State House 1981

(Electronic tone) (Electronic tone) (Electronic tone) The death penalty The death penalty is on its own terms inherently barbaric and inhuman. It is absolutely inevitable in my opinion that in the near future we will have the reinstatement of the death penalty in this state. Either we will do it here during this legislative session or they will do it out there in spite of it. This is the Friday edition of State House 1981. Summary of the week's important action from the state capitol. Here is John Lewis. The death penalty, gun control, elderly abuse these are a few of the major issues

that lawmakers dealt with this week, more about that later. Good evening, I'm John "?Lewis?" Here is what happened today. The governor would prefer an interim task force study before a decision is made to close the wing for the mentally retarded at eastern Oregon state hospital. But hospital 2828 calls for transferring patients from the 368 bed facility in Pendleton to intermediate care facilities. The measure is now before the house committee on human resources. Representative "Rick ?Baumann?" told the subcommittee hearing today that a pilot program may be the way to go. Keeping in mind that this is a commitment to reduce the size of the institutions and I think implicit in that it's eventual the closure of Eastern Oregon State Hospital come back when that first phase of the program is completed, the legislature will be back in session, we'll be planning a new budget and we'll have the information to make the decisions then

to how quickly this can be accomplished, the number of patients, the number of residents who can participate in this program. And so what I'd like to do start this morning is I guess call on "Tom ?Bellamy?" to outline generally what we see as the challenges that this program would entail. The notion of a pilot as we've talked about it in the committee as Representative "?Baumann?" was saying hasn't been that we felt that we needed to find out whether people could be served in community settings but rather that we needed to find out we needed to develop the state and local systems that would ensure a smooth transfer of people, a smooth working agreements for funding and that sort of thing, so in a sense we're talking about logistical pilot that would allow us to determine whether such a movement or such a plan as we've developed here would be a reasonable thing to continue doing on an annual basis.

Within that general constraint, we talked about specifically some objectives that related both to people coming out of institutions and also to attempting to stabilize some of the existing group home programs by perhaps transferring group homes to "?ICS?" and also creating some new pro some new slots for people who might be coming out of the schools so that we don't get pressure on the back door of the institution as we're trying to help people out the front. Representative "?Baumann?" said he hopes the human resources committee can wrap up its work on the bill next week then it will go to ways and means. If House Bill 2828 is approved it would add almost 1.4 million dollars to the budget the governor has proposed for mental health. In the house, student control by reasonable physical force was expanded beyond school grounds today. Representative Shirley Gold, a schoolteacher, sponsored the measure. Gold said neither she nor the bill favored

any restraint of students beyond present law, but representative "?Jeanette Handby?" with a doctorate in education spoke against the use of physical force and corporal punishment. In our more sophisticated society today, by law, we discourage the physical abuse of children but strangely and ironically enough we continue to enact legislation that sanctions the corporal punishment of children in our schools our public schools and this same philosophic mentality was upheld only four years ago when the supreme court declared that a junior high student who had been beaten so badly with a wooden paddle that he was out of school for 11 days had not been a victim of cruel and unusual punishment at the hand of the school officials who beat him. I'm the principle sponsor of this bill, I am personally opposed to the use of corporal punishment. This bill does not speak to corporal punishment, it simply speaks to the restraint

that could be necessary in a emergency situation either in the school, the classroom or outside of the school building in carrying out one's teaching responsibilities. I hope that will be clear to everyone present. The choice of the House Committee on Education was to leave leave the subject of corporal punishment at the discretion of the local school board. Extending the use of reasonable physical force on a student to certain places out of school was approved by the house 50 to three. The senate will act next on the bill. The number of people served by state funded alcohol treatment programs increased by 43 percent in just two years between 1978 and 1980. The House Revenue Committee also heard today that the increase is greatest among youth and women. House Bill 2009 is now before the committee, it would double the tax on beer

and wine to provide more money for alcohol treatment and education programs. I would say this, that the budget that's currently generated for this through the beer and wine tax, should be in our estimation, more than adequate with better direction, better definition as to the purpose of those funds. And that is what we're saying is that a responsibility of the people in that business. Right now, this nation when we, when we hear of results of surveys referring to, well the public does believe that tax rate reduction will reduce inflation. I mean there's an overwhelming majority of people out there saying for goodness sake don't tax us anymore. And I guess I would have to say that the taxpayers, their overall complexion is that they don't want to pay more taxes. And one of the ways you prevent paying more taxes is to do prevention on the end that it's least costly, and alcohol costs the society millions and millions of dollars in terms of abuse. abused children, battered wives, accidents

on the highway, I mean it just goes on and on. Criminals, crime and everything else and we recognize that impact and I don't think anyone who understands it could deny it. So if we really wanted to save the tax payers money, we'd put our dollars into the prevention field and that's what this bill does. Five days before Bobby Kennedy was assassinated he said, "With all the violence and killings we've had in the United States I think that we must keep firearms from people who have no business with guns." End quote. Right now the state of Oregon is wrestling with the issue, who should be allowed to own and carry concealed handguns. "?Deidre Stone?" has this report. Gun control opponents argued that guns don't kill people, people kill people. Yet nationwide more than thirteen thousand murder victims died of gunshot wounds last year. Supporters of gun control say some of those people would still be alive if the law made it tougher to buy a gun. Americans own more than 55 million guns, including the cheap, easily accessible Saturday night

special. Gun collectors and sportsmen say they use their guns for relaxation and leisure. They say more gun control would impact the innocent, law abiding citizens (sound of gunshot) like themselves the most. The problem is not the firearm or guns, it's people. Gun owners argue that regulation is just the first step to confiscation, a direct threat to our constitutional right to bear arms. But they do believe that some people have forfeited that right, including convicted criminals and emotionally ill people. Gun control opponents say we have enough laws on the books now to deal with the criminal element. But Representative Gretchen Kafoury, a long time gun control advocate, thinks too many disturbed people still slip through the cracks in the law. I can tell Hinckley was arrested in Tennessee or wherever it was in the South, he certainly was a law abiding citizen by any definition or any family

profile that I've seen. I'm, you know, that argument just doesn't wash with me. I don't think anybody would term any of these maniacs as criminals before they commit the act. I'm assuming we're all law abiding citizens. Kafoury would like a total ban on guns, but she concedes that this is unrealistic and possibly unconstitutional. Instead, she'd like statewide uniform standards for carrying concealed weapons. House Bill 2421 would do just that. But the bill is coming under a lot of fire from law enforcement groups and gun owners alike. Right now, each county sheriff decides who will get a permit to carry a concealed weapon and who will not. In some counties, like Multnomah, this means that less than five permits were issued last year, while in Klamath County more than 800 permits were handed out during the same time period. House Bill 2421 would abolish this discretionary power for sheriffs and set up uniform standards statewide. Jim "?Heenan?" of the Marion County Sheriff's Association

told members of the House Judiciary Committee that sheriffs need to hold on to the control they already have. As the sheriffs have been doing this for a number of years and they haven't got too bad a track record in doing this. And there are a lot of nuts walking the street that you and I and we know that could come in and under the way that 2421 is written, we'd have to give them one. Gun owners also oppose the bill, but for different reasons. If House Bill 2421 passes more weapons would come under regulation. Gun control is a complicated, emotional issue. The President still opposes gun control, yet others, relatives of victims who have been killed by handguns, claim that more gun control is the only way to curb the alarming increases in the number of guns and violent death in this country. But Representative Bob Brogoitti of La Grande disagrees. I'm not in favor of any sort of legislation that would ban any type of firearms, at this time. Now maybe later down the road if we really have a good program that makes it possible for you to work it out like it would work, then I might be in favor. But at this point in time, and I think probably the rest

of my life, I will probably be one of the people that will not let it happen. House Judiciary Committee chairman Tom Mason says Oregon law on concealable guns will definitely be changed this session. The new law, he says, will include a re-definition of mental illness. And county sheriffs will be able to turn down anyone they know personally to be potentially violent or mentally unstable. Regulations covering residency will be tightened up, and concealed weapon permits will cost more. There'll be another work session on this bill in committee May 11th. There were actually two death penalty debates Tuesday night in the House Judiciary Committee. One was over the values of executing murderers. The other posed the question: should

legislators act independently of the expressed will of the people. In November of 1978, Oregonians voted two to one to restore the death penalty. But in January of this year, the Supreme Court struck down the law. Representative George Trahern opened debate on three bills which would reinstate the death penalty, make it constitutionally sound, and declare the method of execution to be death by lethal injection. The issue, if approved by the legislature, would go to the voters in the May primary next year. The record is very clear on this issue, every county in this state voted for reinstatement of the death penalty. There may be some of you who feel that you can hold yourself above this mandate, but I for one, do not. My district voted against the death penalty, so if I truly represent my district this bill wouldn't even have a hearing, would it? As I watched television one evening in January, I listened to a man by the name of "?Derd?" from Scappoose. He had strangled and kicked to death a three-year-old child. He talked about his confidence that he would once again be released into society. it's

The very next story dealt with the Oregon Supreme Court's ruling on the unconstitutionality of our death penalty law. I looked at my three-year-old daughter, I looked at her little face, and I said, "This is enough." My feelings, and I have been quite open about being against the death penalty, is that it is not out of a sense of protecting the murderers, it is that a sense of we are requiring another human being to become a murderer of the murderer, and I don't think it is getting at the root cause of what the violence in our society is. Well, I think that I'm a little upset- (Interruption, another speaker) If it would bring the people back to life, if it would prevent further murders, it's not going to do that. I believe that if I had come across Steve and Judy in the process of murdering those three little children, and if I had had a gun at my side and I had said, "Steve and Judy - Immediately Stop! Leave those children alone!" I believe that he would have been deterred from his crime. And in the event that he was not, that he had had continued to drown those helpless children, would it have been immorally correct for me to say, "well I attempted to deter him, but I apologize children, I cannot hurt this individual." If you look at the demographics

of those people that have been executed in this society or those people who are on death row under the so-called improved death penalty statute since 1976, the evidence is appalling. They are disproportionately poor, they are disproportionately Black, they are disproportionately represented by incompetent counsel. They are disproportionately individuals who kill white victims. Growing old is one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living, according to one philosopher. Many old people in our society have a hard time making ends meet. Most have to deal with illnesses that won't go away, or loved ones who can't come back. But perhaps, worst of all, they can become a burden on their families or dependent upon strangers. That dependency can be extremely stressful in many ways. And all too often in our society, our grandparents, our mothers and fathers become the victims of abuse and neglect. Deidre Stone has a report on what the

state legislature is doing about it. The abuse can be physical or it can be emotional but it is often devastating. Some adults rough up or neglect their aged parents in their own homes behind closed doors. Free from public scrutiny this kind of domestic violence is rarely reported. Abuse of the elderly also takes place in some nursing homes where senior citizens need help to get along. This nursing home, the Marion home, is not one of those places. It is highly regarded, recommended by the state's nursing homes ombudsmen "?Jean?" Smith. But there are some other nursing homes where old people are mistreated. They may be abused verbally, handled roughly, or fed poorly. In some homes they are treated without respect, like helpless children. Barbara "?Brassfield?" has been documenting cases of senior abuse for the past five years after visiting an aunt confined to one. I have a friend who worked in a Washington nursing home and took a picture of a patient, she was starving to death literally because she was not being fed.

She was senile, no one fed her, she looked like the victims in the holocaust. Oregon is only one of fourteen states with laws that punish people who abuse the elderly. But representative Joyce Cohen of Lake Oswego thinks our law is not tough enough. She's introduced a bill which would require that public officials report cases of abuse or be fined five hundred dollars. I introduced the bill at the request of a constituent of mine, who was concerned that there were cases of older persons who are being abused in one way or another, and that those cases were going unreported. They were going unreported because of a an inability of the person who was aware of it to be convinced that they could report without liability on their part. So that one of the things we provided for in the bill, is that the third person who is reporting such abuse of an older person would be excused from libel if they brought it to the attention of the authorities. This session,

lawmakers may also decide to broaden the definition of domestic violence to include abuse of seniors. They may also change laws relating to nursing homes to make it easier for staff members to report abuse. Other nursing home reform bills are also before the legislature. Seniors themselves are active in the reform fight. The United Seniors, a statewide network of activists, meet each week in Salem to lobby their representatives. Says one senior, there's strength in numbers. But I feel that all 426,300 and some seniors in the State of Oregon should speak with one voice on behalf of particularly the frail elderly, because they have no voice and if we aren't their voice and the media is not their voice then the neglect will continue. United Seniors president Cecil Posey thinks senior abuse is only a symptom of

some deeper problems in our society. That there's so much pressure on people these days and it isn't so easy to go out and get a job unless you have a real skill or something today. The pressures are there and people don't know how to cope with them. And the elderly are living longer, there's not the feeling within the family that we once used to have. Posey is optimistic, he thinks the senior abuse bills will become law. He says lawmakers are listening more and more to what seniors have to say. Maybe it's because more seniors voted in the last election than any other age group or maybe it is, as "?Ellen Brassfield?" said, the realization that lawmakers one day, like the rest of us, will be old. The Senate Committee on Human Resources and Aging already has approved a bill to strengthen Oregon laws against elderly abuse. The measure is now before the Justice Committee. Senate Bill 450 primarily is aimed at nursing homes. Senator Walt Brown explained the intent of the measure. If the nursing home doesn't take care of its patients, there's

really, back in 1975, there were only just two choices, they could write them a letter and say say naughty, naughty, naughty or they could close the nursing home down and move everyone out on the sidewalk. That was not really a very effective remedy, so the 1977 the state was given the power to fine a nursing home. We just had testimony from this gentleman here that in the last few years there were 67 recommended fines and 40 fines actually levied or inflicted. What this bill does is, in addition, give the patients or the patient's children the right to sue the nursing home. You might say, "why just not leave the state do it, they can do the fighting. Why have the patient or the patient's children come into court?" And one part, one answer is that the health division here has to hire an attorney and if they don't have the money to hire an attorney, then they really

can't make the remedy effective. If you don't have the money to hire an attorney, sometimes you have a right to sue or right to fine, but you don't have the effective means of doing so. Anyway this bill spreads the remedy and we hope will drive the culprits to doing the right thing. Past legislatures have refused to spend money for kindergartens and order local school districts to provide such education programs. Prospects for state mandated kindergartens look no better in this money conscious legislature. "?Duane Bock?" has a special report. House committees currently are working on three kindergarten bills. Their chances of passage look bleak indeed, especially two, which call for money. Even the third one, House Bill 2136, which requires no state funding, is in trouble as Representative Howard Cherry explains. Well I really think that no longer is there an argument on whether kindergartens are good

or they're bad--not that they're bad, but unnecessary. That argument's over, the question now is how we can get them in. And there is added expense to putting kindergartens in the schools. And that our districts such as Salem and Beaverton, the two largest without the kindergartens, where it would be very difficult financially in this particular time. Now what we are doing this time is to submit the plan in three parts. One is to have the kindergartens with a long off date five or six years if they can get in and some incentive if they do come in, but no money attached to it. Now what this will do, if we can pass that without the money side is to have a policy that schools should offer kindergartens. It does not mean that they have to do it right away there's also the state clause of the school has

real reason that they can't do it even in this far off date, then they can be excused from it. We're taking the compulsory of the action out, at least for several years, but if we can pass the part without the funds, it will express a commitment eventually to have kindegartens. That bill currently is on the table in the House Education Committee but it may be taken up for discussion later in the session. How important are kindergartens in the education process? A Keizer first grade teacher has a point of view. The group that's going on behind me right now in reading, is reading a very complicated story right now it's "?attends?" books: Rumpelstiltskin, the vocabulary is second and third grade level. And these children are doing very, very well. At the same time, I'm also teaching groups where children are just beginning reading, they're just learning that A says "aaa" that we put it together and you make words like man and pan. And they're

just beginning the total reading process. But it's not just reading that these kids are behind in. They're behind in math, in learning how to write, in the whole academic spectrum these kids are going to be behind and that's our concern as first grade teachers is that oftentimes this one year behind remains all the way through. At Keizer, we're doing something new this year to try and help fill this gap a little bit, we have what we call a learning lab in the morning and these children go over to the lab, we have our resource teacher, our library media teacher, our counselor, a first grade teacher, our aide, we take all these people and we put these children into small groups and we try to work on kindergarten skills so that these children can close the gap with the kids who are already reading. Now this isn't a total answer. It doesn't do it all, it helps close the gap. The real answer that I feel we need is kindergartens for these children. Mandatory seatbelts for children,

"?Duane Bach?" reports on action this week over this issue. Senator Rod Monroe swayed his colleagues with statistics about deaths and injuries as the upper chamber again took up the bill to require seatbelts for children under the age of 13. A few days earlier, the measure failed on a tie vote. It applies only to those children riding in the front seat of a non commercial vehicle. From 1975 until 1979, there were a 138 children under the age of ten killed in the state of Oregon in automobile accidents. More children killed from automobile accidents than from all childhood diseases put together. Furthermore, over 11,000 children during this period of time were injured. If all of those children had been using a child restraint devise, studies indicate that a 124 of those 138 would still be alive today, and that 9,000 of those 11,000 injuries would not have occurred and that those

9,000 of those 11,000 children would not today be crippled, be epileptic, suffering from brain damage and so on. Not all the senators like the bill. Bob Smith disliked the liability factor. The problem, it seems to me, is that the defense attorney may well say that the child was not properly "?ensconced?" in a seat belt and therefore there is therefore the child cannot collect for injuries to its person should there be an accident. There maybe negligence on the part of the parent driver in this case but I think it may well preclude the child from collecting under, should the child be injured. Senator Smith gained ten votes against mandatory seatbelts for children, but there were 20 votes in favor and the measure moved on to the house. Late this morning, the House

Elections and Reapportionment Committee voted a solution to its most perplexing problem. John "?McDonald?" has the story. That problem was how to redraw the house district boundary lines for Portland's Black community. The committee has been redrawing the lines for all 60 house districts to conform with 1980 census figures. At a meeting in North Portland last night, the committee heard from members of the Black community. Some of them wanted to concentrate as many black people as possible into one district. That would assure a 44 percent Black population in that district. But others wanted to spread the Black population out over three districts and that way get input into the work of three house members instead of one. The idea of the single concentrated district won out today as the committee prepared to finish work on this phase of reapportionment. Next week the legislature will deal with lifeline utility rates, less money for basic energy use lighting, cooking, heating. In committee meetings, ongoing hearings on the fate of LCDC, more power or less or none.

Lawmakers will continue to worry over domestic violence and what the state can do to stop it, and bonding to help the state pay its bills. How many bonds can we sell and how much interest can we afford to pay. Monday, we'll continue our daily in depth coverage here at the capitol and next Friday another look at the entire week. Good Night. (Music) (silence) (silence) (silence)

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