Rep. Pam Marsh and Oregon Cultural Trust ambassador Amy Cuddy explore the values behind the state’s legislative ‘firsts’

By Lucie K. Scheuer for Ashland.news

Oregon’s motto is “She flies with her own wings” and, according to four-term and counting Oregon State Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, nothing exemplifies this better than the “four qualities” she believes represent Oregon’s successful approach to living: Self-government, individual autonomy, pragmatism and a strong sense of community.  

Marsh and co-presenter, Amy Cuddy, an ambassador for the Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT), presented a lively and interesting history of some of Oregon’s legislative “firsts” and an overview of OCT’s contributions, as part of the American Association of University Women, (AAUW) and the Jackson County Library Services ongoing series “Big Ideas” earlier this week.

Titled “What’s Special About Oregon,” the presentation opened with a verbal tour by Marsh of some of the Oregon legislature’s most defining moments, encouraging attendees to ruminate on whether the four qualities “and the really groundbreaking work we’ve done in Oregon, reflects those qualities.”

“It was in 1902 that we really had the Progressives starting to make their mark, both here in Oregon and across the country,” Marsh said. “We had the development of something in Oregon called the Direct Legislation League … creating an avenue for citizens to be involved directly in legislation.” Marsh said this “citizen initiative” placed on the 1902 ballot, eventually received 98% approval as the first Oregon Constitutional Amendment.

Challenging the audience, she asked, “And in 1912, who knows what happened? Women got the vote,” she offered. Even though the national vote wasn’t approved until 1920, “We were among the first of mostly western states that put that issue on the ballot.”

Marsh said in the intervening years there have been 377 initiatives and 56 referendums, noting that both categories passed with about 35% of the vote. ”Our voters are particular,” she said, “about a third of what has been put in front of people has been passed.”

“Let’s jump forward about 50 years to the government under Tom McCall,” Marsh continued. “Tom McCall was governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975. He was a Republican … with a very strong interest in environmental issues,” said Marsh.

Three major bills that had a positive impact on Oregon’s land conservancy were put in place on McCall’s watch.

The first was the enactment of the “Beach Bill” in 1967. To add some historical context, Marsh explained that back in 1913, the legislature said all beaches (362 miles worth) which included wet sand, would be protected for the citizens of Oregon. This statute was challenged in 1966 when a hotel owner tried to restrict public access to the beach, designating it for guest use only. Subsequently, McCall pushed for the passing of the Beach Bill, which allows for the “free and uninterrupted use” of the entire Oregon coastline.

“Legislation is nothing but a good idea and good ideas come from all kinds of people,” said Marsh. In the case of the 1971 “Bottle Bill,” it was a Portland resident who earlier insisted “We should be doing something with these cans and bottles.” The governor was initially resistant but the legislature eventually approved it. Marsh says Oregon was the  first state to enact such a bill and said the program has been so successful, that in the last year, “We had 87% of cans and bottles … redeemed.” She believes doubling the redemption amount to 10 cents made a big difference.

Marsh said the third major “milestone legislation” under McCall was passing Senate Bill 10 regarding land use in 1969.

“It was the first in the nation to mandate local governments to zone all of their lands within their jurisdictions,” Marsh stated. This led to Senate Bill 100, which created the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) and required the LCDC ensure local planning meets statewide goals. As a result, she said, “We have retained the forest land and the agricultural land that continues to be the bulwark of our statewide economy.”

Marsh reminded attendees that Oregon was also the first vote-by-mail state and, in 2000, initiated the first vote-by-mail presidential general election. She points out that people from both major parties, Independents, people from all walks of life, have been elected by mail and is anticipating challenges around changes that could occur on the federal level and concern around when ballots are postmarked.

Marsh then touched on two controversial laws that have been enacted in the past several years. “Let’s talk about our state sanctuary policies. The sanctuary policies are something we are hearing a lot about … but this is old news here in the state of Oregon,” which she said first acted on the issue in 1987 after a resident in a café in Independence, Oregon, was questioned by law enforcement about his citizenship. The legislature decided, “We are not going to be a  state where law enforcement aids immigration authorities,” said Marsh. “That’s pretty amazing. … So, we were the first state to pass a law, stopping state and local police from helping federal authorities with immigration enforcement.”

Marsh said sanctuary laws have been updated in recent years to make sure law enforcement and school authorities and other people in official capacities understand that they have to have a judicial warrant in order to provide information to a federal immigration authority who might show up at their door.  “I think the short session that is coming in February…you will see legislation that is being proposed to address some of the challenges of immigration enforcement in other contexts.”

Marsh then touched on Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, which came from an initiative that was the result of a citizen measure, reminding the audience that Oregon was the first state to adopt Death with Dignity in 1994. It was implemented in 1997. At one time it became so disputed, Attorney General John Ashcroft threatened the medical licenses of any physicians who participated in physician assisted suicide. Eventually Ashcroft’s argument made it to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled 6 to 3 in Oregon’s favor.

Marsh concluded her portion of the talk touching on healthcare and housing. “So, we are a state that has done some remarkable work on healthcare, and that really started back in the late 1980s when John Kitzhaber (who later became governor) was in the legislature. It was a time when medical costs were soaring. … Most states were responding by kicking people off the public health programs,” said Marsh, but Kitzhaber realized, “This is not the right way to approach this…what he established is that everyone under the poverty level who came in the door was part of the Oregon Health Plan (OHP).”

“Oregon has continued to really innovate on the healthcare front,” she said, adding that the late Sen. Alan Bates and the establishment of the coordinated care organizations were critical to OHP’s success. Marsh said the focus has shifted away from simply treating illnesses. “We need to look at what we’re trying to achieve, which is good health, not what we’re trying to treat, which is illness.”  Marsh sees challenges coming on this front as well. The federal government will “probably be pulling away many of the resources we need to do that work,” but she surmises, “I am very clear that Oregon is going to continue to be at the forefront of our healthcare revolution.”

Her remarks then turned to housing. “We are a state that is struggling with housing, not unlike many across the country. And we have a governor, who, when she was a legislator, really took the very first steps in the country to help us start thinking differently about how we develop housing. … Tina Kotek said, one of the ways that we can enrich our communities and our neighborhoods and provide more units and potentially more affordability, is just to build them in the backyard where there are already streets and sewers and infrastructure…We want to be able to have duplexes or triplexes…or cottage clusters, because we understand that using our residential neighborhoods more efficiently…gives us the opportunity to produce density … to increase vitality. 

“This is groundbreaking. We are now seeing many other state’s across the country look at how we are approaching single family development, and they’re doing it themselves.”

Besides the impression Oregon programs have made on other states, as she said a few times during her talk, she also admires the way Oregonians embrace “self-determination” and “think outside the box.”

Marsh quickly passed the torch to Amy Cuddy who gave a succinct but thorough overview of the Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT).

Cuddy opened her remarks by stating The OCT was launched in 2001 by the Oregon State Legislature which “basically said … we will put money into arts and culture in this state, if Oregonians show us that this matters to them. And the way they’re going to show us is — they’re going to make that contribution to the cultural trust, and we, the legislature, then, will forgive that tax amount.”  

OCT is unique in that out of the 50 states, it is the only state cultural trust. It was created to provide stable funding for the arts and humanities by offering a unique 100% tax credit for people who donate.

Cuddy explained how it works. Step One: An individual may donate up to $500 to one or more organizations that are on the Oregon Cultural Trust list in a given year. There are over 1,600 organizations to choose from.  

Step Two: The individual can donate the same (matching) amount of money, (up to $500) to the Oregon Cultural Trust. Step Three: The following Spring when one does their taxes, they can get write off 100% of the donation they made to the Oregon Cultural Trust.  The amount one gives to the Trust, does not have to be the same as the amount one gave to their designated nonprofits but must be $500 or less.

Cuddy says it is really that simple and the support Oregonians have given over the years is impressive. The cap is $500 for individuals, $1,000 for a couple and $2,500 for C and S class corporations. Cuddy says the reason for the caps is simple: Oregon also needs taxes in order to support the state infrastructure.

Here are some facts about this unique program:

• OCT has distributed over 40 million dollars back to communities in Oregon and has made more than 10,000 grants.
• OCT supports all kinds of nonprofits, not just cultural but those associated with the Arts and the Humanities.
• OCT has helped support 1,650 Oregon nonprofits.
• OCT makes grants to rural school children, Indigenous cultures and homeless youth.
• OCT offers scholarships for low-income students.
• OCT offers support for building repair and infrastructure.
• OCT supports school music programs.
• OCT is currently supporting sharing of Black stories and culture.
• OCF supports internships at OSF and the Ashland New Plays Festival.

Ashland resident Lucie K. Scheuer is a former copy editor and staff writer with the Los Angeles Times, where her work included features, reviews and a column on films in production. Email her at LucieScheuer19@gmail.com.