Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello Oregonians and welcome to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. If you've ever wanted to get to know your politicians personally or understand what it is they are actually doing, then you're in the right place. I'm your podcast host, Jessica Campbell.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: I'm your state representative for House District 24, Lucetta Elmer.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: This podcast is a place for you to get to know Representative Elmer both personally and professionally.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: We want Oregonians to feel connected with and educated politics. So we're so glad you've joined us on a fresh new podcast adventure as we cover all things about life and legislation.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Hi Oregonians and welcome back to Life and Legislation with Lucetta. We are halfway through the short session and it has been going at rapid speed. And as we've said before, it is so hard to catch Representative Elmer because she is going from meeting to meeting to come, caucus to floor. I mean, just non stop. These people work so hard, more than we could ever even imagine. But thankfully she has an amazing team here and they have been willing to pop on, give us these little podcast episode updates so that we get to know what is going on. And so my guest for this episode is Emily. Thank you so much.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Yes, I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Before we go into some of these bill updates, would you just introduce yourself to everybody and then we'll happening?
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Yeah. So my name is Emily Gersh. I am the communications director here at the Oregon Republican Caucus, House Republican Caucus.
And basically I work with the media all day long to try and get coverage of the different things that we're doing here, to let reporters know what bills we have, what process they're in currently, why they matter to us, why legislators voted yes on this bill and no on this bill.
I write a lot of press releases that look like this.
So anything that happens with our caucus, like for example, you know, a bill passed through the House yesterday, it was one of our members bills. So I send that out to the masses.
That helps get, you know, different media coverage for the things that are happening here in this office. So yeah, I also do social media. I make fun little videos when I get the chance.
Yeah, it's very fun. I also, I was a News reporter for 10 years, so I'm kind of working on the opposite side now.
But it's been really helpful because you know, having done that job, you know, I kind of know what they're looking for, what would be helpful to them. And I also just like the fact that I still get to work with reporters. So.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, One of the things, one of the goals with this podcast was communication and just trying to make state government a little bit more accessible, a little bit more understandable to all of the people who don't follow. You know, maybe they are not watching the news all the time or social media all the time, or following a newsletter or just getting all the updates of what's going on.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: And so we wanted to make this easier. We wanted to make sure that you understand what's happening, put it in layman's terms, so that you don't feel like you have to live in the world of politics to be able to follow.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: And know what's happening. But often when you're talking about politics, there are a lot of strong opinions, there's a lot of controversy, a lot of heavy, heated topics. And it's actually really exciting when there's something that everybody agrees on.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: It is, we have one of those today. We do talk about a bill that.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Well, I'll let you explain what happened, because this is something that everyone seemed to unanimously support, which is exciting.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: So It's House Bill 4045.
So Representative Kevin Mannix was. Was a chief sponsor of this bill.
It's also known as Christeel's Law, and it's named after a. A Colorado woman named Christeel Krug who had a stalker. And he stalked her for months using a phone. A phone number she didn't recognize sent her, you know, intimidating messages. He was impersonating another man.
And she took all of the. These phone records to the police, and they, you know, issued a warrant to her phone company so she could identify this person that was stalking her and sending her threatening messages and terrorizing her.
But what ended up happening, unfortunately, is because that, you know, communications company, there's currently. There's no statutory deadline requiring them to respond to search warrants within this. Within a time frame. And so that warrant was. Was returned too late. Unfortunately, her stalker ended up killing her. And I believe Representative man said this on the floor yesterday when the bill passed past the house. He said that the. The warrant was returned the same day that her stalker killed her, which is just absolutely devastating. She did everything right. She was going to the police. She kept amazing records of everything. But they just didn't get the warrant back in time. Even though, even if a judge has identified probable cause, there's still no requirement for cell phone companies to return a search warrant in cases involving potential violence, we know that stalking is often a precursor to violence later on. And so Representative Mannix developed this bill that would require all communication providers operating in Oregon to respond to search warrants within business days and require social media providers to respond within 72 hours.
That way they can identify who is sending potentially threatening messages, you know, hopefully make an arrest before, you know, it escalates into, you know, tragedy. So this, like you said before, this doesn't happen a lot in this building, but this bill got bipartisan support overwhelmingly. It unanimously passed the House yesterday.
So the vote was like 55 yays and then 0 nays. So that was amazing. So what happens next is it gets voted on in the Senate, so hopefully it advances there. And then, you know, ultimately, if it gets through the Senate, hopefully it will become a law. And if it does become a law, Oregon would be the first in the nation to have this kind of law.
And yesterday, Christiel Krug, the Colorado woman that the bill is named after, her family was actually on the House floor yesterday when it was being voted on.
Also, to tie it into Oregon, she has a cousin named Becky Ivanhoff who was a former Lane county prosecutor focused on domestic violence cases.
And then after her cousin was killed, you know, made it her mission to, you know, create a law that would protect victims of domestic violence or stalking if there are threats coming from a cell phone. So, yeah, it was exciting to see it get unanimous bipartisan support yesterday. And I guess we'll see what happens with the Senate and we'll just keep tracking it.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: It's amazing. Yeah. Like you said, to have everybody working together unanimously in support of something that is so important. And hopefully then you said Oregon's the first state. Hopefully other states start to.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Put these measures in effect and pass more laws where there is that speedy response.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Something that is so serious.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And I want to read Representative Manitowoc's quote yesterday. He says, you know, this bill corrects a dangerous gap in the system. It recognizes a simple truth in domestic violence and stalking cases. Speed saves lives. So that was the whole point of this bill, was to, you know, get these warrants back faster and hopefully prevent future tragedies like this one. So. Yeah, for sure.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Well, thank you for that update. And this next bill is, is definitely not unanimous. There's, there's some controversy over it. But we just wanted to get an update because. Yeah, this one is all over social media. Anybody watching has probably seen some level of conversation about the transportation tax and whether it's going to be on the November ballot or whether it's going to be on the May ballot. And there's a whole kind of string of updates of what has happened so far. Yeah. But I was hoping you could give us just a quick where. Where is it now? I feel like I've even gotten confused.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a. It's a lot to follow. I actually have a. A little chart here that I made to keep myself on track.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: It's called Senate Bill 1599. You've probably, like you said, you've seen the social media posts. This bill seeks to move the transportation tax referendum from the November ballot, where it was already certified by the secretary of state, to the May primary ballot, which historically, we know is a lower turnout election than the general election. In November, 200 more than 250,000 Oregonians signed these petitions to put this on the November ballot. It had November 3rd on the petitions. Again, it was certified by the Secretary of state and moved through the process.
And then, you know, it became political.
You know, we saw Senate president Rob Wagner saying.
He said, is this political for sure.
He said, I don't think anyone wants to have this on a November ballot. And he said that on the record.
So that was very telling. Democrats have been saying that, you know, this is. This is an urgent matter. We need to fix the roads sooner rather than later.
However, you know, when Oregonians rally together to put something on the November ballot, you know, it's important that that process is upheld and respected. And so this has probably been like, the most contentious point of this special session.
We saw last session multiple attempts to get a transportation bill passed. We saw that the governor's bill, $4.3 billion in transportation taxes and was ultimately passed during a special session in November.
And then after she signed, sorry, that was passed in September. The governor signed it in November.
And then right away, Republicans rallied to get enough signatures to refer the issue to voters. And they did that. They were very successful. I think a lot of people were surprised by that.
And so.
So Democrats brought forward a bill this session to put it on. On the May ballot.
And there was two public hearings on it already in February, earlier this month.
So far, more than 4,600 people testified against this bill, and 99% were opposed.
So this, you know, this is an issue that Oregonians feel very strongly about, and they've made their voices known throughout the last year. Really, if you look at all of the, you know, the session from last year with the multiple different transportation bills, 70, approximately 7,500 Oregonians testified on those different bills, and it was more than 90% opposed.
So Oregonians have spoken. And really, the theme of the session has been, you know, our Democrats going to listen to the will of the people or are they going to get this bill passed to put it on the May ballot and then, you know, have way fewer people voicing their concerns on it and voting on it at that election.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: So and at this point, that bill has had the two hearings, and am I correct that there's been some level of voting? It's gone through some of the steps.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: So it was voted through the committee.
That was a recent update on February 12th. So a week ago it passed through the it advanced through the committee. There's a special committee for this bill, and I believe that the Senate is planning to vote on it today.
So that's something that we're going to be looking out for. And we'll have an update by the end of the day on what happens next with Senate Bill 1599.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: So and because this is a Senate bill, it gets voted on in the Senate first and then it comes to the House.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Yes, for a vote.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: So we still have a couple of steps, assuming if, if it's a party line vote, then it will get passed in the Senate and then it'll get passed in the House. And I had asked Representative Elmer this question and I don't know if anybody, I don't know if this has ever happened before.
If it does pass all the way through, can there be another set of signatures, another referendum?
[00:13:12] Speaker B: That's an, that's a great question.
I don't know.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: This happens. This is a great unknown question.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: We're trying to I, I know one of the things that Representative Shelly Boss Hart Davis has, has said repeatedly is that Oregonians will be heard. They just need to keep using their voices. No matter what happens with this bill, there will be another opportunity to weigh in. So whether or not they have to vote on it in May, you know, or November, they will have the opportunity to vote on this. And so she's urging people, you know, not to throw in the towel if this gets passed and ends up getting put on a May ballot. You know, one of the things that we say around here, one of the catchphrases is, you know, elections have consequences. And so if people are unhappy with the way the legislature handled their referendum, they have the opportunity to voice that in November in a different way by voting for different candidates.
So I, you know, either way, Oregonians will still have the opportunity to weigh in on this. You know, we encourage people to pay attention to what happens with this bill. That's why I'M so happy you're doing these videos because like you said, there's so much happening it's hard to follow. You know, even being a news reporter for the last 10 years, newsrooms are shrinking. You know, they're just, they're struggling to survive right now. And when that happens, when you have a fraction of the staff that you used to, they can't cover everything either. And so it's really on comms directors and people like you that work in this building to let people know what's happening because it just doesn't always get covered or all angles of it don't always get covered. But yeah, I would say this bill is the most important bill of this session. And it's a good thing and a bad thing. Right. Because when you have stuff like this, it kind of sidelines all the other things, like Cristeel's Law, which is a really important bill, you know, for victims of stalking and domestic violence. Like, that's a really important bill and it would be nice if that got more coverage. But the focal point is what's going to happen with transportation.
So, yeah, that's just one of the things happens when you have a lot of bills in a short session, it
[00:15:20] Speaker A: seems, it's like a sprint. It's pretty amazing to be here in the building and just the energy and everyone running around and there's so many things happening at once and things are scheduled down to the 30 seconds. It seems like, oh yeah, we just
[00:15:33] Speaker B: found out last night that floor is going to go until 7pm today and tomorrow most of us get in this building by 7:45. So, you know, it's potentially a 12 hour day.
But yeah, I mean, that's just what we, we have to do when we have limited time and a lot of bills. They, you know, we, we stay here until, until the work gets done.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: So now you really quick, you mentioned comms. And for anybody that doesn't know what comms means or communications.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Yeah, so that is, that's dealing with the media. So when we say comms, we talk about, you know, the, the posts you, you might see on X or Facebook, the videos, the graphics, all of that is what we call comms here.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Yeah, Well, I know you're doing very important work because again, getting the correct information and complete information out to people is so important with the, all the problems that happen when you have either misinformation or only a piece of the puzzle and not the full context. And you know, no matter what, no matter where you land on any spectrum of Any kind of opinion. I think there's such importance in having all of the information. Yes. And having all of the information be accurate.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Yes. That cannot be stated enough. And, and like you said, just with, you know, limited reporters cover, covering everything that's happening in this building and then also just an overload of bills, it's. It's hard for the media to cover everything. It's hard for us in this building to keep up with covering everything.
So, I mean, I, you know, we always tell people, go to olis, watch the hear. Everyone can watch, you know, the public hearings on bills on. On the website.
You can see the different testimony that's there. We're actually in. In our comms department creating a guide for people to how they can find, how they can track bills, how they can, you know, follow along with what's happening at home.
And so I believe that we're. We're going to be sending that out shortly this week, possibly just to encourage people to participate in this process and. And learn what's happening in your state and how it affects you. Because the laws that get passed in this building, you know, they affect. They affect all of us. They affect our bank accounts. You know, they affect everything.
[00:17:46] Speaker A: So our friends, our family, our community, and it all. It's all interconnected.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: And very, very important. Well, thank you. I know you have a very, very busy day, so I appreciate you taking a little bit of time to update everybody on what's going on and that we get to meet you.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: And let you come do this. So that was wonderful. Thank you so much, Emily.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: You're welcome.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Oregonians. Thank you for tuning in. Hopefully you're getting a little bit of updates and feeling more connected with and educated about what's going on in the capital, especially during this short session. And as Emily said, there's so many other bills. We don't have to cover them all.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Look at all this. Look at all this.
But all this.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: That OLIS website that probably most Oregonians doesn't. Don't even know exists.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: Is a great spot where you can type things in. We've said it before. You can search by a keyword. You know, maybe education or healthcare is of great concern and importance to you. You can look up the bills related to those. You can follow them. You can submit written testimony. You can choose your opinion. You can learn about all the. All the things that might become law in the very near future here for Oregon. So thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you again for your time. And we hope you come back and join us next time for Life and Legislation with Lucetta.
