber-attacks affect you? Think of Ukraine this week. Cyber attacks knocked out their government sites. Global markets are destabilizing for Energy, Technology, Finances, and Communications. Crippling cyber-attacks (committee video last week) are already in Oregon, with news partly veiled because we lack adequate defense. We need to safeguard our cell and internet access. Oregon's power grids, financial sector, transportation- from airports to stoplights, bridges and dam-water controls, services from Special Districts, School Boards, cities, counties, and state agencies, to many businesses and groups - are all vulnerable. Oregon elections are a well-documented target. “One legislator on the committee said, “If you aren’t scared, you’ve had your audio off during these hearings.” We urge the Legislature MOST STRONGLY to protect us. Now budget funding is the only avenue left for HB 4155, despite extensive collaboration and broad bipartisan support. House Revenue Chair Nathanson, urging also on behalf of the Joint Information Management and Technology Committee, calls for funds while $15M in federal funds are still available to leverage. “Oregonians and our “critical infrastructures”, anything connected digitally, are not adequately protected.” LWVOR’s Privacy and Cybersecurity study showed that rapid changes require more urgent attention from our policymakers. We don’t need technical expertise to understand that cyber-attacks choose the most vulnerable targets. Cybersecurity defense funding cannot wait. Contact your legislators to support funding for HB 4155, the cybersecurity omnibus bill.

Date: February 4, 2022 To: All League Members From: Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR President Josie Koehne, LWVOR Forestry Portfolio We are asking local League members throughout the state, especially in southern, eastern and central Oregon: Support: SB 1534, Natural and Working Lands and Waters Contact: Your Legislators To Support SB 1534, This Very Important Bill Deadline: TU Feb. 8 public hearing in Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire committee SB 1534 proposes state policy to increase carbon storage and resilience in our natural and working forest, range and agricultural lands and in Oregon’s coastal wetlands and marine waters. The bill is the result of the Oregon Global Warming Commission (OGWC)'s 2021 Climate Change and Carbon Proposal and its carbon sequestration goals. SB 1534 will enable Oregon’s natural and working lands to be voluntarily managed as a resilient and robust carbon sink while supporting the health of our economy and communities and enhancing social equity and quality of life. Senate Bill 1534: Defines natural and working lands (N&WL) in Oregon statute. Declares it state policy to advance N&WL strategies based on equity and land manager interests, resourced with incentives and technical assistance support. Directs the Commission to create an Advisory Group to inform its N&WL efforts. Directs the OSU Institute for Natural Resources and certain state agencies to support the Commission in: Developing a carbon baseline and activity-based metrics by 4/30/23. Advancing a N&WL carbon inventory. Completing a N&WL Workforce and Economic Development study. Directs Reporting: From agencies on the carbon inventory and metrics to the OGWC. From the commission on progress toward these targets and metrics in its Biennial Report to the Legislature on a changed date. SB 1534 lays the foundation to ensure that Oregon is investing to protect our rural economies, fish and wildlife, and drinking water supplies as we navigate changing environmental conditions. Carbon sequestration supports a strong economy, especially for timber-dependent communities in rural parts of the state. The bill will pave the way for a strong, incentive-based program to help small forest owners thrive and make sure our forestlands are not only protected but are economically resilient. Read the Bill. We welcome your testimony in support. Please call or email your legislators today! Ask them to support SB 1534! For more information, contact Josie Koehne.

Hello LWVOR Members and Supporters! February is a short but intense month for LWVOR! The 2nd is Groundhog Day and the 2nd day of the 35-day 2022 Oregon Legislative session. There are some parallels with promising bills from last session returning for another try amid echoes of walkouts. Read our pre-session Legislative Report. Confirm your LWVOR subscription settings for our weekly Action News Summary Emails. Please contact your local Voter Education Rep to help with the 2022 primary. Watch for more information in the winter 2022 LWVOR VOTER, arriving shortly. IN THIS MONTH’S NEWS… Voter Education, read for ways you can help! Action is in full gear now and needs your help. Upcoming Events, OR Council, US Convention, and Civics ED Public Library presentations Recommended Reading Congratulations to LWVOR for our organization advancing to the GuideStar Platinum Transparency status! Guidestar is an important tool that demonstrates our impact and helps amplify our voice as a nonprofit. Your League can sign up at guidestar.org. VOTER EDUCATION Contact your local League’s Voter Education rep to help your League with your local candidate and ballot measure entry for Vote411.org. Elections offices are gearing up to prepare for the primary, too.Check with your County Elections offices to help as temporary elections staff for this primary, probably training soon. Contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org for other information on how to help with this critical work. Here’s a question from the LWVOR President’s INBOX: I am with the LWV Klamath for over 30 years. What can we DO besides just send money to LWVUS? Oregon is one of the few states that maintains democratic principles, so there is not much work to be done here. BUT, I participate in VOTE FORWARD to encourage voters in other states to get to the ballot box. Why isn't LWVUS setting up a similar campaign or piggy backing on the Vote Forward work? –A long time member Hi long time League member, Thank you for your devotion to League work over these many years! I looked up Vote Forward and it seems to be GOTV (paper, USPS) letter writing outreach. This was popular with some local Leagues members during previous election cycles. LWVOR is not coordinating writing postcards at the state level. I haven’t heard of any LWVUS plans for this. Here are a few things we’re doing. LWVOR Advocacy Our Action Committee to increase digital outreach, including advocacy to support the Oregon Secretary of State's proposed 2022 legislation to facilitate voter registration help from 3rd parties, something LWVOR has been advocating toward for a long time. Read our LRs for progress, details in this letter. Outreach Circle We want League members to help expand digital networking outwards to our other circles, our families, friends, and other groups we belong to, who depend on us as trusted voices. Contact the LWVOR Outreach Circle Coordinator, Elizabeth Anderson, for details, via lwvor@lwvor.org. County Elections Election Observer teams are important League functions around the country, including sometimes in Oregon. Observers monitor ballot processing steps including signature verification and ballot tallying. This year elections offices are again addressing anticipated staffing shortages. League members could be ideal workers given our awareness of the importance of our elections. Please see the staffing request in Voter Education. Election Protection 1-866-Our-VOTE We fight voter suppression with League members taking calls during elections. LWVUS belongs to this coalition and yes, voters in Oregon call in here for help! ACTION Chair Alice Bartelt We are getting ready for the legislative session, which begins TODAY, February 1st. We will meet on Tuesdays at 10:30 am. The session is supposed to address issues that cannot wait until the 2023 long session. Our committee members are already working on many bills of concern. The Action Committee recommended and the LWVOR Board has endorsed these four ballot initiative petitions. IP 43, 44 and 45 Campaign Finance Reform. Becky Gladstone is a chief petitioner on all three. These are similar in content. Which goes forward will be based on the coalition’s findings for which has the best chance of passing. LWVOR was instrumental in drafting the measures’ language. IP 34 reintroduces IP 54 regarding redistricting, which failed to make the ballot in 2020. Norman Turrill is the chief petitioner. Watch for an email summary linked to a full Legislative Report each week during the session (Subscribe). We will update the Issues for Action after the end of the short session. Action needs several volunteers to serve as Coordinators. Our committee has grown, expanding needs for the intermediate level of oversight. We are missing a coordinator for education and for social issues. If you have any ideas of folks who might be interested in taking on those jobs, please let me know, Alice Bartelt (contact via lwvor@lwvor.org. UPCOMING EVENTS Please check the LWVOR calendar for your local events. If you don’t see them, send us details to post so we can help publicize them! LWVOR Council [May 20-22, Newport OR, hosted by Lincoln Co League]. We are currently planning an in-person event, and will change to virtual if need be. With program planning underway, we invite you to submit your ideas for caucuses and workshops. Contact the LWVOR Events Chair, Robin Tokmakian, forwarding via lwvor@lwvor.org. LWVUS Convention June 23-26, 2022 Read for varied instructions for proposing bylaws changes, sponsoring caucuses, etc. I hope all our Leagues updated their membership rosters by the end of January deadline for your League’s membership roster to get full delegation voting access! Civics Education Partner Events Toni Lampkin, LWVOR Civics Education Director, and Donna Cohen, presenter, are coordinating with the Oregon State Library for regional presentations. Here’s the update. Citizen Activism 101, and The Constitution: Fulfilling Democracy’s Promise? – Democracy, the Constitution and Representation in Congress. Three library districts (Umatilla, Jackson and Deschutes) and Harney County will enlist multiple libraries from their four regions. Nine libraries are currently planning to participate. Corvallis PL Oregon City PL Umatilla County SLD Hillsboro PL Deschutes PL District Eugene PL Salem PL Jackson County LD Harney County PL (drawing from other eastern Oregon counties) Here are some of Donna Cohen’s free virtual February workshops. Misinformation, Fake News and Political Propaganda. Feb 1 (TODAY!) TU, 7-8:30pm. Albany Public Library. REGISTER Feb 16 W 6:30-8pm. Cedar Mill Public Library. REGISTER Feb 27 Sun, 2-3:30pm. Hillsboro Public Library. Registration available mid-February. Beyond Voting: Elections and Campaign Finance Feb 26, Sat 11am-12:30pm. Hood River County Library District. Registration available mid-February. Recommended Reading Oregon’s February weather is often great for indoor reading! This month’s recommended reading came to me from Santa and is newly relevant with SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer’s recent retirement announcement. For February, consider reading JUSTICE ON THE BRINK, the Death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and twelve months that transformed the Supreme Court, by Linda Greenhouse. Please send your recommended reading! Thank you for reading this. I am so grateful for the many ways our members work together! Perhaps some of us will be able to safely see each other in person soon, locally, or at the LWVOR Council or LWVUS Convention. I am sending virtual chicken soup as I hear of friends contracting omicron. I hope you all have been vaccinated and boosted to help ease the severity of symptoms in case you contract the disease. Here’s to a healthy, productive February, Yours in League. Becky Gladstone, President, LWVOR

Happy New Year, LWVOR Members and Supporters! I hope you had wonderful holidays and are excited to get to work in the new year! LWVOR’s top priority is voter education and advocacy, and we need volunteers to support the 2022 midterm elections. Watch for more information in the winter 2022 LWVOR VOTER, coming in early February. Please remember, as a grassroots organization, League work begins with you! Please reach out to friends and colleagues who may be interested in our work and invite them to join our work! IN THIS MONTH’S NEWS… Voter Education, contact your rep to help locally with Vote411 and campaign events Action never pauses. Our 2022 legislative advocacy needs your help. Studies are progressing and some are thinking about new ones! LWVUS Convention, concurrence Events and Civics Education Recommended Reading Have you seen our SHOP? The above photos were taken at Deschutes County League’s Holiday Party! VOTER EDUCATION Voter Education Reps will meet this month to coordinate nonpartisan candidate outreach for VOTE411.org. We are already answering new requests; we do not endorse candidates and we do not support or oppose candidates or political parties. After primary election candidate filing closes on March 7th, we will invite all Oregon candidates whose filings include contact emails to publicize their information on our VOTE411 site. Please encourage and remind your candidates to look out for their VOTE411 invitation! If you enjoy event planning (forums) and/or database work (harvesting data from county and municipal elections websites), contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org for information on how to help with this critical work. UPCOMING EVENTS Please see the LWVOR calendar for local and other events as we receive them. LWVOR Council The Lincoln County League will host, June 17-19, hoping for in-person, subject to change as needed. More soon. LWVUS Convention 2022 The “first call” for June 23-26 and other information is posted. Note the end of January deadline for your League’s membership roster to get full delegation voting access! LWV Webinar: WED January 19, 10 am: Democracy, Disinformation & Distrust: How do we Break Through to Advance Truth & Build Trust? Explore ways to build resilience to the impact of mis / disinformation. LWV Civil Discourse Network & the National Institute for Civil Discourse. Civics Education partner events The LWVOR has met with Oregon State Library staff to facilitate federal funding to underwrite Oregon Libraries Civics ED presentations later this year, partnering with the Oregon State Library and League member Donna Cohen, who would present them. These would be designed for attending library patrons. You may recall Donna’s Fall Workshop presentation several years ago, not recorded at her request. Her topics and schedule are on her website, www.civicthinker.info. For example: Misinformation, Fake News, and Political Propaganda (registration listings at the individual libraries). Thursday, January 20, 6:30-8 pm, Tualatin Public Library Tuesday, February 1, 7-8:30 pm. Albany Public Library Wednesday, February 16, 6:30-8 pm. Cedar Mill Public Library Sunday, February 27, 2-3:30pm. Hillsboro Public Library ACTION Advocacy at the BALLOT BOX! The League is on firm ground to defend and push for these national and global efforts: Voting Rights, safeguard our elections Climate change, prepare to adapt where prevention deadlines have elapsed The Right to Choose League leaders are Chief Petitioners pushing Redistricting and Campaign Finance Reform initiatives to Oregon’s November 2022 ballots. See “People Not Politicians” (IP 34), and see Honest Elections, Fight Political Corruption and Require Transparency, parts I (IP 43), II (IP 44), and III (IP 45). Please watch for volunteer calls to collect petition signatures. Our Voter Education volunteers will research state ballot measures certified in August and prepare Voters’ Guide and Speakers’ Bureau coverage for voters. The Action Committee will decide which measures may merit taking a League position, then forward those recommendations to the board. Our Voter Education never simultaneously presents any League measure positions. Please SHARE: The League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties. Sometimes, we support or oppose ballot measures based on our studied, nonpartisan positions. Legislative Advocacy Action volunteers virtually attended 2022 pre-session hearings last week. We need more volunteers to observe hearings and report to us, and to help with research. We need your expertise (or willingness to learn) about issues including health care, broadband, and many others listed in our Legislative Reports (Subscribe). Our member experts write testimony to influence legislation by applying League positions and perspectives. Please apply your knowledge! Step up and find a way to help. STUDIES Most of our study committees took some holiday time and are still on track with timelines. Recommended Reading For directly sourced reading instead of interpreted analysis, here’s the Congressional January 6th Report. From Kathleen Hersh, with thanks: Our Marion and Polk County book group started in 2000. Each year in August participating members suggest a book they have read and think others might enjoy. Some years the group agrees on an overall theme such as Oregon authors, and other years our list is eclectic. We have two rules: the member must have read their selection and our library should have at least one copy of the book on its shelves. In years past we met on the first Wednesdays, usually at a member’s home, shared tea and treats, and time to discuss the book. For the past two years, we’ve held a Zoom gathering. The member whose book is featured leads the discussion and begins with a brief explanation of why they selected the book. Then we do a round-robin, one minute for each member to talk about their major impression of the book. After that, the group begins discussion with the leader sometimes offering prompting questions. In October we read The Lathe of Heaven, a novel by Oregon author Ursula K. Le Guin. It was published in 1971 and is a science fiction classic. Le Guin set the story in Portland in the late 20th or early 21st century. She refers to many places we all know. The world is dealing with exponential population growth, pollution, racism, climate change, decimation of the land and its natural resources, warming of the atmosphere, and war between nations. The story is about a man, Orr, who is frightened when he realizes that his dreams can become reality, and about his therapist Doctor Haber, who is trying to treat him. The doctor, in an attempt to cure Orr’s problem, realized that he is able to alter the world through his suggestions to Orr when he enters a dream state. Haber can “improve the world” and his own life as he treats his patient. All this leads to many unintended consequences, such as every person being the same shade of gray, millions of people suddenly vanishing from the earth, and an alien invasion as a way to bring all the nations of the world together. Although it was written 50 years ago, these are contemporary problems for us today. Our discussion covered many topics such as unintended consequences of our actions in our own world today. Who has the authority or right to implement changes? What is ethical behavior? Are there solutions to our problems? How do we remain true to our core values in changing times? Whether our book is a work of fiction, or a book about the life of birds, or US diplomacy, we never lacked for discussion. LWVOR Store We’ve got new merch! Our store was looking a little bare and dusty, so we designed some new swag for you to show your League support! Check it out here. Thank you for reading this newsletter! You can Manage Your LWVOR Subscriptions yourself for this monthly President’s Newsletter, the Legislative Reports, beginning again in February, and the quarterly VOTER. Again, Happy New Year! From my desk to yours, please take care and find something to appreciate every day. That can be knowing you are making a difference with the League! Becky Gladstone, President, LWVOR

LWVOR is deeply grateful for the support of our members, volunteers, and donors who continue to show up for democracy. All that we accomplish is thanks to your support. We are proud to do this vital work protecting democracy - together! As we look back on our 2021 accomplishments, we are also preparing for the work ahead. Here’s a look at some highlights: VOTER EDUCATION In 2021 we hosted several election-related events, including a People Powered Fair Maps online redistricting presentation to educate and encourage Oregon voters to make their voices heard in the process. This fall Rebecca Gladstone, LWVOR President, spoke at the USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative to share tips with regional partners on how to make our elections more secure. And LWVOR is already preparing for the 2022 midterms, building teams and outreach strategies to extend our election coverage to reach more voters across the state with our nonpartisan resources. STUDIES Our League studies propel us forward with fresh ideas and perspectives to strengthen our communities through education, and ultimately through advocacy. In 2021, LWVOR Convention delegates approved two new initiatives: a Childcare Restudy and an Election Systems Study update. Work is well underway for both. We invite you to get involved! Contact lwvor@lwvor.org. In 2022, we plan to bring our Privacy and Cybersecurity position to LWVUS, where we hope to effect real policy change to support election security, cyber safety, and privacy-related issues. ADVOCACY Topping this year’s advocacy list is LWVOR’s recent campaign finance reform ballot initiative filings, with our coalition partners. We firmly believe elections should be about voters, not big money interests. That’s why we’re working for fair elections for all Oregon voters and restoring voters’ confidence in democracy. We continue to push for an independent redistricting commission. Subscribe to our weekly League advocates’ email briefs and full Legislative Reports during the legislative session, from the state legislature, government task forces, linking to extensive League testimony. Our resources include ways you can help, too! As we reflect on all we’ve done last year, we are also planning ahead, thinking about how our advocacy can build and maintain more equitable communities. LWVOR will continue to empower voters to make their voices heard in every election. We will continue to hold our elected officials accountable, demanding they support legislation that works toward the common good. And we will continue listening to and learning from youth leaders and our diverse coalition partners across Oregon. We are preparing now to cover the 2022 elections through VOTE411.org, for candidates and ballot measures, including new opportunities for gun safety reform, establishing a right to healthcare for all Oregonians, and strengthening our democracy through campaign finance reform and independent redistricting. We look forward to speaking out and taking action with you in the new year. Thank you for your support. -LWVOR Leadership Team Help us continue bringing our nonpartisan resources to Oregon voters with a tax-deductible donation!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 7, 2021 PORTLAND, Oregon - Honest Elections Oregon, a coalition of pro-democracy groups and advocates, filed ballot initiatives to enhance the campaign finance system in Oregon, reduce the perception and reality of corruption, and empower more voices in Oregon’s elections. These measures: include large campaign contribution limits to reduce outsized big money influence require political ads to transparently reveal their largest funders create a small donor matching program to make smaller contributions matter and improve opportunities for candidates from historically marginalized communities “I am honored to support the ballot campaign finance reform initiatives filed today. These measures can help to restore voters’ confidence in healthy democracy. Voters must know that our elections are fair and free of undue influence by powerful dark money at the expense of voters. We can accomplish this and restore trust in our political system.” --Rebecca Gladstone, President, League of Women Voters of Oregon “I am proud of the measures we have filed and the extensive process we embarked on to craft the best policies possible with both local and national experts. We hope in the coming months, during the ballot title review process, to continue building a big tent to support these measures and to continue to work with historically marginalized communities. We know that voters want to take big money out of politics. These initiatives could move Oregon from the Wild Wild West of campaign finance to leading the way with one the best programs in the nation.” --Jason Kafoury, Honest Elections Oregon Honest Elections Oregon worked successfully to pass campaign finance reforms in Multnomah County (2016) and the City of Portland (2018), proving not only that such policies are needed and popular but also that they work. The goal is to simply limit the corrosive impact money has had in Oregon politics and hold accountable those who attempt to subvert the will of democracy by buying elections. The initiatives will start gathering qualifying signatures as soon as today. See Texts and Summaries of the Proposed Measures CONTACTS: Jason Kafoury jason@honest-elections.com ‭(202) 465-276 Gregory McKelvey greg@praxispolitical.com ‭(503) 459-1930

IN THIS ISSUE... PRESIDENT’S COLUMN ARE FIREARMS BANNED IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN YOUR COMMUNITY 2022 INITIATIVE PETITIONS TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE OREGON WILDFIRE RESOURCES 2021 BEYOND MEMBERSHIP THE PANDEMIC CHANGED THE WAY LWVOR SPENT FUNDS THIS YEAR THE LATHE OF HEAVEN COP26 SUMMARY TAKE ACTION WITH OUTREACH CIRCLE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN By Becky Gladstone, LWVOR President League communications are usually urgent. The LWVOR quarterly newsletter, The VOTER, is perfect for a deeper look than usual. This Winter 2022 edition features advocacy. Thanks to Robin Tokmakian for the COP 26 attendee view in Glasgow. We’re working on campaign finance reform and redistricting initiatives for November ballots. Our Legislative Reports are resuming, pre-session, with brief weekly emails, linked to the extensive online coverage. Now is the time to Manage Your Subscriptions. We are busy preparing for the 2022 elections. Midterm elections often get less voter attention than presidential elections. Oregon’s 2022 midterm will get plenty, from the six new redistricted congressional districts, the hot governor’s race, the unusually important legislative races with a new House Speaker, Senate President, and leaders, to unusually contentious local races. We will be busy with forums, candidate interviews, and our full online candidate and ballot measure coverage. We hope to again be distributing our printed state Voters’ Guides, in English and Spanish, also in multiple online formats, including audio, and Video Voters’ Guides. Our volunteers collect the Oregon content for the public VOTE411.org website, for ballot previews of all Oregon candidates and ballot measures. We search election websites, then using candidates’ filing email addresses, we invite them to share information. Behind the scenes, our VOTE411 software manages all of this. Nationally, many League signature values are under attack, with gerrymandering getting worse in places, and the freedom to vote and counting every vote being eroded, affecting many individual issues. In today’s disinformation climate, we value being well-informed from reliable sources. It is inspiring to hear directly from our board members and advocates. We want informed Oregonians to have a voice, from elections issues, to our economy, to so many aspects of our environment, and more. We can use your help. Please share this newsletter, and read and forward the email. As League members, always look for actions we can take, with hope for the future. Here’s to 2022, knowing we’re doing all we can. Yours in League, Becky Gladstone President, LWVOR 2022 INITIATIVE PETITIONS TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE By Marge Easley Although the League does not usually endorse initiatives until they qualify for the ballot, we do have strong positions on gun safety and would like to make you aware of two initiative petitions, sponsored by Lift Every Voice Oregon, that are currently circulating: IP 17: Requires a permit to acquire firearms; police maintain permit/firearm database; criminally prohibits certain ammunition magazines. IP 18: Prohibits manufacturing/possessing/transferring many semiautomatic firearms; criminal penalties; exceptions require firearm registration, restrict use. The complete text of each initiative, as well as instructions for circulating and/or signing the petitions and can be found here. E-petitions are also available that allow you to download and print single signature petitions. ARE FIREARMS BANNED IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN YOUR COMMUNITY? By Marge Easley Oregon’s 2021 gun safety bill (SB 5541) gives school boards the authority to prohibit any person from intentionally possessing a loaded or unloaded firearm while in school buildings or grounds. Several local school boards, including Lake Oswego and Bend-La Pine, have recently done so, and it is hoped that more will follow. If your local school board is discussing a gun ban, and you would like information or help with League advocacy on this issue, please contact Marge Easley (marge.easley@frontier.com), LWVOR Gun Safety Specialist. OREGON WILDFIRE RESOURCES 2021 By Chris Cobey Photo by Issy Bailey on Unsplash How did you like last fall’s process of the state legislators’ picking their own districts -- and voters? If you think that’s wrong, and many commentators did (one national redistricting analyst graded Oregon’s legislatively-drawn districts overall as an “F”), we have a solution! IP 34, which would create a citizens’ independent redistricting commission and has been endorsed by the LWVOR, is currently in the ballot title phase of qualifying for the November 2022 ballot. IP 34 is an updated version of 2020’s IP 57 and would require redistricting in 2023, for the 2024 elections. Final clearance of IP 34 for qualifying signature circulation from the Oregon Supreme Court is expected by next month, with petitions available for circulation as early as March. Signature qualification requires gathering 149,360 valid signatures unless a court allows a lower qualifying number. The last day to submit signatures is July 8, 2022. BEYOND MEMBERSHIP A note from a member of the LWVOR Nominating Committee Seeking Candidates for Next Term’s LWVOR Board Why would someone want to be on a board? Perhaps they were bribed (as I once was, with a scone); perhaps they wanted out of the house (as I did more than once). Maybe they wanted to know more about, or have a say in, the bigger decisions that got made (bingo!). So, why am I on the LWVOR Board? Because someone asked me if I would like to be. I thought about it for a day and decided I could be a “liaison” of sorts to my local League, so I said yes. The experience has turned out to be so much more than I had originally thought. I have been an ardent League member for decades, but now I get to participate in a different way. Besides Zoom meetings (now, Board members can be anywhere to attend) participation has also meant being part of a larger discussion about what happens at the state level, and for me, how it might affect my local League. It has been revelatory and exciting. To quote a past LWVOR Board member, “So, when someone asks you to serve, think carefully, and then say, ‘YES’.” For information, to recommend someone, or to say yes, please contact: Jackie Clary, Nominating Committee Member jackieclary@gmail.com 541-479-4486 THE PANDEMIC CHANGED THE WAY LWVOR SPENT FUNDS THIS YEAR The absence of in-person meetings and events did away with spending for venue rent, catering, and mileage. Instead, we encountered more staff and internet service costs for the remote events that replaced them. Our loyal donors have continued to support us. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash We are now increasing activity and concomitant spending for voter education ahead of the Spring Primary election. We’re producing, and paying for, Voters’ Guides and Vote411 support, including grants to local Leagues for advertising. We’re advocating for ballot initiatives for a redistricting commission and for campaign finance reform. And we’re planning an in-person Council 2022 in Newport. We should expect inflation will increase many of these expenses beyond what we budgeted. We are fortunate to have reserves that will allow us to meet the increased costs. THE LATHE OF HEAVEN By Amy Vandegrift Our Marion and Polk County book group started in 2000. Each year in August participating members suggest a book that they have read and think other might enjoy. Some years the group agrees on an overall theme such as Oregon authors and other years our list is eclectic. We have two rules: the member must have read their selection and our library should have at least one copy of the book on its shelves. In years past we met the first Wednesday of the month, usually at a member’s home, shared tea and treats and spent time discussing the book. For the past two years we have been meeting virtually via Zoom. The member whose book is featured is the discussion leader and begins with a brief explanation of why they selected the book. Then we do a round robin, one minute for each member to talk about their major impression of the book. After that, the group begins discussion with the leader sometimes offering prompting questions. In October we read The Lathe of Heaven, a novel by the Oregon author Ursula K. Le Guin. It was published in 1971 and is a science fiction classic. Le Guin set the story in Portland Oregon in the late 20 or early 21st century. She refers to many places we all know. The world is dealing with exponential population growth, pollution, racism, climate change, decimation of the land and its natural resources, warming of the atmosphere and war between nations. The story is about a man named Orr and his therapist Doctor Haber. Orr is frightened when he realizes that his dreams can become reality. The Doctor, in treating Orr’s problem, realized that he is able to alter the world through his suggestions when Orr enters a dream state. Haber can “improve the world” and his own life as he treats his patient. All this leads to many unintended consequences such as every person being the same shade of gray, millions of people suddenly vanishing from the earth and an alien invasion as a way to bring all the nations of the world together. Although it was written 50 years ago, these are contemporary problems for us today. Our discussion covered many topics such as unintended consequences of our actions in our own world today. Who has the authority or right to implement changes? What is ethical behavior? Are there solutions to our problems? How do we remain true to our core values in changing times? Whether our book is a work of fiction, or book about the life of birds, or US diplomacy, we never lacked for discussion. COP26 SUMMARY By Robin Tokmakian INTRODUCTION The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The League of Women Voters was represented at this conference by ten local LWV members: • Carol Parker, North San Diego County • Alexis Juday-Marshall, formerly of Seattle, now in La Brea, CA • Emily Polakowski, Southeastern, CT • Rebecca Boyd, formerly of IL, now in MD • Lora Lucero, Central New Mexico • Ashley Raveche, California, at-large member • Elizabeth Lonoff, Fairfax, VA • Toni Ray Monette, Nebraska • Cynthia Bell, Mid-Hudson Region, NY • Robin Tokmakian, Portland, OR (delegation head). Some attended for the whole of the two weeks, but most attended for one week. Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash LWVUS aligns with the Women and Gender Constituency, one of 10 constituencies, made up of NGOs from around the world, focused on how women and other underrepresented groups are affected by changes to the climate. When allowed, this group made interventions” (statements) in the negotiation space to advocate for women’s rights, human rights, and a just transition. COP26 was a gathering of people from around the world to debate and educate others on every aspect of climate change. It was an opportunity to hear and learn from others, especially those from the global south, the disabled, the indigenous people, people from small island states, in addition to the big names such as Secretary John Kerry, and former President Barak Obama. The first two days was the World Leaders Summit, which resulted in limited access to the negotiations. (One of the most powerful speeches was from the President of Barbados.) It was a hybrid event and many of the negotiations and side events could be streamed online with the required pre-registration. While the UN leadership and the UK presidency of COP26 insisted that this COP was the most inclusive of all COPs, LWVUS observers found that it was less inclusive, more opaque than previous COPs, with limited access to negotiation rooms (partly due to COVID) and country delegations. NEGOTIATIONS SESSIONS “COP26” refers to the 26th convening “Conference of the Parties” who are signatories to the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty, signed by almost 200 countries. (It was signed by President George H. W. Bush in 1992, and ratified by the Senate.) These negotiations are the heart of COP26, with the side events added for broader engagement and information transfers. The first week of negotiations are called “informal” where various negotiators who are experts on a topic formulate language for country ministers to discuss, modify, and finally agree to in the second week. It was clear in the first week, that there would be some difficulties reaching compromise outcomes. At various points during these negotiations, the constituencies were allowed to intervene to give input to the member states. There was a strong push from constituencies to add language in support of disabled communities and for indigenous peoples. Most important was the discussion on providing funding to address “loss and damage” that developed countries imposed on developing countries, especially the global south, small island states, and indigenous peoples. The most controversial negotiation was on “Article 6”, the article in the Paris Agreement that addresses various forms of trading credits which should lead to reducing carbon emissions. Many newspapers have reported the outcomes of COP26. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has written an excellent summary. In short, Article 6 can now be operationalized. There is a timeline for countries to submit and update their Nationally Determined Contributions (how a country will reduce its own emissions). Countries will discussion how to address and fund “loss and damage” in the next few years. The COP’s cover statement includes the phrase: “…accelerating efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies…”. This is the first mention of the primary sources of carbon emissions in any UN climate agreement. In the end, international cooperation is a very slow process, with many different needs, viewpoints, and concerns. Perhaps the most effective way forward is to consider how we, here in the US, can effectively address the issue on a local, state, and federal level. Our first step should be for the LWVUS to ask the US to sign on to the UNICEF’s “Declaration on Children, Youth, and Climate Action”. SIDE EVENTS LWVUS was the co-sponsor (along with McGill Univ., Human Rights Watch, and the International Disability Alliance) and moderator of a side event entitled “Disability-Inclusive Climate Action: Rights and Obligations." The panel included His Excellency Jan Walberg, Ambassador for Climate Change, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland; Katherine Lofts, McGill Univ; Susie Fitton, Inclusion Scotland; Pratima Gurung, Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global Network; Cara Schulte, Human Rights Watch; Jose Viera, International Disability Alliance; and Sue Swenson, Inclusion International. Each panelist gave us their wisdom about how they or those close to them experienced the impacts of climate change or how we should be addressing the issue in climate policy, both at the local, state, or international level. It was satisfying to know that one of the outcomes of COP26 was the formation of a new NGO constituency for addressing issues related to the disabled. Other insights from side events: One member referred to the pavilion side-event area of COP26 as “a marketing extravaganza for countries, institutions and businesses”, as it is an area of large booths for countries to hold their own events. The first week included a large number of talks related to forests and reducing deforestation. At an event held at the US’s Pavilion (all events), Secretary John Kerry stated that USAID has pledged money to aid foreign countries in saving forests and respecting indigenous people’s lands. Additionally, financial institutions that are part of the Forest Investment Club and the LEAF foundation as well as others that represent $9 trillion, pledged to divest of projects that cut forests for agriculture use by 2025. The WHO held a panel discussion entitled Healthy Climate. The panelist from International Council of Nurses spoke about respiratory illness due to diminishing air quality and natural disasters that result in the spread of infectious diseases, as well as depression, anxiety, grief, isolation and PTSD. He stated that “Nursing is the most trusted profession in the world” and as such, can be mobilized to influence policy. A panel of indigenous people from Nepal, Chad, Peru and elsewhere was organized by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and International Work Group Indigenous Affairs. In response to the question “Will market mechanisms kill the 1.5 C goal?” the Nepali representative noted (paraphrasing) that ‘carbon capture’ and the other tools that the governments are counting on don’t exist. Carbon markets have many limitations. It will depend on how these mechanisms are implemented in the future. Several LWVUS delegates attended a discussion related to litigation paths to addressing climate issues. A Greenpeace representative stated that to hold countries and companies accountable, litigation maybe the only way forward, especially to reduce “greenwashing” of companies’ policies on climate. Some examples of successful litigation include: • Advocates in an Amazonian case have been fighting for the past 30 years and making arguments about nature’s rights. Finally, lawyers have stepped up to help them with this fight. • In another case, a young man from Australia asked a representative from a pension fund what their plans and investment criteria are regarding climate. The fund representative was unable to provide answers. He took them to court and now investment firms and pension funds in Australia have changed their modus operandi regarding climate factors. President Obama spoke to a capacity filled plenary room about giving us, the attendees to COP26, especially the youth, a way forward. One of the things he listed as actions one could take was to vote, and to vote your interests (vote for those who know and understand the climate urgency). Vice President Gore also spoke to the youth to provide hope for the future. Several of LWVUS observers were able to be in the room for these speeches. Many of the side events have videos from COP26 and can be found here. TAKE ACTION WITH OUTREACH CIRCLE The League of Women Voters is now using Outreach Circle to make it easy for supporters to take action and learn more about League activities. To join, download the Outreach Circle app and then search for "League of Women Voters Oregon" and "League of Women Voters US" and any other League you're interested in following. Oregon Leagues are encouraged to use this free tool to share their message with their membership as well as others interested in taking action. Staff at LWV US are leading to help Leagues step-by-step as they begin to adopt this tool. Additionally, Elisabeth Anderson of LWV Corvallis is willing to assist Leagues by meeting with members, providing tips, and discussing the benefits of this application over the phone. You may contact her at e.anderson@lwvor.org. Learn more about Outreach Circle here: https://tinyurl.com/ye23ehdv Terry Styner DESIGNER: Allison Griffin

Dear League members, Happy Holidays! Here’s to celebrating life! This month's newsletter is a team effort--many thanks to a wonderful team of contributors. Here’s a quick overview: State Drug Prescription Price SURVEY (ASAP) Voter Education Election Prep News Volunteer Opportunities incoming! Civics ED, Dec 11th Harvard Case Study, share ASAP, & LWVPDX video! Action, news from COP26 and legislative summary Our LWVOR online shop, new “merch”! Recommended Reading Oregon 3rd Annual Prescription Drug Price—SURVEY The Drug Price Transparency Team, OR Dept of Consumer and Business Services department wants to hear how you and your family have been affected by rising prescription drug costs. Consumers are invited to ask questions and share their rising prescription drug price stories. (Survey open NOW) PUBLIC HEARING: on (rising) prescription drug prices and survey. 1pm - 3pm Wed, Dec 8th. More information and hearing registration. VOTER EDUCATION The LWVOR spoke on the record (video) for Election Security in Oregon, thanks to the Election Cybersecurity Initiative, USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Election PREP NEWS Thank you to Peggy Bengry: We have drafted a timeline and you can expect a request for volunteers to attend an organizational meeting in mid-January. As in the past, local league volunteers will power this effort by providing candidate contact information and candidate questions to Vote411, hosting candidate forums and interviews, registering voters and generally protecting democracy in your inimitable way. Questions for candidates will be on the agenda then; be prepared with some good ones! “Gerrymandering” and “voter suppression” are the words that seem to be most associated with the upcoming midterm elections news, but there is some good news, also. The state League is committed to helping voters make informed choices for the elections next year. The Vote411.org administrative interface and the page candidates see when they enter their information have both been improved. CIVICS EDUCATION, Harvard CASE NEWS Please share both the Teacher Registration Link for the December 11 event and the LWVPDX case study video, details below. LWVOR is on this elite list because Oregon sent the largest group of teachers, thanks to Toni Lampkin! From LVW CT Dear National Advisory Board Members, I am writing to a small group of you today, since I know you have been particularly active in nominating teachers to join the case method civics project. In fact, a number of you nominated teachers who were unable to make the April and August professional development workshops this year. I therefore thought you might like to be aware that Professor Moss has added a workshop on Saturday, December 11 from 12:15-6:15pm (Eastern) in response to the increased demand nationwide for case method training. We hope you will let any of your active high school teachers of US history, government or civics know about this opportunity. They should feel free to sign up directly on the link below, and once they do, a member of the Case Method Institute team will get in touch with them about next steps: Teacher Registration Link Thank you so much for your continued engagement with this project, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Kind wishes, Dr. Deirdre Kamlani, Civics Chair, LWV Greenwich Harvard CASE from LWVPDX LWVPDX urges members to use the letter template below to share this LWVPDX 7-minute video from their Harvard Case Study in October explains the value of teaching high school civics with the, along with scenes from the event. See the LWVOR Civics Education page. We would like to get this video distributed to public, private and charter high schools in Oregon. We think the best way to do this is to ask for help from LWVOR and local Leagues. I have already sent this to the Oregon Department of Education. I will be contacting as many high schools as possible in Multnomah County and sending them the video to distribute to their teachers. I will also contact the administrators for the school districts. If other Leagues could please contact school districts and schools in their areas, that would be wonderful for advancing civics education in our state. This could be done in December and/or January or whenever the local Leagues think is the best time to reach their teachers. Margaret Noel, Communications Chair League of Women Voters of Portland Please personalize this letter and send it to your schools and districts, with the video. LETTER TO SCHOOLS TEMPLATE Dear _____, Please forward this to current U.S. History, U.S. Government, and Civics teachers in your school. The Harvard Case Method of teaching history and civics has proven to be an effective way to engage high school students in learning about the significance of past events. Please click the link below to watch a LWV seven-minute video presentation about this method. The video explains how the case method works. In it, a trained Oregon high school teacher discusses the benefits of using this method in his classes, including comments from teachers and students who participated. The video concludes by explaining how teachers can apply for free training and support. This video is also available on the LWV of Portland website under “Learn”: https://lwvpdx.org/engaging-students-in-civics-us-history/ The Harvard Business School’s Case Method Institute offers free online training workshops several times a year. Teachers, register for the recently added December 11th event! Sincerely, (Name/position of Local LWV leader) ACTION Volunteer Opportunities, a new webpage! A new *Volunteer Opportunities* page is coming to LWVOR’s website! Keep an eye out for current volunteer requests, training, and connections, including one next Tuesday! Lift Every Voice Oregon is hosting a virtual signature gathering training session on Tuesday, Dec. 7th from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Email office@lifteveryvoiceoregon.com to sign up, and go to lifteveryvoiceoregon.com for more information. 2021 Legislative Summary Briefs From the Peggy Lynch, on the Action Team: It can be challenging to track the Legislature’s accomplishments. Fortunately, at the end of each session, the Legislative Policy Research Office (LPRO) publishes the Legislative Summary Reports, highlighting policy measures that received a public hearing during the regular session. After the 2021 legislative session, LPRO also published a shorter, user-friendly Legislative Summary Briefs by Topic, highlighting substantive Oregon policy changes. See the Table of Contents on page 3 for links to each topic. These 18 individual briefs offer essential background information, organized by policy areas, identifying relevant legislative history, with related measures, agencies and programs. LPRO has also created this new legislation summaries web page, set up for browsing by policy topic, and if you prefer a compilation of topics, full summaries of legislation are available by year on the right side of the page. COP26 Daily Blogs Thank you to our First Vice President, Robin Tokmakian for sending daily reports from the League delegation at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. LWVOR SHOP MERCH!! Do you know about the LWVOR online shop? League pins, pens, mugs, and our new webcam covers! Be sure to order now in case of USPS delays. Recommended Reading My personal reading was Peril, (Washington Post review) for November, and currently The 1619 Project. This NYTs Magazine brief evolved into the book I’m reading. Thanks to Kathleen Hersh for sharing this, from the Deschutes and Portland League Book Groups! What Leaguers Are Reading A number of local Leagues have book groups. It is interesting to see what they are reading. Here is a report from Mimi Alkire from the LWV of Deschutes County League Freedom Readers. While we tend to read nonfiction, this past August we crossed that line ever so slightly and decided to read A Light in the Wilderness, by Jane Kirkpatrick. While technically listed as historical fiction, there is very little for which Jane has to use her imagination in writing this story. It is the story of the very real woman, Letitia Carson, who was the first Black woman to successfully secure a homestead in Oregon. She was a former slave who couldn’t read or write but made her way from Kentucky to Oregon in the early 1860’s and settled in Douglas County in 1863. As a single mother and widow, she had to go to court to win her right to keep her property. This is an incredible story written by an accomplished writer and historian! On a lark, I contacted the author through her website before our meeting and told her that the LWV of Deschutes County would be discussing her book. She agreed to join us and we had an enlightening and lively conversation about this fascinating early Oregonian. It was so wonderful to be able to ask questions about Letitia and get the historical scoop on her life. We are so lucky to have Jane living half the year in Deschutes County. After our discussion of Letitia, she joined LWVDC and is now a permanent member of the Freedom Readers! [Side note: an elementary school in the Corvallis area has changed its name to Letitia Carson Elementary. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be this spring!] This month we are discussing Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City, by Rosa Brooks. What a great read that one is!! And a report from Betsy Pratt with Viva Libra from LWV of Portland As might be expected of a League book club, the Portland club reads serious social science literature. Our books this fall focused on America’s treatment of its black population and the cruelty and injustices suffered by black Americans. We first read Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, which proposes that many societies have embedded hierarchies that grant special privileges to those deemed to have high status and that treat those deemed to have low status with abuse and indignity. For its entire history, the US has placed black Americans in the lowest caste, based on long-standing assumptions about the relative worth of black and white people. It has been critical for insecure and struggling whites to maintain their belief that someone else is at the bottom of the social ladder and they have used skin color as a convenient marker for assigning social position. In November, we discussed The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, which describes how deliberate public policies and legal actions by Federal, state, and local governments promoted the discriminatory policies that continue today. The author, Richard Rothstein, focuses on a handful of cities as case studies but it becomes clear that the patterns of manipulating zoning, restricting access to housing or schools, and promoting (or denying) access to jobs occurred widely across the county. He also documents the harmful, long-term effect of segregation and notes how difficult it will be to repair. For example: For low-income African American children, the social and economic disadvantages with which they frequently come to school make higher achievement more difficult. Consider just one example, asthma, an affliction from which African American children suffer at nearly twice the rate of white children—probably because African Americans live in or near residential-industrial neighborhoods with more dust, pollutants, and vermin. Asthmatic children are more likely to awaken at night wheezing and, if they come to school after an episode, can be drowsy and less able to pay attention. A child who has more frequent absences-from poor health, unreliable transportation, having to stay at home to care for younger siblings, or family instability—will have less opportunity to benefit from instruction. (pp 196-197). We found these books to be uncomfortable to read but agreed that they provide powerful explanations of America’s grimmer social history. Thank you for reading and enjoy December! Becky Gladstone, LWVOR President

by Josie Koehne December Revenue Forecast On November 17, the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis presented the shockingly strong December revenue Forecast in a joint session with the House Revenue and Senate Finance & Revenue committees. Personal and corporate income tax collections continue to set records. See the presentation and video. The actual 3rd quarter revenue tallies came in well above the very rosy September forecast, breaking a new revenue record. Rather than returning to a normal economy as anticipated, we have a very hot economy that has been exceptionally favorable for bringing tax revenue to Oregon. Spending, wages, and prices are up as employers are scrambling to find workers as by now, fewer wage earners are going back to work than anticipated. There are 70,000 fewer job openings and 10,000 more people on unemployment, relative to pre-pandemic levels. Part of this is that workers have more savings due to federal dollars and Covid policies, and part is that workers are getting higher wages, reducing pressure on finding work. There are thousands of job openings that cannot be filled! Employees are working more hours and at higher pay. Average wages in Oregon are 15% higher today than before the pandemic, but the real, or inflation-adjusted average wage is up 8%. The supply chain and especially labor is a bottleneck for companies who can’t keep up with pent-up demand. As they wait for parts and employees, they are passing their higher costs on to consumers. Inflation is rising, but it is expected to level off once more post-covid jobs are back in business. Fortunately, the wage gains are mostly going to lower income wage-earners. Unfortunately, with the lack of low-income housing, many workers are still unable to afford the high rents for the few units available. Corporate profits are up 3%, and will be 5% once inventory is restocked. Stock prices are up, expecting future earnings, and tax collections are way up as well, with delayed, late-filer Oregon tax payments coming in, in the 3rd quarter. There is exceptionally higher demand, with higher prices paid for warehousing, transportation, construction, manufacturing and wholesale sectors. Income increased mostly in rural areas in the eastern and southeastern counties and population growth occurred in the central and north central areas of the state, but there was little in-migration. All this adds up to greatly increased personal income tax revenue, mainly from tax withholdings from more higher income wage-earners. Revenue from higher corporate excise tax rates were the biggest gains. Here are the 2021-2023 forecast figures: Total Net General Funds and Lottery Resources is $29.283 billion. Compared to Close-of-Session (COS) estimates, personal income tax (PIT) revenue is up 2.6%, by $531.1 million. Another PIT kicker of $558.3 is expected starting in 2024. Corporate tax revenue growth is up 44% for 2021(!) with $250.3 million from the Corporate Activity Tax (CAT), an 18.6% increase and is projected to be dedicated to K-12 education spending in 2023-25. Corporate income is expected to be much less next year due to CAT revisions and the ability to apply carry-forward tax liability (capital gains) to future years. General Fund gross revenue is up $808.6 million (3.5%) from the 2021 COS estimate. Net GF and Lottery resources are up $1.549 billion (5.6%) from the 2021 COS estimate The projected ending balance is up $1.478 billion from all sources from the 2021 Close-of-Session estimate. Since the last revenue forecast in September, this forecast is up $751 million from all revenue sources. The analysts expressed concern that the economy is so hot that we could come to a sudden crash should interest rates be raised to combat inflation, causing a big and sudden cooling of the economy as borrowing capital becomes less affordable for businesses. There are large and increasing reserve funds (Rainy Day Fund and the Educational Stability fund) of $1.4 billion now, increasing to $2 billion by the end of the biennium, due to new policies. All in all, this year’s revenue is better than we’ve ever seen from all revenue sources including Other Funds at $22,513 million, a 26.3% increase over last year. We can all be grateful this Thanksgiving that Oregon’s General Fund is on solid ground, as we might need it for services in the near future should the economy take a sudden downturn.

by Anne Nesse Starting first with the Senate Education Committee on several issues of note: Michael Elliot reported on the many state-funded summer program grants. Grants had some degree of success for helping students secure High School credits that they had difficulty completing during the first phases of the pandemic. Other grants simply brought fun and equity. A creative summer program came from the Gresham-Barlow District. It allowed all the students signed up to learn to bait a fish hook, and catch a trout! A contested issue came up at the end of the Senate meeting, as a result of a report from Andre Ourso, Oregon Health Authority, on SB 283. This Bill was a study of the research about the potential dangers of routers, laptops or large numbers of IPADs inside K-8 classrooms, and cell towers on K-8 school grounds; all devices that could possibly affect young children’s growing brains with radiation, according to the opposing scientific testimony in the hearing. Ourso reported that after studying 200 peer reviewed articles, no causal relationship to cancer was found. Ourso admitted that the report by OHA was not well funded. Numerous others testified that OHA’s research testimony might be biased by manufacturer’s claims. OHA’s report is not in line with a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, or other reports submitted in the meeting notes. And, because as was stated, we are the first state to challenge the care for this use of technology, it is significant to get this information correct, or at least not approve it, until proven completely safe. Interestingly no one asked the question, “Are broadband devices necessary in the K-8 classroom, when other means of instruction may be more appropriate, and more centered on social and emotional learning, and physical development, a necessary education for those age groups?” SB 744 was briefly discussed, noting that the committee working on these changes to graduation requirements will be looking at setting up a series of geographic engagement meetings across the state soon. Sen. Dembrow also stated there would be a special committee of legislators to meet during the interim on our severe staffing issues in many areas of education. He also mentioned a new bill during the interim to decrease turnover on school boards, with the possibility of holding elections less often, to maintain less turnover, and greater knowledge base on our school boards. House and Senate Interim Committees heard reports on the many issues of the re-opening of in-person K-12 public schools during a continuing pandemic from Oregon Department of Education (ODE). Colt Gill, ODE Director, presented many issues of stress for students and staff. He states there has currently been a decrease in enrollment of 17,000 students in our K-12 public school system. Answering questions that some families from that number have chosen home schooling, or the limited 3% online choice of virtual private charter schools. Some school districts and public charter schools have their own online virtual schooling. Other issues stated include: 1) staff shortages, 2) Covid-19 protocols both state and federal, 3) impacts of quarantines, 4) social emotional and mental health impacts, 5) attendance, 6) addressing unfinished learning, 7) community harassing, 8) intimidating and threatening educators and their families for doing their job following state and federal guidelines, 8) or misconceptions about equity in schools The Covid-19 pandemic is now recognized as being in the process of changing to an endemic, meaning a disease that will likely always be with us in some form. There are currently issues worldwide, as yet unsolved. This will continue to have an impact on education. As we ease out of the pandemic, Jackson Weinberg, Oregon Student Voice, testified that classes are still large, students use masks poorly, and aside from sports there are no other after school activities. It was reported that we are now in the process of conforming to a statewide uniform 7-day quarantine from in person school for positive-testing unvaccinated students. 10-25% of students statewide have been quarantined at any one time, due to contact tracing, even though they were without symptoms. Therefore we are aiming at a future “stay in school 7 day period” for unvaccinated non-symptomatic students who were exposed, but who test negative 2X, at the beginning and the end of the 7 days. Vaccinated students do not have to quarantine. Teacher Standards and Practice is in the process of creating new non-traditional pathways for Teacher Licensure through TSPC, as a result of HB 2166, on building more equity in the pre-K-12 grades. A brief plan summary was presented in the House Committee on Education, and is shown from the meeting material below: Individual candidate program plans developed by sponsoring district, academic partner, and candidate Allow blended learning/work experiences to satisfy licensing content & pedagogy requirements Plan is based on competency in standards rather than specific course sequence Guiding teacher provided through district support throughout program in a step-down approach This “apprenticeship” model varies from a residency in that it is a continuous improvement and growth model through professional licensure that is paid and emphasizes credit through experience Advocates with HECC and university leadership to adopt experiential tracks to degree Create an apprenticeship license allowing limited teaching of record with co-teacher support TSPC and EAC must work together with EPPs, districts, ESDs, ODE, HECC, and Community Colleges to make sure we can get as many candidates supported.

During the November legislative days, the House Rules Committee did not meet, and the Senate Rules Committee only met to consider executive appointments. However, there has been considerable movement on redistricting and campaign finance reform. Redistricting After the special session of the Legislative Assembly and the Governor adopted the legislative and congressional maps proposed by the supermajority Democrats by its Sept. 27 deadline, three lawsuits were filed alleging gerrymanders. One lawsuit challenges the congressional map and will be heard by a panel of five state judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. The other two lawsuits will go directly to the Oregon Supreme Court. In all three lawsuits, the challengers must show that the redistricting criteria have not been sufficiently followed. Since the criteria are mostly in statute and each must only be considered, the lawsuits have only a small chance of success. [Late breaking news: The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Monday against two challenges to the new legislative districts. The Court ruled that challengers had not proven that the new boundaries for the state’s House and Senate districts were crafted with illegal partisan intent, or violated any other rules that lawmakers are supposed to consider.] The People Not Politicians coalition has decided to go ahead with IP 34 (which after some minor changes replaced IP 16), and IP 34 has now qualified with 1000 valid signatures for the ballot title process. A ballot title was recently issued. However, the ballot title process could take months, so it may be at least February before signature-gathering can begin. Some 150,000 valid signatures must be delivered to the Secretary of State by July 8. Stay tuned! Campaign Finance Reform Because the legislature failed to adopt any campaign finance reform bill to implement the Measure 107 constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2020, a collaboration of organizations, including the LWVOR and organized by Honest Elections Oregon, has been meeting with stakeholders to draft an initiative petition for the 2022 ballot. An initiative petition could be filed with the SoS within a few days.

The reports below include information on natural resource agencies and programs, opportunities to engage in the item of interest to you and possible legislation for 2022. Agriculture: The Oregon Department of Agriculture has named a new deputy director from within its own ranks. The appointment of Lauren Henderson was effective on Sept. 29. He has worked for the agency for 22 years. Budgets/Revenue: See the Revenue Report in this Legislative Report. With revenue increase, the League will be requesting funding in 2022 for continuing the Oregon Global Warming Commission work funding an Environmental Justice Council as requested in SB 286 (2021), funding the Private Forest Accord, possibly funding related to the Elliott State Forest and funding the 2021 fire season expenses, as well as issues in other portfolios. For more information, see the Oregon Economic Analysis. Climate (Claudia Keith and Team): See Climate Report in this Legislative Report. See the Forestry section in this report for forest climate work, the Coastal section and the Land Use section related to other agency work. There are overlaps with this Natural Resources Report. We encourage you to read both sections. Coastal Issues (Christine Moffitt): The League commented on the Rocky Habitat Management Site Designation Proposal Process (Section E and Appendix C). This matter will come before the Ocean Policy Advisory Council. The League of Women Voters of Oregon is pleased to congratulate member Peggy Joyce on her appointment to Oregon's Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC) and confirmation by the Oregon Senate on Nov. 17. Peggy followed coastal issues on behalf of the League so her knowledge of the issues that will come before OPAC will serve Oregonians well as they consider how to protect our Rocky Shores and issues around our coastal land use Goals. On Oct. 12 the State Land Board (agenda —this item starts on page 18) received an Annual Report on the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (SSNER), the first of many over the next few years. The League is proud to have been part of the groups that helped the Dept. of State Lands to recognize this very special first-in-the-nation estuarine reserve and its role today in research around the effects of climate change on our coastal areas. Dept. of Environmenal Quality (DEQ) (Josie Koehne and Peggy Lynch): Both DEQ and the Oregon Dept. of Forestry have drafted a new Memorandum of Understanding related to the nexus between the federal Clean Water Act which DEQ is to implement in Oregon and forest practices under the purview of the Dept. of Forestry. This final plan, specifically outlines each agency’s role with a timeline, was posted recently. The League testified in support while making it clear that Oregon’s waters need to be protected. See additional information in the Forestry section. Justin Green, Water Quality Division Administrator at DEQ, is leaving the agency as of Nov. 30. Justin, who worked to turn this division around and implement recommendations from the consultant work of a few years ago and advocated for the new staffing provided for this division the last two biennia, will be missed. Jennifer Wigal will be Acting WQ Administrator after Justin’s departure. Spoiled food is costing Oregon households real money. In fact, every year the average household loses $1,600 by throwing away spoiled food. While many are already taking steps to reduce food waste, research funded by DEQ found that 85% of Oregon households agreed they could do more to reduce food spoilage. Resources are available at Don't Let Good Food Go Bad. Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) (Peggy Lynch): Bob Houston, Geological Survey and Services Program Manager/Legislative Coordinator, will leave the agency on Nov 24. The League has worked with Bob for many years, most especially during the 2021 session to assure DOGAMI’s science work continued on behalf of Oregonians. Sarah Lewis is the interim Agency Director. No new State Geologist has been appointed. Elliott State Forest (Peggy Lynch): A new Elliott State Research Forest Advisory Committee workgroup has formed to discuss developing a legislative concept to establish an independent public entity for forest ownership. Here are the Oct. 1 meeting materials; however, much has changed since this initial draft. A new draft outline of a proposed legislative concept has been filed with Legislative Counsel with the expectation that the bill will be considered in the 2022 session. Meeting information, videos, notes, and other public outreach efforts are on the Elliott website. The League has monitored this work and believes, for the most part, the legislation outline fits our positions to assure public ownership and environmental stewardship while also seeing some harvest. We look forward to seeing the actual proposed legislation. The bill should officially establish an Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF) under the direction of a new Board of Directors. The State Land Board will still have some oversight of the Forest as they would appoint this new Board. The new ESRF Board will hire an Executive Director for the Forest and will be expected to contract with Oregon State University to carry out the research mission listed in the proposed legislation. The only area not resolved is how the Common School Fund would be reimbursed for the $120.8 million still owed from the last appraisal done in 2016. OSU is suggesting it needs $17 million in infrastructure to house staff on or near the Elliott and $10 million in operating expenses the first three years (before they can gain revenue from timber harvest) in their management plan. A new development has arisen whereby the Coos Bay area Shutter Creek Correctional Facility (which is closing) might be a good fit as headquarters for the ESRF staff and visiting researchers. The House Environment and Natural Resources Committee received an update on the Elliott at its Nov. 15 mtg. While this discussion is on-going, progress is being made to consider a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the Elliott. And another Work Group is developing a proposed Forest Management Plan. Again, all this information and more is on the Elliott website. Forestry (Josie Koehne and Peggy Lynch): Since our last report on October 21, there have been several important Forestry developments. After a year and a half of negotiations, the Private Forest Accord agreement was signed on October 30 between representatives of 13 conservation groups and 13 timber industry organizations, with last-minute negotiated terms brokered by Governor Brown that ended at 1am on October 30. The agreement will serve as the basis for a Habitat Conservation Plan for the 10 million acres of privately-owned forestland, which will provide new protections for sensitive and endangered species as required by the EPA to meet Endangered Species Act standards. The plan would provide more regulatory protections from lawsuits and legal certainty for timber companies and small woodland owners when harvesting timber on their lands, while increasing wider “no cut” tree buffer zones in riparian zones to protect fish habitat. See agreement details in collected documents, with some more flexible options for small forest owners concerning riparian buffers, with incentives (reimbursements) for extending “no cut” zones when they harvest. Legislation based on the agreement will need to be drafted and approved by the Legislature, hopefully by the end of the short session, with rulemaking to follow. A presentation was provided to both House and Senate Committees during the November legislative days. The agreement outlined a rather large price tag to implement the agreement which will need to be adjudicated. Requests include $11.75 million in start-up costs to implement the HCP requirements for private forestlands, and then $18-36 million each year from the General Fund depending on how extensive the details of monitoring, road mapping, etc. and $10 million for mitigation work (fixing logging roads, culverts and streams for fish passage, etc.). The timber industry has agreed to kick in $5 million each year for this mitigation work on their lands. The League expects some budget requests should the agreement be codified in legislation. News articles on the agreement can be found here: OPB, Oregonian, Portland Business Journal and Capital Press. This is welcome news, but other issues such as logging practices, drinking water protection and climate issues related to forestry remain to be addressed. SB 1602 (2020 1st Special Session) continues to be implemented beyond the Private Forest Accord, including addressing some protections for drinking water sources and better notification around aerial spray on forests. Information is on the ODF website, including Helicopter pesticide spraying, Siskiyou stream buffers, neighbor notifications, and mediated discussions about possible changes to Oregon's Forest Practices Act, links to training videos and lists of fish streams. Effective Dec. 15, new procedures for helicopter pesticide applications and neighborly communications will start. A final, stronger and much improved ODF Climate Change and Carbon Plan (CCCP) final draft was unanimously adopted by the Board of Forestry meeting on November 3. It included the Oregon Global Warming Commission (OGWC)'s Final Natural and Working Lands Proposal recommendations, with longer harvest rotations and climate smart forestry practices. Much public testimony supported the plan. See our LWV testimony of the CCCP. There is a final draft of the Memo of Understanding (MOU) between ODF and DEQ that defines the roles and responsibilities of each agency in addressing the need to meet the water quality of the federal Clean Water Act. To do this, the two agencies will coordinate in the development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for a number of pollutants that have been found in various state waters that have failed to pass federal standards. This final plan, which specifically outlines each agency’s role with a timeline, was posted recently. It defines a greater leadership role for the Environmental Quality Commission, with frequent consultations with ODF. ODF can provide alternative compliance options but DEQ and the EPA will have final say in whether the proposed compliance options will meet the federal water quality requirements. The MOU was reviewed in a joint session between the two agencies on November 17 (watch here) but is not yet available as of this writing. Public testimony was submitted. The LWV testified on a previous draft. And finally, the big news is that a new State Forester, Cal Mukumoto, was unanimously approved at the October 29 Board of Forestry Special meeting. Cal Mukumoto is from Coos Bay and ran unsuccessfully in 2020 as the Democratic and Working Family Party candidate for that district’s state representative position now held by Republican Representative Boomer Wright. Mr. Mukumoto has had 30 years working in the forest industry and chaired the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission. He has served on the Board of Forestry, been a business consultant with a master’s degree in business administration, and worked on the board for the Tribes’ Native American business community as a timber consultant. Cal has been working with others within ODF on an initiative “to realign components of ODF’s leadership and organizational structures to enable the department to be more strategic, proactive, efficient, and effective in its work. This effort will include a realignment of the agency’s core leadership and decision-making functions.” According to an ODF email from interim State Forester Nancy Hirsh, “To more effectively manage and address the department’s core work, emerging issues, strategic initiatives, and other key business, we are splitting out leadership-level roles and responsibilities into four groups. Each group has a distinct role, but they will work closely to ensure coordination and alignment in direction, expectations, and desired outcomes at all levels of the agency.” This seems like quite a new direction in the leadership structure and we look forward to seeing how this change will play out within the agency. The League, along with others, meets monthly to get updates on the department’s many responsibilities. The Senate also confirmed the last Board of Forestry member, Liz Agpaoa, retired USDA Forest Service Southern Regional Forester, to complete the 7-member Board which will continue to adopt rules under SB 762, any legislation around the Private Forest Accord, and any other policies that come to the Board. ODF’s Forest Management Plan and Habitat Conservation Plan will be shared on December 7 from 1 – 4 p.m. in a virtual public meeting; RSVP is requested. This meeting will provide an update on the Western Oregon State Forest Management Plan (FMP) and Implementation Plan (IP) Project, the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. A proposed agenda and additional details will be provided closer to the meeting date. More information is available online at the Western Oregon State Forest Management Plan Website and the Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan Website. The agency’s suppression costs for the 2021 season are currently estimated at $127.8 million in gross costs and $67.5 million in net costs (following reimbursements from FEMA and other federal agencies). ODF and Department of Administrative Services have been coordinating closely with the state’s Catastrophic Wildfire Insurance Policy brokers, as net suppression costs exceeded the $50 million insurance deductible. Based on today’s net cost estimate, the state is positioned to make an estimated $17.5 million claim against the $25 million policy. Another issue that may appear in the 2022 session is reconsideration of a harvest tax or severance tax on forest harvests. See 2021 legislative reports for more on this issue. The current harvest tax collection ends Dec. 31 so renewing some form of harvest tax is reasonable considering the amount of General Funds needed by this agency for its many responsibilities. See the Wildfire section for more information and progress on implementing the comprehensive wildfire bill, SB 762, which will provide for wildfire risk reduction, response and recovery that include programs related to defensible space, prescribed fire, landscape resiliency and community emergency preparedness. Hanford Cleanup Board (Marylou Schnoes): The Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board held a virtual meeting on October 4. The agenda included an update on Hanford Site tank waste; updates from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington State Department of Ecology; and a presentation from ODOE’s summer intern regarding the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process. Information is available on ODOE's website. Jordan Cove News: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has asked Pembina, the the Jordan Cove project developer, and others to provide briefs by Dec. 15 to “clarify” how it intends to move forward since it lacks essential state permits and, at this point, has not submitted new applications to DEQ and DLCD. To learn more, read here. Land Use/Housing (Debbie Aiona, Nancy Donovan, Peggy Lynch and the Climate Team): The Dept. of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) is continuing to shepherd implementation of HB 2001 and 2003 (2019). The Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) has had presentations by local governments at each of its meetings. The League of Oregon Cities has provided this report as well. Budget Notes were included in HB 5006 related to continued work on the Regional Housing Needs Analysis--Budget Note #4 and #8: OHCS and DLCD are to provide an initial legislative report no later than February 1, 2022 and a final legislative report no later than December 31, 2022 on efforts to develop a legislative proposal for incorporation of a Regional Housing Needs Analysis into future state and local planning processes. LCDC approved their Policy Agenda (department work plan for 2021-23) at the meeting on Nov. 18. This document might have some minor edits not yet been captured on the web document. The Senate confirmed Barbara Boyer to LCDC. Ms. Boyer, a farmer near McMinnville, also serves on the Board of Agriculture. DLCD Director Jim Rue announced his retirement in the near future, a major announcement. A conversation around the search for a new Director also occurred during the November LCDC meeting. with a target for filling the position by May 2022. Another program the League supports, the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rulemaking, is on-going. See more about this in the Climate Report. Interesting facts from that rulemaking: In Oregon, 50% of people’s income is under $60k; 25% are disabled; 24% are people of color; 38% are renters. And they expect 40% of electric vehicle charging to happen away from home. The League continues as a member of the Oregon Housing Alliance. Members attend regular meetings to discuss past and future legislation and programs. See also the Housing Report in other sections of this Legislative Report. Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW): There have been management changes at ODFW: the deputy director for administration, Erica Kleiner left at the end of October. Shannon Hurn is currently the deputy director for fish and wildlife programs but transfered into the administrative deputy position effective November 1. Also effective November 1, Debbie Colbert returned to ODFW as the deputy director for fish and wildlife programs. The League supported the reestablishment of a Habitat Division and Sarah Reif has been named Administrator for the newly created Habitat Division as of Dec. 15. Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB): Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, formerly Deputy Director of the Dept. of Agriculture since 2005, has become Director of OWEB. Stephanie Page has also moved to the Oregon Water Enhancement Board from the Dept. of Agriculture as Deputy Director. Radioactive Waste (Shirley Weathers): The League will be participating in rulemaking to implement SB 246 (2021), Radioactive Waste Disposal Definitions and Enforcement. There are tentatively six meetings scheduled with the last meeting held on Nov. 2. Transportation: See Land Use/Housing Report on Climate Friendly Communities work. DLCD is doing rulemaking on that and on Every Mile Counts along with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, DLCD and Oregon Housing and Community Services. The Directors and representatives of these agencies provided testimony at the Nov. 18/19 LCDC meeting. Toxic Free Kids Act Update (Amelia Nestler): Adding just 5 new chemicals to the list every three years is not enough. Since the Toxic Free Kids Act Program was enacted 6 years ago, more than 4,000 reports have been filed, disclosing harmful substances like arsenic, lead, and formaldehyde in children’s products. See our new Pesticides and Other Biocides study. Local Leagues have been considering the study and the League is analyzing consensus results to adopt advocacy positions based on this important educational work. Watch for a new position, anticipated by February. Water (Peggy Lynch and Amelia Nestler): The Water Resources Dept. (WRD) received a huge infusion of staff positions and program changes with the 2021 session. Director Tom Byler announced a major reorganization in an email to stakeholders on Oct. 15. Jan Lee, a League of Women Voters of Clackamas County member, has been appointed and confirmed to the Oregon Water Resources Commission for the Northwest Region. She is the current Executive Director of the Oregon Association of Conservation Districts and has a wide range of experience in water issues. A volunteer extraordinaire, she is currently also a member of the City of Sandy Planning Commission. Her first Commission meeting will be Dec. 3rd. The House Interim Committee on Water received a Drought Report at its Nov. 17 meeting, among other important information. The House Interim Agriculture and Land Use Committee heard from a variety of water users about the effect of Oregon’s megadrought on their businesses and need for water. Of note is that State Rep. Brian Clem, long the Chair of land use committees, is resigning as of Dec. 1. With the on-going drought throughout Oregon, League members may want to check the U.S. Drought Monitor, a map updated every Thursday. And here’s the counties in Oregon for which a drought declaration has been approved. WRD received Budget Note #9 in HB 5006 (2021): WRD is directed to use provided funding to contract with Oregon Consensus to convene a workgroup comprised of a balanced membership including, but not limited to, conservation groups, agricultural water users, municipal water users, environmental justice organizations, tribal interests and state agencies including WRD and ODFW to consider regional water management opportunities that build on the 100-Year Water Vision and further the goals of the Integrated Water Resources Strategy. Oregon Consensus has begun to interview a wide variety of water interests, including LWVOR, to ascertain next steps, including establishment of a Work Group to consider how some form of regional water planning might work. We expect that group to begin early next year. The League continues to remind everyone that water in Oregon belongs to all of us. The onsite septic program advocated by LWVOR has started again with the $2 million attained in the 2021 legislative session. A separate $15 million was allocated to DEQ but that is a separate pot of money and will need rules and criteria before allocating—hopefully mostly to our 2020 wildfire victims and businesses. The federal bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden includes, for Oregon, over $500 million. Among the bill’s funding is money for tribal infrastructure. We can only hope that our Warm Springs Tribe will receive the help needed for drinking water and sewer repair/replacement. On Nov. 18 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of the Army (the agencies) announced a proposed rule to re-establish the pre-2015 definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) which had been in place for decades, updated to reflect consideration of Supreme Court decisions. This action advances the agencies’ goal of establishing a durable definition of WOTUS that protects public health, the environment, and downstream communities while supporting economic opportunity, agriculture, and other industries that depend on clean water. This proposed rule would support a stable implementation of “waters of the United States” while the agencies continue to consult with states, Tribes, local governments, and a broad array of stakeholders in both the implementation of WOTUS and future regulatory action. Amelia Nestler serves as the League’s statutory member of OHA’s Drinking Water Advisory Committee (DWAC). The committee meets quarterly to consider issues around drinking water systems serving Oregonians. Among the issues being considered are systems affected by wildfires, including possible benzene contamination and new rules for very small water systems where staff is needed to manage drinking water requirements. Also being addressed are the drinking water systems that could be contaminated with PFAS, or per- and poly-fluorinated substances. Oregon plans to test about 150 drinking water systems across the state that could be contaminated. The systems were chosen because of their proximity to known or suspected PFAS use or contamination sites. PFAS are a family of chemicals used since the 1940s for their non-stick, heat-, moisture-, grease- and stain-resistant qualities. They’re found in everyday items like non-stick pans, waterproof outerwear, food packaging and firefighting foam. PFAS are referred to as “forever chemicals,” meaning they don’t break down in the environment or human body, and can accumulate over time. Growing evidence points to their adverse health effects including increased cholesterol levels, changes in liver enzymes, small decreases in infant birth weights, decreased vaccine response in children, increased risk of high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, and increased risk of kidney or testicular cancer. DEQ’s laboratory will test the drinking water samples for 25 PFAS compounds, in partnership with the Oregon Health Authority. Results of the testing will be provided online at https://yourwater.oregon.gov/. Visit the Harmful Algae Bloom website or call the Oregon Public Health Division toll-free information line at 877-290-6767 to learn if an advisory has been issued or lifted for a specific water body. We have also seen beach closures this late summer, many of which may be related to failing septic systems along the coast. Wildfire (Josie Koehne and Peggy Lynch): SB 762 (2021), the omnibus wildfire bill that requires a multitude of rulemaking by various agencies has begun and some grant programs are being opened. See the Dept. of Forestry website for their work and progress. The League is monitoring this work and has provided testimony as necessary. Other agencies that will be required to do rulemaking include the Oregon Fire Marshal’s Office, Dept. of Land Conservation and Development (as maps are created to recognize which properties are in the Wildland Urban Interface (“that geographical area where structures and other human development meets or intermingles with wildland or vegetative fuels.”) and what level of risk they might have related to wildfire, the Dept. of Consumer and Business Services and the Public Utility Commission. An appeals process will be included in the final rules for property owners since these maps will guide future rules on action needed around the defensible space for the most at-risk properties. Those rules will be determined by the State Fire Marshal. The current Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer tool lets homeowners and potential buyers put in an address and receive a general summary of what’s called the “home ignition zone,” along with recommendations to dampen the potential of wind-whipped flames. This website does NOT reflect the upcoming rules. Videos of ODF’s rulemaking deliberations can be found here. All meetings are open to the public and have opportunities for public comment. To access the meetings, visit the RAC webpage for the Zoom links. You can also sign up to receive meeting reminders and agendas. Written comment or questions about any aspect of implementation of SB 762 may be submitted by email to sb762.rulemaking@oregon.gov. The House Interim Special Committee on Wildfire Recovery received information on both the 2021 investments for Wildfire Impacted Communities and then heard the status of Housing for the 2020 wildfire victims. At the Nov. 19 LCDC mtg., reports were received about the hardest hit of these 2020 fire areas. We encourage people still in need to call the Oregon Department of Human Services' wildfire survivor toll-free number at 1-833-669-0554 for support and to access resources at https://wildfire.oregon.gov. Those eligible for wildfire survivor support will be referred and assigned to a disaster case manager, who will help them navigate recovery. The outreach campaign includes a flyer; ads in print, social media, and other digital spaces; and, where available, transit and billboard ads. Here are ODOT's tree removal articles and an Almeda fire rebuild update in Jackson County. New funding may come to Oregon: The recently passed and signed federal infrastructure bill includes $1.5 billion for improving resilience to wildfires, including funds to restore forests after fires. The measure will also raise wildland firefighter pay and requires Interior to transition at least 1,000 seasonal firefighters to full-time workers. A portion of $5 billion is available from the federal government for states to better safeguard power transmission systems See the Forestry section for information about SB 762 and forestry actions. Volunteers Needed: You can see the names of League volunteers who covered one or more issues in these reports. Volunteers are needed to participate in rulemaking to implement the bills passed in the 2021 session and to consider following legislation in 2022, a short 5-week session starting Feb. 1st. If not actually serving on a rules advisory committee (RAC), you could simply monitor and report back on their work. Natural Resource Agency Boards and Commissions meet regularly and need monitoring. If any area of natural resources interests you, please contact Peggy Lynch, Natural Resources Coordinator, at peggylynchor@gmail.com. Training will be offered.

By Claudia Keith Climate Emergency Coordinator and Climate Emergency portfolio team members: Julie Chapman, Shirley Weathers, Cathy Frischmann, Josie Koehne, Kathy Moyd, Robin Tokmakian and Greg Martin Climate Emergency Highlights - Claudia Keith Federal The $2.0T Build Back Better (BBB) reconciliation bill moved to the Senate after the House of Representatives passed it Nov 19. Secretary of the Treasury JANET Yellen: “…This fiscally responsible package takes aim at the challenges many middle class families face: It makes child care affordable, freeing parents from having to choose between raising kids and working a job. It prevents children from entering the first grade at a disadvantage by providing universal pre-K. It gives seniors the affordable care and housing they need. As important, the Build Back Better Act also makes an historically large investment in combatting climate change. This bill is more than fully paid for by asking large corporations and the country’s top earners to pay their fair share and by finally ensuring high-income tax evaders pay what they owe…”. Independent Bond rating Agencies say the bill will not add to inflationary pressure . The Congressional Budget office analysis reflects a slight increase in the deficit over a ten year period. The climate related spending /investments in the BBB are outlined here. The House and some Senators expect the Senate to make changes . Early Nov Treasury analysis reflected the bill would reduce the deficit. Earlier this month Congress passed, and the president signed the $1.2T infrastructure bill; ‘How Oregon will spend ( ~3.7B) funds from the federal infrastructure package’ – OPB. LWVUS UN observers attended Cop26 Here's a late update from one of the LWVUS attendees... COP26 President Alok Sharma gathered the Parties on the last day to assess progress toward reaching consensus in negotiating the cover statement, with options still in the text issued that morning. He reaffirmed his commitment to conducting transparent and inclusive negotiations and to keeping 1.5 degrees C alive. The President said, "This is our collective moment in history." He would take the afternoon's comments into account in releasing another version in the evening for another review round in hopes of concluding COP26 on schedule, but he had to go into overtime. I hope he uses the remainder of his newly-extended term to accelerate NDCs and establish an enforcement mechanism for any hope of not exceeding 1.5. Three dozen Parties presented interventions in the afternoon session. Most encouraged the President to write a strong, ambitious, and clear cover statement; many called 1.5 nonnegotiable; some asserted that action is needed in this decade. They want to include indigenous people and human rights in the text, as well as a long-term finance plan, which should be aligned with science, focused on implementation, and factor in climate vulnerability; to give credit to LDCs and island nations for work done since 2020; nature-based solutions to use accepted standards, including oceans; a uniform reporting format; more than a workshop for Loss and Damages/climate justice, such as a new centre; to end all support for fossil fuels, which's subsidies are much larger than financing; to involve private finance; emissions reductions, mitigation, adaptation, and implementation; and biodiversity. They didn't want any watering down of commitments to the lowest common denominator yet varied in how they viewed the loss and damage text. Financing should be new/additional and dependable and come with accessible terms and conditions. And they asked how regional negotiations will take place. The UK asserted that developed countries haven't done enough for finance and suggested that a new financial agreement is needed in the next round and that the IMF and the World Bank aren't up to the task. Kenya said to focus on action rather than hiring consultants to explain Loss and Damage and wants a chance to explain what Africa has been experiencing. Speaking for the US, John Kerry said 20 countries account for 80% of emissions and we need to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 to keep 1.5 possible. Antigua and Barbuda said doubling adaptation financing needs to happen by 2023, not 2025. Switzerland said to prevent credit carryover and double-counting. Bangladesh suggested an annual President's report on implementation. Mexico suggested NDCs should say how they lead to 1.5. Panama noted that much of this was agreed upon in 1992. Only Russia and Saudi Arabia ignored the President's request for specific interventions to advance the text. Russia said COP26's purpose is to operationalize the Paris Agreement, more work is needed to incorporate market and non-market actors, and there is no consensus on a baseline. Russia added "we'll all have to make concessions," perhaps only wanting them from others while seeking the most favorable interpretation of the Paris Agreement for Russia by taking the floor first. Saudi Arabia similarly raised staying faithful to the Paris Agreement and questioned how to meet 1.5. China spoke about the need for capacity building and about basing the timetable on national politics and giving LDCs flexibility. India mentioned the need to accelerate the long-term finance agenda and for developed countries to take a fair share of emissions reductions. I later learned that they both pushed back during negotiations on ending the use of coal. Brazil also argued for considering national circumstances after pointing to the NDCs' not adding up to keeping 1.5 possible. Signed: LWVUS COP26 Delegation ------ Governor Brown attended COP26 and highlighted Oregon DEQ’s efforts to tackle food waste. ‘A global climate pledge could change Oregon’s relationship with natural gas.’ ‘World urged to cut gas 33%, to avoid climate disaster ‘Gas is the new coal’, says Climate Analytics report that finds it the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions’. Nature: ‘Cop26 hasn’t solved the problem’: scientists react to UN climate deal - The Glasgow Climate Pact is a step forward, researchers say, but efforts to decarbonize are not enough to limit global temperature rises to 2 °C. ( 1.5 C is recommended). Other Regional and Oregon News Highlights The City of Eugene recently voted to stop future natural gas building permits. Find the NRDF Natural Gas 101 tutorial HERE . ‘ The BBB act would provide historic commitment to wildfire mitigation funding.’ Portland Zenith Energy challenges permit denials , and will continue operating during legal battle. New Climate Change public Health report published in November; “ Climate Change is making health worse for Portland area residents. “. 2022 Legislative priorities could include access to Cooling and improved OSHA heat and air quality regs and addressing antiquated building codes via new REACH codes. Oregon EQC approves new Truck standards a Significant Move toward Fighting Climate Change and Protecting Human Health. OPB: Researchers study effects of extreme heat on Pacific Northwest Trees. The Olympian Editorial board refers to this research HERE, ‘The good news? Climate warriors aren’t waiting for nations to take the lead on change’. During Leg Days the W&M committee voted on OHA budget item ,grant #12. It did not pass. This federal grant line item will likely be addressed in Dec or Jan. (the submission of a federal grant application request to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for $12 million over five years to support strategies that reduce negative health outcomes attributed to climate change). Mark your calendars Attend as a League Observer, interested citizen, and/or view recorded agency and commission meetings, including new reports and studies. ​ ODF Climate Carbon Plan Updates DEQ Climate GHG Program Updates Oregon Global Warming Commission: Meetings ODOE , DLCD Land Use and Transportation planning ​ Agency and Commissions ​ Find State of Oregon “Action on Climate Change” updates across many agencies HERE. Find weekly 2021 updates at Oregon Greenhouse Emissions Program HERE. DOE weekly blog updates are HERE. New Oregon Dept of Energy (ODOE) Report HERE. ​ Clean Energy - Kathy Moyd Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) The appointments of Amy Slusser and Greg Addington were approved by the Senate on November 15, but they were not able to participate as members at the November 17 - 18 meeting. They were allowed to participate in the informational sessions. Climate Protection Program The League has been following the Climate Protection Program, which originated from the “cap and reduce” directive in the Governor’s Executive Order 20-04. Draft rules were issued for public comment on August 4. The League presented oral testimony at a public hearing conducted by the EQC on September 30 and submitted written testimony on October 25. At the EQC November 17-18 meeting, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) presented a summary of the comments received. Adoption of a more stringent target and ensuring that large stationary sources actually reduce or offset emissions were supported by many of the over 7000 comments received and had been supported in League testimony. Based on support from some EQC members, it is likely these will be included in the final rules to be adopted on December 16. A League Member has been participating in the Natural Gas workshops conducted by the Public Utility Commission in preparation for the expected implementation of the Climate Protection Program in January 2022. Landfill Methane Rules Although the League certainly supports the control of methane from landfills, we opted not to testify because it was not clear why the California rules were not accepted completely, leaving the possibility that some small rural landfills would unnecessarily be included. The smaller landfills had been removed from the final rules approved by the EQC on October 1. Cleaner Air Oregon Air Toxics Alignment The League was the only speaker at the July 22 public hearing.The approved verbal text was incorporated in a letter. The rules were approved at the November 17 -18 EQC meeting. Clean Trucks Rule Two public hearings were conducted on September 16. The League opted not to testify because the California Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rules to be adopted by Oregon had not been completed. The rules were approved at the November 17 -18 EQC meeting. Clean Fuels Program Expansion 2022 A League member participated in the October 13 listening session for the expansion of the Clean Fuels program in response to the Governor’s Executive Order 20-04. The first Rulemaking Advisory Meeting is scheduled for December 9. Forestry & Jordan Cove (find reports in the NR LR) Our Children’s Trust - Claudia Keith Sen. Merkley and Rep. Jones Lead Letters to President Biden and 165+ Orgs Join Letter to DOJ in Support of Children’s Rights to a Safe Climate and Juliana v. U.S. plaintiffs Climate Emergency Team Volunteer Opportunities Please consider joining the CE portfolio team; we lack volunteers in these critical policy areas: 1) Natural and Working lands, specifically Agriculture/ODA 2) Clean Buildings 3) Public Health Climate adaptation 4) Regional Solutions Infrastructure 5) State Procurement Practices (Dept. of Admin. Services) 6) CE Portfolio State Agency and Commission Budgets 7) Oregon Treasury: ESG investing/Fossil Fuel divestment 8) Join Julie, DOT/Transportation with a focus on DLCD/LCD Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities – a major program across multiple agencies. and a priority focus on a just transition, ie; 9) Climate and Environmental Justice. We all collaborate with Natural Resource Action members on many Climate Change mitigation and adaptation policy topics.