The 2015 Legislative session in Salem was a mixed bag. The State Capitol building has a well-deserved reputation as a place where lobbyists and corporate interests wield tremendous power, and they were out in force, bidding their allies in both political parties to push terrible bills, and discretely kill other conservation priorities.
Regardless of the odds against us, Oregon Wild went toe to toe with big industry campaign contributors and belligerent lawmakers, fighting for the preservation of the wildlands, wildlife, and waters that make Oregon such a special place for all of us. We didn’t win every round, that’s for certain, but we were able to stop many of the most egregious bills from advancing.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to evaluate this session when it comes to conservation. The simple approach is to look at the conservation bills that made it to the floor and review who voted for what. That’s a good, solid metric -- especially in years where a wide variety of conservation bills make it to vote. But this year, there just weren’t very many conservation votes to tally. Just as we were successful in stopping bad bills, many good bills were quietly killed by anti-conservation interests. Some of them, like an important bill to protect rural Oregonians from aerial pesticide spraying, were suppressed by allies of the timber and chemical industries and didn’t even receive a public hearing.
So the real conservation story is what happened behind the scenes in committee, where many bills died before they saw the light of the House or Senate floor. There, people who voted the “right” way on the few bills that made it the floor, did some rather questionable things off the record to advance bad bills or kill good bills.
It’s pretty easy to look like a pro-conservation legislator these days by simply preventing bills from moving so you can lodge some good votes on the handful that make it to a final vote. And that’s too bad, because it obscures the hard work of the true environmental champions in the legislature, and gives anti-conservation legislators an undeserved pass.
How do you measure things like Governor Brown’s efforts to scuttle the Clean Fuels bill (after she had already signed it) to pass her transportation package? Or using Fish and Wildlife Commission appointments as political trading stock? Or the emergence of strong environmental leaders like Senator Michael Dembrow, Representative Ann Lininger and Representative Ken Helm? Or the formation of a new environmental caucus to present a unified legislative voice on conservation?
I think there is reason to be disappointed. I also think there is reason to be hopeful. Let’s take a brief look at some of our wins, losses, and draws this session.
Good bills that passed
SB 5511 -- Appropriates General Fund dollars to ODFW
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife – which is responsible for protecting all of our state’s fish and wildlife -- is faced with an unprecedented budget shortfall that compromises its existing and future conservation programs. This bill appropriates General Fund dollars to help the agency fill the gap. Oregon Wild saw this as an opportunity to refocus the agency on its conservation mission and to expand conservation work that benefits the broad public interest. We worked hard as part of a diverse coalition to support this bill and will be continuing our work with the agency to make sure its conservation mandates are fulfilled.
SB 247 -- ODFW fee increases for hunting and angling
This companion bill to SB 5511 incrementally increases or establishes certain fees related to hunting, angling and commercial fishing over a six-year period. It was an integral component of ODFW’s three-part plan to address the budget deficit: increased General Fund dollars, increased fees, and program cuts.
HB 2402 -- Establishes Task Force on State Department of Fish and Wildlife Funding
With the immediate ODFW budget crisis temporarily averted, the work is now to make sure the agency has a sustainable funding model. Putting a bandaid on the agency’s budget doesn’t do much unless there is accountability and reform moving forward. The task force will convene a diverse group of stakeholders to identify and recommended opportunities to help the agency better achieve its mission and conservation program objectives. Our priority is to ensure the task force represents Oregon’s changing demographics and ensure there is representation from a wide array of interests and potential user groups.
HB 3315 -- Allows ODFW to charge for services provided to other agencies
HB 3315 requires the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to recover costs incurred in providing services to executive department agencies. This is an important step in identifying new sources of revenue for the agency.
SB 175 -- Modifies certain penalties for wildlife law violations.
SB 175 simply restored strong penalty language for illegal poaching of wildlife which was passed in 2011 but unfortunately sunset on January 1, 2015. These penalty provisions had previously passed with strong bipartisan support and strong support from the hunting, fishing and conservation communities. Unfortunately, a more ambitious bill that would have done more to protect wildlife, especially endangered species, died in the notoriously anti-wildlife House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. #
SB 324 -- Clean Fuels for Oregon
SB 324 lifts the sunset on the Clean Fuels program, allowing the program to move forward. The program will reduce carbon emissions from transportation fuels by 10% over ten years, creating economic development opportunities and cleaner, healthier air.
Good bills that died
SB 613 -- Protecting Rural Oregonians from Pesticides
Whereas Oregon was once a leader in forest management in the 1970’s, our state has fallen into last place amongst all the Pacific Northwest states when it comes to protecting drinking water, salmon streams, and rural community health from pesticide drift and run-off. SB 613 would have improved the advance notice community members receive about aerial spraying and slash burning and improve peoples’ access to accurate information after a spray, as well as require the creation of science-based pesticide spray buffers to protect residences, schools, drinking water, and fish.
SB 830 – Regulating Suction Dredge Mining
Suction dredge mining is a practice in which riverbeds are “vacuumed up” by a large, loud, floating machine, damaging gravel beds salmon need to spawn. SB 830 would have enacted strong protections for clean water and salmon habitat. No suction dredge gold mining would be permitted in habitat critical to native salmon, lamprey and bull trout, as well as streams already suffering from too much pollution. Site specific permitting would be required for gold mining in those watersheds to protect valuable resources downstream, and measures would be implemented to protect our state from the spread of invasive aquatic species on mining equipment, and to protect public and private investments in restoration.
HB 2401 -- Wild Bird Conservation Act, Creates an excise tax on wild bird feed
The Wild Bird Conservation Act, would have raised $2-$4 million per biennium with 50% going to promote general bird conservation across Oregon and 50% going to directly address protecting and restoring sage grouse populations in Eastern Oregon. For just a nickel a pound of birdseed, the Wild Bird Conservation Act was a creative way to fund conservation. Unfortunately, for the fourth time in a row, it was defeated. This doesn’t set a particularly good precedent for agency reform.
HB 2669 -- Creates an endangered species license plate
This bill would have created an endangered species license plate featuring an iconic Oregon wildlife species and directed proceeds from the sale of plates to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife threatened and endangered species conservation programs. Like the Wild Bird Conservation Act, we think that efforts to find new sources of revenue for ODFW should have been prioritized.
HB 2537 -- Increases monetary and criminal penalties for poaching
Rep. Ken Helm introduced this important bill that would have increased penalties for illegal taking or killing of fish and wildlife. It was ambitious and would have expanded on the provisions of SB 175 and served as an important deterrent to poaching. It died in the notoriously anti-wildlife House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.
HB 3474 – Trust Lands Transfer Commission
Introduced to provide a solution that would keep the Elliott State Forest in public ownership rather than having it auctioned off to logging interests that declared their intent to clearcut it, Rep. Tobias Read’s legislation would have created a mechanism with which to transfer the Elliott to a state agency that would manage it for conservation. The Trust Lands Transfer model has been successfully implemented and utilized in Washington, and the bill was on track to passage, until a last minute vote-change by Rep. Caddy McKeown killed the bill.
Bad bills that passed
HB 3188 -- Directs agencies to report on need to create predator control districts
This bill allows landowners to petition counties to establish special tax districts in which properties would be assessed up to $1 an acre to raise funds for predator control conducted by USDA’s Wildlife Services. It also incorporates black bears, cougars, and gray wolves in the definition of "predator" and specifically expands the definition to include bears, bobcats, and red foxes. Despite tremendous opposition from activists, this bill passed nearly unanimously.
Bad bills that died
HB 3533 – Privatizing the Elliott State Forest
House Bill 3533 would have overridden a decades-old statute that prohibits selling off any parts of the publically owned Elliott State Forest. This bill would give the state unbridled authority to dispose of the Elliott whenever and however it wants to in the future. Though the State Land Board has momentarily taken privatization of the Elliott mostly off the table, such new authority would not bode well for a conservation future for the Elliott, given the Land Board's 2014 illegal sale of three parcels of the Elliott to timber companies.
HB 3515 -- Prohibits gray wolves from being included on the state’s list of threatened or endangered species
This bill would have prohibited the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission from including the gray wolf on the list of threatened or endangered species -- now, or at any time in the future. HB 3515 sought to bypass an established public process and set a dangerous precedent for involving the legislature in the management of every species in the state. Oregon Wild fought this bill and successfully killed it before it had a chance to do damage.
HB 3217 -- Artificial Beaver Dams
Who wants a story about a rich guy who called in favors with his buddies in the legislature? You do? Then read on. This bill was introduced to retroactively legalize the dams a wealthy individual installed on his property without bothering to get permits. Fortunately, this bill stalled. It could be amended to be more in line with conservation objectives. But its origin story will never get less distasteful.
HB 2050 -- Exempts counties from prohibition using dogs to hunt cougars
There were actually four nearly identical bills introduced to allow counties to excuse themselves from prohibitions on hunting cougars with dogs. Passage of these bills would have set a potentially dangerous precedent for counties exempting themselves not just from state wildlife laws, but from the laws of the state in general.
HB 2503 -- Taking Authority from Fish and Wildlife Commission
This clever bill would have restricted the right of ODFW regulate hunting ammunition and fishing gear and would vest sole authority with the state legislature. This legislation would remove authority over ammunition and fishing gear from the agency with the expertise to oversee these issues. This sets a dangerous precedent for ODFW and for other natural resources agencies. It was also a thinly veiled attempt to avert any prohibition on lead ammunition.
