Pendleton council to learn about Measure 110 fix

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The Pendleton City Council holds a regular meeting at 7 p.m. today (Tuesday) and one of the items on the agenda is an update on House Bill 4002, which recriminalizes some hard narcotics at the misdemeanor level. Pendleton Police Chief Chuck Byram will fill the council members in on the changes.

One of those is changes comes from Umatilla County’s commitment to establish a deflection program that will offer some people with substance abuse disorders a clear path to treatment instead of incarceration. Morrow County and at least 20 other counties in the state have also committed to deflection programs. Each county will be allowed to devise and submit its own deflection plan.

Governor Tina Kotek signed House Bill 4002, which contains the language making the changes into law yesterday. It will go into effect on Sept. 1.

The council will first hold a work session at 6 p.m. Up for discussion are some housing plans and communications regarding the Christian Science building which is now owned by the city. Normally, the council holds work sessions on the second Tuesday of the month, but Mayor John Turner said a number of members will not be available so the work session was moved to today (Tuesday).