PLSO The Oregon Surveor September/October 2021

27 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org ADVERTISING RATES STARTING AT $275! Professional Listings Up Next: The Census and Legislative Redistricting Every 10 years there is a national census to count our population. This information is used to divide the country into Congressional Districts, state Legislative District, City Council Wards, and School Board Districts. The process has an enormous impact on politics for the following 10 years until the census is conducted again. In Oregon, it is the job of the Legislature to draw the Congressional and Legislative District lines. However, delays in collecting the de- cennial data due to the pandemic prevented the Legislators from redrawing the lines before they left Salem at the end of June. A battle all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court ensued to deter- mine how and when the lines would be drawn, once the data was available inmid-August. In the end, the Court gave the Legislature a very short period to finish the job. This will require a Special Ses - sion (likely virtual) of the Legislature in September. If they cannot agree on newmaps, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan gets to draw the lines on her own. The census data suggests fewer people in central, eastern, and southern Oregon (except Deschutes County which has grown by an astounding 25% in the last 10 years), and a growing population in urban areas, especially Washington and Multnomah counties. This change will allow Democrats, who are already in control of most all levers of government at the state level, to consolidate and increase their power. What Have You Done For Me Lately? General business legislation I tracked included HB2474–Ex- panded Oregon Family Leave Act, HB2974–Prohibits Drug Free Workplaces, SB169–Changes to Noncompete Agreements, SB716– Employee Work Schedules and Child Care, and a few others. I also tracked all the taxing and regulatory bills, and all the coa- lition testimony on which the association participated. Industry-specific legislation I tracked at the request of PLSO in - cluded HB2312–Judicial Property Line Changes, HB2884–Changes Timeline for Validating Certain Units of Land from 90 days to 365 days, HB3082–Raises No-bid Contract from$5,000 to $10,000 (sup- ported by PLSO), HB213–Design Professional Indemnity Limitation (supported by PLSO; will try again next session), and SB762– Major Wildfire Relief Bill (may have mapping issues PLSO needs to address moving forward). The business community was united during the session in our efforts to thwart over-reaching, over-taxing, and over-regulat - ing. In many ways, the broad business coalition held together and had influence. Said another way, things could have been much, much worse. But it still wasn’t great. As you review the info, please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll do my level best to answer them quickly. You can reach me by email at fuller_darrell@yahoo.com or by phone at 971-388-1786. x Links 1) www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/legislature-tries-to-save-doomed-bills-as-end-of-session- approaches/article_ab8d43ae-c0b3-11eb-8025-2380e8d44074.html 2) www.opb.org/article/2021/06/26/oregon-lawmakers-conclude-2021-legislative-session/ 3) https://pamplinmedia.com/go/42-news/514360-411210-oregon-legislature-wrestles-big- issues-ahead-of-september-session 4) www.oregoncapitalinsider.com/news/capitol-chatter-sen-peter-courtney-reflects- on-changing-government/article_edff3128-f643-11eb-be6a-0f2497927a7a.html