***UPDATE ON SENATE BILL 723***

Received an email this afternoon that Senator Gelser removed her chief sponsorship from the bill. This email is public record. Please send letters of thanks and praise to Senator Gelser for responding so quickly to concerns about Senate Bill 723.

From: Sen Gelser <Sen.SaraGelser@oregonlegislature.gov>
Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 1:38 PM
Subject: Re: Senate Bill 723
To: Randall Bonner <rainorshinerandall@gmail.com>

Dear Randall,

Thank you for following up!  It’s been a busy day and I was planning to direct message you to see if we could move this discussion to email as I was afraid I would miss things on Twitter, where my feed has been taken over by a debate about vaccines.

I appreciate that you raised the concerns you did about SB 723.  I was visited in my office and also received a number of letters asking me to sign on to legislation to prohibit a specific kind of coyote hunting contests.  I saw the photos and video, and found it to be disturbing.  I remain concerned about that practice on a personal level.

However, based on your letter and that of others I realized that I am missing a great deal of information about the hunting and fishing community, predator management, and events and strategies.  While I still oppose the cougar hunting contest, it is clear that this bill is much more broad and spreads into areas about which I lack sufficient information.  As a result, I have withdrawn my name from the bill and am no longer a sponsor.  I can’t justify being the sponsor of a bill about which I cannot answer all of the questions.  There is a process that goes through, so the website may not immediately reflect that.  It appears that it requires the approval of the Senate President to have my name removed.

I am happy to pick up this conversation later as the bill will be heard in the committee on which I serve.  I’m interested in the topic generally and do hope there is a way for it to be more narrowly tailored to the problem it was described as trying to solve. In the mean time, I do need to send notes to my constituents to whom I indicated I would sign on as a co-sponsor so that I can explain my decision to them.  I hope you will bear with me if it is next week before I can pick this thread with you back up.  However, if you have urgent questions that need to be resolved right away of course you will immediately have my attention again.

Finally, I have never and will never introduce or support legislation based on who has put it forward or campaign finance.  That’s not really my style.  In this case, I signed on because I was moved by the photos and the description of what sounded like a very cruel and indiscriminate process.  It was my error to not step back and learn more before I affixed my name to the bill that was brought by my office.  I do not fault the proponents of the bill for this—I should have taken more time to study before I agreed.

Thank you for the part you played in helping me see my error.

Sincerely,

Sara

Senator Sara Gelser

Chair, Senate Human Services Committee

Senate District 8 (Corvallis/Albany)

(503) 986-1708

sen.saragelser@oregonlegislature.gov