Murmurs: Judge Declines to Stop Oregon State Hospital Early Releases

JUDGE DECLINES TO STOP OREGON STATE HOSPITAL EARLY RELEASES: Senior U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman rejected demands Jan. 9 that he reverse an order he issued last year limiting the time “aid-and-assist” patients could stay at the overflowing Oregon State Hospital. Such patients, charged with crimes but too ill to stand trial, can now be held for a maximum of only one year—years less than state statute dictates. The decision was supported by prisoner rights advocates and state administrators who are seeking to free up beds. But it left community hospitals and county prosecutors livid. They say they’ve had to deal with the consequences: an unexpected flood of mentally ill criminal defendants they are unable to treat or try. On Monday, Judge Mosman upheld his prior order, saying it just needed time to work. “Despite herculean efforts by all involved—constitutional violations against defendants suffering from mental illness have not been abated,” Mosman wrote, noting that for the past three years defendants have been forced to sit in jail for weeks because beds were unavailable at the state hospital. He noted that the Oregon Legislature had allocated $1.3 billion to address this issue, so far to no avail.

COLLEAGUES SEEK INVESTIGATION OF STOUT: In November, a Columbia County circuit judge granted a five-year protective order against Brian Stout, a Republican from Clatskanie who had just won a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives. A woman accused him in court documents of sexually assaulting her and threatening to slit her throat. WW broke news of the order last month, and Stout took office this week. Soon after, a group of advocates—along with two of his fellow representatives—asked House leaders to investigate whether Stout had violated any laws or ethics guidelines for lawmakers. Marchel Marcos, founder of Voice for Survivors, wrote an open letter to House Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) and House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville) asking them to affirm that staff and visitors to the Capitol are safe while Stout is there. “I don’t want to put anyone in my community at risk in a hostile environment,” Marcos wrote. Among the signers of the letter are Rep. Khanh Pham (D-Portland), Rep. Hoa Nguyen (D-Portland) and former Democratic state Sen. Akasha Lawrence-Spence (D-Portland). Neither Stout nor his legislative staff returned calls or emails seeking comment.

EDIBLES COMPANY SUES LA MOTA: WW reported last week on four small cannabis farms and producers that allege Chalice Brands, a publicly traded cannabis company that owns 15 dispensaries across the state, owes them tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices. Chalice says it intends to make the farmers whole, but WW has learned Chalice isn’t the only cannabis retail giant facing lawsuits over allegedly unpaid bills: In July, edibles company Drops sued La Mota, a Portland-based chain that owns more than 20 dispensaries across the state, alleging it owes Drops $390,000 for edibles La Mota purchased dating back to November 2020. Litigation is now in the discovery phase. WW’s requests for comment by La Mota and its attorney went unanswered.

STATE WORKS THROUGH PAYROLL KINKS: As WW first reported Jan. 5, the state of Oregon experienced a bumpy transition from its 36-year-old payroll system to Workday, a human resources and payroll system widely used in the private sector. Some 1,800 of the state’s 45,000 employees were overpaid Jan. 3 in the first paychecks under the new system. A much larger number nearly didn’t get paid at all because the state dropped a zero from account numbers when communicating with employees’ banks. “The issue we experienced with direct deposit accounts had the potential to impact approximately 8,000 employees,” says Andrea Chiapella, a spokeswoman for the Department of Administrative Services. “Fortunately, the vast majority of banks accepted the payments. We have a total of 131 employees across the enterprise who were not paid when banks rejected the payment. All of these 131 affected employees have already been paid or will be paid this week and the error that caused the issue in the new payroll system has been corrected.”