ADVOCACY UPDATE Active Member Engagement Helps Drive Advocacy Work
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RLA's government affairs team has been busy on the front lines promoting and protecting the foodservice and lodging industries of Oregon during the 2021 Legislative Session. At the same time, ORLA’s volunteer leadership groups and government affairs committee continue to be actively engaged in state and local issues, calling on lawmakers to address issues facing our industry. During a Difficult 2020, ORLA’s Advocacy Efforts Result in Wins It would be hard to classify anything in 2020 as a “win,” and yet, despite a global pandemic, the shutdown of our restaurants and restrictions on our lodging properties, and unbelievable natural disasters, Oregon’s hospitality industry did manage to succeed in securing some important victories. A more complete review of these accomplishments is included in our “Year in Review” segment of the magazine, so here is just a few of the highlights. Federal Level - The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law by President Biden containing $28.6 billion in direct aid to restaurants. The Restaurant Revitalization Fund reflects a year-long effort to help restaurants in need. The RESTAURANTS Act, providing $120B in additional relief to restaurants, is still being discussed for future passage. State Level - ORLA led the statewide effort to secure over $55M in grants for small businesses with an emphasis on Oregon hospitality. Those grants helped hundreds of businesses stay open and keep people employed. We also worked early on to remove contact tracing requirements from state mandates after restaurants were shut down by Executive Order. Additionally, when the first shutdown occurred with less than 24 hours’ notice, ORLA lobbied the Governor’s office to allow for more time before future shutdown might occur. Future closures allowed for at least 72 hours. Finally, the constant uncertainty of being able to open for indoor dining or not based on County Risk Levels was beyond frustrating for many operators. ORLA’s advocacy for more consistency led to the Governor declaring that counties moving from “High Risk” to “Extreme Risk” would have an additional two weeks to bring their metrics in line before having to move. ORLA Government Affairs Committee Following a successful December meeting to review the 2021 Legislative Agenda for ORLA, the Government Affairs (GA)
Committee met again the first week of February to review the first set of bills dropped for the legislative session. Co-Chairs Nick Pearson (Jupiter and Jupiter Next hotels) and TJ Birkel (Darden Restaurants) led the committee through a discussion of the bills up for deliberation this year. ORLA is currently tracking over 120 bills with almost 4,000 bills total being introduced in this session. A full list of the bills we are supporting, opposing, monitoring or following can be found on our website at OregonRLA.org under the Advocacy tab. Because of the virtual nature of this session, it has become easier for members from across the state to sign up to testify on bills and ORLA still needs participation from our members to help ensure we can pass or kill the bills we need to take action on this session. To keep you updated, we’re trying something new this year. ORLA’s GA Committee is meeting weekly on Friday mornings for a 30-minute video call to review bills we are tracking that had a hearing the previous week and the outcome, if any, of those hearings as well as give a preview of the upcoming week’s hearings. We are also identifying those hearings where we need testimony–both written and oral–from members to help us in our advocacy efforts. If you are interested in being a member of the GA Committee, please email Greg Astley, Director of Government Affairs at Astley@oregonrla.org. Portland Kitchen Cabinet After an incredibly difficult and challenging year for Oregon’s hospitality industry, and at the time of this writing, signs are pointing to more counties re-opening for indoor dining, vaccinations being offered to hospitality workers among others deemed “essential,” and optimism among many about customers returning to our restaurants. ORLA’s Portland Kitchen Cabinet (PKC), a partnership with the National Restaurant Association, has been quite active in the last 12 months. We’ve been working with elected officials on important issues and keeping the lines of communication open between operators and those who make the decisions on issues ranging from licensing fees to public safety to financial relief. Tom Perrick, ORLA’s new Government Affairs Coordinator and PKC liaison, will be helping our members reach out to newly installed elected officials to continue the conversations and help them understand the perspective of our industry. Look for outreach from Tom to join us at these meetings to share your story and your perspective. OregonRLA.ORG 11
