Tag Archive for 'kate brown'

Secretary of State Kate Brown Sworn in as Secretary of State

Published on January 4, 2013 in Elections, Headlines, Secretary Brown and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

January 4, 2013

Salem – Secretary Brown gave brief remarks after her swearing in, thanking Gov. Roberts, Gov. Kulongoski, Gov. Kitzhaber and her family for their support. She also detailed key accomplishments and her plans for the next four years.

“In 2008, I told Oregonians that I would be their watchdog; find savings and efficiencies in state government; fight fraud in Oregon’s in initiative process; and personally engage

Oregonians on their right to vote,” said Secretary Brown. “That is exactly what my team and I have done and more. In the next four years we will continue to build upon our accomplishments, continuing to ensure our tax dollars are managed with greater transparency and accountability, ensuring businesses can thrive and create jobs here in Oregon and defending every eligible Oregonian’s right to vote, especially those whose voices are underrepresented.”

The ceremony took place in the House chamber at the State Capitol. Gov. Kitzhaber administered the oath to Secretary Brown, Treasurer Ted Wheeler, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian.

Governor Kitzhaber swears in Secretary of State Kate Brown

Gov Kitzhaber swears in Sec Brown

Brown was elected to her second four-year term as Secretary of State on November 6, 2012.

Oregon Governor Sustainability Winners Honored at Northwest Environmental Conference

Published on December 4, 2012 in Corporation, Headlines, Press Releases, Secretary Brown and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

PORTLAND – Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown and the Oregon Sustainability Board will honor five Oregon companies for their commitment to sustainable business practices at the NEBC/AOI Northwest Environmental Conference & Tradeshow on December 4.

This year’s winners of the Governor’s Sustainability Awards are: Grand Champions – Mountain Rose Herbs and Hopworks Urban Brewery; Technology Award – EasyStreet Online Services; Manufacturing Award – Oregon Iron Works; and Rising Star – Bridgetown Natural Foods.

“The winners truly represent the best Oregon has to offer in sustainable business practices,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “We can all learn so much from these companies, as we continue to rebuild Oregon’s economy.”

The 24th NEBC/AOI annual conference is the Northwest’s largest and most comprehensive environmentally focused conference and trade show and will highlight such issues as: environmental protection and compliance; resource and operational efficiencies; health and safety practices; sustainability programs; product standards; and environmental economics.

In 2006, then Governor Ted Kulongoski issued an Executive Order directed the then Oregon Economic and Community Development Department (OECDD) [now known as Business Oregon] to establish an awards program to promote and advance the inclusion of sustainable practices in government and the private sector.

More on the 2012 Oregon Sustainability Award Winners:

Mountain Rose Herbs

Mountain Rose Herbs has been known for its uncompromising commitment to organic agriculture, sustainable business practices, and a steadfast focus on the pure aesthetics and freshness of botanical products. Their wide range of certified organic product offerings includes bulk herbs and spices, aromatherapy and essential oils, tea and tea supplies, and natural health and body care. Every aspect of product creation is carried out in accordance with strict quality control and organic handling procedures by employees who care. The company employs numerous energy efficiency measures including a lighting program that has reduced electricity usage for lighting by more than 40%. It is also enrolled in EWEB’s Greenpower program to cover all electricity use, and purchases carbon offsets for all aspects of company operations including shipping, travel and operations.

Hopworks Urban Brewery

Hopworks Urban Brewery and Hopworks BikeBar are Portland’s first Eco-Brewpubs. Its stated mission is to “produce world-class beer and food as sustainably as possible. The brewery offers handcrafted organic beers and fresh, local ingredients, all served in sustainably-built and operated buildings with a relaxed, casual atmosphere. Hopworks incorporates many aspects of sustainability: from composting to rain barrels, and from pervious pavers to hand dryers. Hopworks brewery is 100% renewably powered and “cradle to gate” carbon neutral. The company has purchased BEF Water Restoration Credits for more water than their facilities use and is working towards a zero landfill goal. Currently, less than 10% of waste is sent to landfills.

EasyStreet Online Services

EasyStreet is Oregon’s locally-headquartered enterprise-class IT Services provider. EasyStreet helps its customers integrate Cloud, colocation, Internet connectivity and related services to create the flexible computing infrastructure that meets their needs. The company buys offsets for 100% of the electricity, water and natural gas it consumes in its data centers — resulting in zero carbon footprint operations. Its innovative cooling systems that significantly reduce energy consumption that allow data center to save over 1.5 million kWh per year.

Oregon Iron Works

Oregon Iron Works, Inc. (OIW) is a world-class metal fabricator headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon with factories in Oregon and Washington. Founded in 1944, we have an exceptional history and success in both commercial and government contract work. OIW specializes in mechanical and electrical integration and complex fabrication across diverse industries. The company implemented significant energy efficiency upgrades to lighting, HVAC and process machinery. EE upgrades have saved them over 1.6 million kWh and over $100,000 per year. It also installed a 30.8 kWh solar PV array and is planning to add 300% more solar within the next year.

Bridgetown Natural Foods

Bridgetown Natural Foods is an emerging, fast-growing contract manufacturer of all-natural, organic, kosher and gluten-free healthy snack products. The company has an 110,000-square-foot facility in Portland’s Lents neighborhood. Bridgetown currently is working toward becoming a zero-waste-to-landfill operation. The company sells unusable food product/waste to local hog farmers, refurbishes used equipment in-house and has implemented energy efficiency measures in lighting, process machinery and facility cooling.

For more information, please refer to http://www.sustainableoregon.net or contact Andrea Cantu-Schomus (503) 986-2368 or Mark Brady (503) 689-5638.

 

Indictment in Clackamas Co Ballot Altering Case Results from Investigation Initiated by Sec of State Kate Brown

Published on November 29, 2012 in Elections, general election, Headlines, Press Releases and Uncategorized. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Salem – After Secretary of State Kate Brown requested an investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice, 55-year-old Deanna Swenson was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday, November 28 in Clackamas County on two counts of unlawfully altering a cast ballot and two counts of unlawfully voting more than once, both Class C felonies. Swenson also faces two counts of first-degree official misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor. While attempts at voter fraud have been extremely rare under Oregon’s tightly regulated vote-by-mail system, Secretary Brown is taking steps to ensure that this case is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and won’t be repeated.

“We have zero tolerance for voter fraud in Oregon,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “Security procedures are in place to detect this kind of conduct. The system worked and no person’s ballot was impacted. Oregonians can be confident in their election results.”

Every year, county elections officials submit security plans to the Secretary of State’s office for review. In this case, the Clackamas County security plan was followed, the state elections office was notified of irregularities right away, and the Secretary of State asked the Department of Justice to start an investigation immediately.

In order to ensure that local election results would not be affected while this matter was resolved, on November 2, 2012, Secretary Brown assigned Deputy Director of Elections Brenda Bayes and retired elections manager Fred Neal to Clackamas County to oversee ballot processing by the Clackamas County Elections Division. Oregon State Police officers were also assigned to oversee the process.

Secretary Brown to announce legislation creating a new corporate entity for sustainable businesses

Published on September 28, 2012 in Headlines, Press Releases, Road Trips and Secretary Brown. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

SALEM – On Monday, October 1, Secretary of State Kate Brown will be at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland to discuss Benefit Company legislation, at the first annual Oregon Social Business Challenge sponsored by the Oregon University System.

“Together with a group of Oregon Business Leaders we have created legislation that gives Oregon businesses the freedom and legal protection to pursue more than just profit,” said Secretary Brown. “We hope to join the 11 other states that have already passed similar laws meeting the growing needs of entrepreneurs and investors who want to use their business as a tool to solve social and environmental problems.”

Secretary Brown will join more than 1,000 Oregonians at the sell-out event next Monday featuring Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and leading thinker on micro-lending, in a bid to show average Oregonians that state higher education is making the world a better place.

Secretary Brown will be available to media after the opening ceremony.

When:              Monday, October 1st, at 12:00 PM

Where:             Oregon Convention Center

777 Northeast Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard

Portland, OR 97232

Audit Provides Strategies to Accelerate Certification Helping Women and Minority Owned Businesses Get up and Running

Published on September 11, 2012 in Audits, Press Releases, Secretary Brown and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Press Release

9/11/2012

SALEM – A new state audit of Oregon’s Office of Minority, Women and Emerging Small Business (OMWESB) recommends several improvements to make the certification process faster and more consistent for its applicants. The audit also addresses the challenges of a small staff with a high workload.

As of May 1, 2012, there was a backlog of 371 business applications for approximately 460 state business certifications, with only three certification specialists to handle them. The audit found that the steps for processing applications could be improved to reduce the variance in the timeliness of certifications and some inconsistencies in staff decisions.

“OMWESB certification opens the door to so many opportunities for these small businesses,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “That’s why it is so important that we provide strategies to improve the process of certification that in turn helps these businesses get up and running putting Oregonians back to work.”

Among its recommendations, the audit called for management to evaluate the necessity and priority of its tasks, review its work balancing and work flows, develop and update policies and procedures, simplify its application forms, and develop and use performance information to improve certification efforts.

The report, including the agency response, can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits.

 

 

Oregon Recognized by National Military Voter Protection Project as All-Star State

Published on August 16, 2012 in Elections and Press Releases. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Oregon was recognized as an All-Star state today by the Military Voter Protection (MVP) Project for taking significant efforts to promote and protect the voting rights of America’s military service members and their families.

“Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown has long demonstrated her commitment to the voting rights of our men and women in uniform, especially through the use of technology including iPads and internet tools,” said Eric Eversole, founder and executive director of the Military Voter Protection Project. “These efforts will help ensure that our service members can vote, regardless of where duty takes them.”

In analyzing these states, the MVP Project looked at a number of factors, including:

  • The state’s efforts to work with and reach out to local military installations and National Guard units on a proactive basis to provide on-base voter assistance;
  • Its use of electronic and web-based services to send election materials;
  • Its willingness to create specialized communications to military voters either through public service announcements or web-based announcements;
  • The state’s legislative efforts to eliminate barriers to military voter participation; and
  • Its track record of making sure that absentee military ballots are sent out no later than 45-days before the election and, when they are not, a high degree of accountability to resolve any violations.

You can view the Oregon All-Star page here.

“It truly is an honor to be recognized for our extraordinary efforts in protecting the voting rights of Oregon’s service members and their families,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown.

All-Star states list include: Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

For more information about the Military Voter Protection Project’s Heroes Vote Initiative or to view details about the MVP Project All-Star states, please visit http://www.herosvote.org/.

State Archives Dedicates Room to Long-Time Volunteer

Published on August 1, 2012 in Archives, Press Releases, Secretary Brown and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

SALEM – The second floor volunteer room in the State Archives building located in Salem is now known as the Daraleen Wade room. Wade started volunteering at the State Archives in 1992, and contributed thousands of hours during nearly 20 years of volunteer service. Even after her health prevented her from traveling to the Archives building, she worked from her home on countless projects. Daraleen passed away in April after a long illness.

“It is truly an honor to dedicate such a wonderful space to Daraleen and her remarkable contributions,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “Her knowledge, warmth and eager attitude will be missed and her work treasured for years to come.”

Not only did Daraleen help take care of our past, she helped preserve our future by mentoring and supporting countless student interns. Many maintained contact with Daraleen after moving on in their professional careers.

Darleen enjoyed life in Keizer and is survived by her children Barbara Rowe, Patty Dela and David Wade; five grandchildren and her Archives family. She will be truly missed by all who knew her.
For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

Secretary of State Kate Brown Announces Measure Numbers for 2012 General Election

Published on July 31, 2012 in Ballot Initiatives, Elections, general election, Headlines, Secretary Brown and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

SALEM – Measure numbers have been assigned to the two legislative referrals from the 76th Legislative Assembly and the initiative petitions that have qualified for the November 6, 2012 General Election ballot. They are the following:

Measure #77 Amends Constitution: Governor may declare “catastrophic disaster” (defined); requires legislative session; authorizes suspending specified constitutional spending restrictions

Measure #78 Amends Constitution: Changes constitutional language describing governmental system of separation of powers; makes grammatical and spelling changes

Measure #79 Amends Constitution: Prohibits real estate transfer taxes, fees, other assessments, except those operative on December 31, 2009

Measure #80 Allows personal marijuana, hemp cultivation/use without license; commission to regulate commercial marijuana cultivation/sale

Measure #81 Prohibits commercial non-tribal fishing with gillnets in Oregon “inland waters,” allows use of seine nets

Measure #82 Amends Constitution: Authorizes Establishment of Privately-Owned Casinos; Mandates Percentage Of Revenues Payable To Dedicated State Fund

Measure #83 Authorizes Privately-Owned Wood Village Casino; Mandates Percentage Of Revenues Payable To Dedicated State Fund

Measure #84 Phases out existing inheritance taxes on large estates, and all taxes on intra-family property transfers

Measure #85 Amends Constitution: Allocates Corporate Income/Excise Tax “Kicker” Refund To Additionally Fund K Through 12 Public Education

For additional information, please visit our website at www.oregonvotes.gov or follow Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown on Twitter or Facebook.

For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

Audit Finds Prison Staffing is Generally Well Managed

Published on July 26, 2012 in Audits, Press Releases, Secretary Brown and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Department of Corrections scheduling and overtime minimizes state costs

The Secretary of State Audits Division released a report today that found overtime and personnel costs at two state prisons were generally well managed. The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) spent about $540 million during the 2009-2011 biennium for security personnel who directly supervise offenders. The 30-page audit analyzed security personnel costs at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and Two Rivers Correctional Institution, considering payroll, budgeting, staffing, scheduling, and accounting functions.

Auditors noted some areas where improvements may be possible, but did not identify substantial savings or inefficiencies in the management of overtime or personnel costs at the two correctional facilities.

“The Department of Corrections has done a good job of containing the costs to run these two prisons,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “The auditors went through several years of scheduling decisions with special attention to all the places where savings might be found.”

Auditors analyzed past payroll data to assess facility staffing and concluded the approved staffing factor was reasonable. Auditors also noted that furloughs may not achieve savings in a correctional environment and add administrative burdens. The audit also illustrates how overtime can reduce costs, if used effectively, since the cost of maintaining a higher overall staffing level can be more expensive than inconsistent overtime.

The report, including the agency response, can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits.

For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

Secretary of State Makes Recommendations to Better Manage Oregon’s 250+ Boards and Commissions

Published on June 27, 2012 in Audits, Press Releases and Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

SALEM – A state audit released today found Oregon lacks a clear and comprehensive structure for creating and managing its boards and commissions (boards). The report highlights some common risk factors faced by many boards and identifies opportunities to improve the governance and operations of boards to promote accountability and transparency.

“Boards play an important role in Oregon’s government,” says Secretary of State Kate Brown. “However, it is not always clear how these boards and their members are to be held accountable for fulfilling their missions and using state resources.”

Currently there are over 250 boards and most of the board members are appointed by the Governor. Accountability for the performance of those members and the boards they participate on can be improved and common risks can be addressed through clear management structures and appropriate training and oversight.

It is important for board members to understand their role in creating and upholding the agency’s system of internal controls. Without adequate controls and board oversight there is greater risk of theft, misappropriation, noncompliance and underperformance problems.

“I urge the Governor and the Legislature to closely review the recommendations and work together to better manage the activities and outcomes of all Oregon’s boards and commissions,” said Kate Brown. “These public entities can provide an important service to government, but must be properly managed.”

Auditors recommended the Governor expand training of board members, specifically in the areas of state rules and internal controls; improve oversight of and by board members, including handling complaints; and consider other states’ strategies and past efforts in Oregon to manage the creation and elimination of boards.

The report can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits.