Action taken included recriminalization of drugs, funding for housing and addiction treatment, campaign finance reform
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
Fresh from the legislative short session, state Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, on Saturday morning gave Ashland residents a rundown of the successes and concerns raised during a fast and furious month hammering out bills in Salem.
Marsh, an Ashland resident who represents a broad swath of southern Jackson County, spoke before about 100 people at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Rogue Valley on Fourth Street.
“There were 32 chaotic and productive days at the short session,” said Marsh, who returned from Salem on Friday.
Creating more housing throughout the state and addressing addiction and treatment dominated the legislative session.
Altogether, $376 million has been allocated to housing, she said. Gov. Tina Kotek, who has cited housing as top priority in her administration, is setting up a housing production office to help keep the new programs on track.
Marsh said the legislation would allow Ashland to add 50 acres to create new housing,
She said 50 acres is about the size of a large field just south of Willow Wind Community Learning Center on Main Street. Currently it sits just outside Ashland’s urban growth boundary.
“We are a state and a region that does not have enough housing,” Marsh said.
Jackson County still hasn’t recovered from the loss of almost 2,500 housing units during the 2020 Almeda fire, she said.
“We are still struggling to rebound from that disastrous event,” Marsh said.
An audience member asked Marsh if she wasn’t concerned that adding more land to cities will undermine Oregon’s 50-year effort to control sprawl into farm and forest land.
Marsh said legislators need to keep a close eye on this issue, but she said adding 50 acres to Ashland would amount to about 1% of the city’s total land area. For cities with a population of 25,000 or greater, they could add 100 acres.
Under the legislation, $94 million is available for infrastructure, which includes water system upgrades needed to spur housing development.
To entice developers to create median income housing, the state has set aside $75 million in a revolving loan program, Marsh said.
Other dollars will go toward keeping homeless shelters operational and to prevent evictions.
The other big legislative effort was reversing Measure 110, which decriminalized drugs.
Marsh said Measure 110 was passed while the state was undergoing a surge of homelessness during the pandemic and a sharp rise in fentanyl use, increasing the number of overdoses.
The Legislature has attempted to provide a pathway to steer addicts towards treatment if they receive a misdemeanor for taking illegal drugs.
Many counties have already agreed to participate in “deflection” programs to offer addiction treatments that could lead to expunging the misdemeanor drug charges, said Marsh. Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert has indicated her office would participate in the deflection program, she said.
An earlier legislative version of the program that was abandoned would have made treatment programs a requirement for those caught taking illegal drugs.
“We’ve got to watch this new system,” Marsh said, noting it has been generally endorsed by law enforcement.
The program will likely take time to show results, and will require the state to spend more for public defenders, to beef up treatment programs and to provide more fentanyl education.
“We will not see a change in our data overnight,” she said.
Marsh applauded the efforts of state Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, to help fund more behavioral health programs at universities throughout the state, including at Southern Oregon University.
A 26-year-old woman told Marsh that her generation has been traumatized by the harsh reality they face, and many have been raped or are the victims of incest. She said she has attempted suicide several times and people shouldn’t be surprised if young people turn to drugs.
Marsh responded by offering to take the woman out for coffee to talk about her concerns.
“There is much truth in what we heard there,” said Marsh. “These are very hard times.”
Ashland resident Nancy Roberts said that as a baby boomer she voted for legalization of marijuana. But she wondered why there was so much talk of black markets and indentured slaves working at pot grows.
Marsh said the black markets are the result of some Oregon grow sites illegally sending the marijuana to states where it is still illegal. Grow sites have also used undocumented workers, she said.
Recent efforts have been made to crack down on illegal grow sites and there have been fewer complaints raised about the issue recently, Marsh said.
Ashland resident Wes Brain asked Marsh about House Bill 4130, which would have prevented private investors and corporations focused on profits from buying out medical clinics.
“That bill should have passed,” Brain said. “How can we do this better?”
Marsh responded that the bill sailed through the House but met a “thicket of lobbyists” in the Senate.
“We’ll pick it up in the long legislative session (in 2025),” she said.
One surprise during the short session was the passage of House Bill 4024, which limits campaign contributions.
“I didn’t see that one coming,” said Marsh, who supported the bill.
Barbara Klein with the League of Women Voters said, “This is a big step forward on campaign finance reform.”
Marsh voiced her support for a trio of local ballot measures that qualified for the May 21 primary, which would increase the number of Jackson County commissioners from three to five, make the position nonpartisan and reduce the salaries of the commissioners.
She particularly applauded making the position nonpartisan.
“The ‘R’ and ‘D’ labels keep us from thinking about the things that really matter,” Marsh said.
Marsh is in her fourth term as representative and told the audience she is running for a fifth term in the May 21 primary. Representatives have two-year terms.
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com.
March 12: Corrected campaign finance reform bill number.
