Bryan Denson
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, is championing a bill that would potentially budget up to $6 million to combat organized crime – especially drug trafficking – in the state’s rural communities, including his district.
But Senate Bill 1507, which appears likely to get a hearing in the Ways and Means Committee, will undoubtedly take a back seat to a more pressing matter: keeping the Oregon Department of Corrections in fiscal order.
Oregon’s prisons are housing about 200 more inmates than projected, and corrections officials seek about $90 million for their two-year budget.
Senate Bill 1507 is a slimmer reincarnation of a failed effort last year to fund law enforcement in poorer counties, and Boquist is optimistic the Legislature will find a way to allocate the funds – perhaps under another bill.
The new effort seeks $3 million for the Oregon Department of Justice Criminal Justice Division for operations and its organized crime section; $1.2 million for the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; and $600,000 for Oregon’s TITAN Fusion Center, which collects and shares intelligence to detect and disrupt terrorists, gangs, and organized crime.
The bill also seeks $1.2 million in grants to district attorneys and sheriff’s offices in counties declared to be in states of fiscal emergency under Oregon law.
Boquist said on Wednesday that SB 1507 would, among other things, put about a dozen law enforcement investigators and analysts to work in counties overrun by narcotics gangs, including some linked to Mexican drug cartels. He acknowledged that might not sound like much.
“But if you’re the sheriff in Josephine County, two bodies is a lot.”
The southwestern corner of Oregon has been run over by drug trafficking organizations, with 14 identified last year in Josephine County’s next-door neighbor, Jackson County, according to data kept the Oregon High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.
Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, said SB 1507 will be given consideration.
“But my first priority,” she said, “is the Department of Corrections.”