Speaker Hunt and Rep. Stiegler Listen to Central Oregon Businesses First

From www.mycentraloregon.com:

BEND, OR -- State Representative Judy Stiegler (D-Bend, Dist. 54) and House Speaker Dave Hunt (D-Clackamas County, Dist. 40) held a business roundtable discussion in Bend Wednesday. Participants included Brooks Resources and the Produce Patch. 

Stiegler said she heard lively discussion about how local businesses deal with state government regulations. "The challenges where regulation gets in the way, where things can be streamlined and just identifying some of the things that are keeping them from actually being a productive part of the community," she said.

During the roundtable, some businesses praised the Oregon Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) for taking a proactive approach in assisting businesses. But other agencies, like the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), were not quite so user friendly and needed reform on how they function.

Also discussed were infrastructure issues ranging from transportation, sewer, water, and land use. "It's always helpful to have a no holds barred open conversation, no topics off limit, and we covered a whole bunch of them," Hunt said.

Stiegler said her biggest take away from the discussion was flexibility. "It's not always a square peg in a square hole, as one of the participants said., but sometimes you have a round peg and you need to figure out where that can fit in the process."

Stiegler and other lawmakers are pursuing to fix an interpretation of an old state law regarding home brewers and the ability to have competition at state and county fairs. "It's an anachronistic part of the statute that goes back to the post prohibition era and is one of those things that just needs to get off the books ," she said

She is proposing a bill in 2011 that would be a permanent fix and is also working on a temporary fix that will help craft brewers during the upcoming fair season.