Kropf

When Jason Kropf was running to be the state representative for Bend, he pledged to fight for the community’s priorities.

Now he’s in office. He’s a chief sponsor of one bill, a sponsor of another and is working on much more.

The bills he sponsors are far from the only measure of what he does as a state legislator. But they are crucial steps. We spoke with him Monday about his legislative agenda.

House Bill 2593 helps plug a funding gap in Oregon for search and rescue. The answer in the bill is not: Raise more taxes. Kropf is a chief sponsor.

Sheriffs in Oregon are directed by state law to run search and rescue operations. There isn’t a great funding source for it. State law puts a cap on how much any individual can be charged at $500, anyway. Some difficult searches and rescues cost far more than that. And basically in Oregon, people aren’t forced to pay. You don’t want to force people to pay, because they might not call for help.

In places like Deschutes County beautiful scenery and tourists adds up to a lot of search and rescue missions. Deschutes Search and Rescue carried out 128 missions in 2019 and 106 in 2020. The Sheriff’s Office runs the program. Volunteers are the backbone of its success. Working with the professionals at the sheriff’s office, volunteers carry out many of the rescues. Volunteers also run a private nonprofit to raise money for Deschutes SAR. Sheriff Shane Nelson told us Deschutes SAR is actually in good shape financially. That’s because of the fundraising, donations from people who are rescued and because county residents supported taxes for his office. Many counties, though, struggle, and Deschutes could always use help.

H.B. 2593 could be a smart solution. It would authorize a nonprofit representing sheriffs to sell search and rescue cards. The money raised would be used to reimburse search and recreation operations and training. Distribution of the money would take into consideration the volume and nature of rescues in a county and other factors. There’s a similar program in Colorado.

People will still get rescued if they don’t have a card. It’s just a way for people to show their support of the efforts to keep people safe when they venture out.

Rep. Anna Williams, D-Hood River, originally introduced the bill. Kropf said he supported it, because it’s a creative solution to a funding problem for an essential service. When people call for help, he said, you want our sheriffs to be able to respond fully staffed, equipped and trained.

Kropf’s committee assignments are centered primarily around justice — public safety, civil law and the judiciary. “I want to make Oregon as safe as possible,” he said. “Expect more action on racial justice.”

His solution is not just more laws and more law enforcement, more incarceration. He wants more addiction and mental health treatment. He wants training and support for inmates so when they get out they can live productive lives and not re-offend.

That’s part of the reason he is supporting House Bill 2912. It extends and adds more funding to a pilot program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The program helps inmates with legal services so they understand and can overcome the barriers — legal, economic and social — they will have when they get out of prison.

We can’t predict what else will come up this session. But there are two long-standing issues for Deschutes County that require legislative action: funding for Oregon State University-Cascades and more judges for the county. Kropf has spoken to Gov. Kate Brown about how important the funding is for the campus to build on its success and student demand.

He is also on the committee that will be reviewing the requests for new judges in the state. The simple fact is “we don’t have enough judges in this community,” Kropf said. The county’s court system runs well and does several innovative things, such as having a specialized drug court to help people overcome addiction, not just jail. It needs enough judges to be able to specialize.

The county also needs enough judges so one judge could be assigned to one family to handle all the claims regarding divorce, custody, delinquency and other matters. The logic is obvious. The judge will be more efficient, better informed and there would be more uniformity in approach. But it’s hard for Deschutes County to pull that off if there are so few judges that they must be pulled to other duties.

Additional judges for Deschutes County have been yanked before in last minute negotiations by the Legislature’s Democratic leadership. Perhaps as a Democrat, Kropf will have more success. Let’s hope so.

These issues are just a start. He has more bills he is working on — gun safety, clean energy, siting of shelters and the bill we wrote about recently that could help flows in the Deschutes River. Kropf believes what we believe. It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican, a Democrat or something else. Bend needs excellent representation in the Legislature. He was a Deschutes County deputy district attorney before he was elected. He is now, though, working full time as a state legislator to be the best representative he can for Bend. We may disagree with him from time to time, but we can’t ask for more commitment than that.