Knopp bill would bar, refund fines for COVID-19 violations if no outbreak results

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – State Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, has introduced legislation to bar and rescind any fines or civil penalties for businesses that violate Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 executive orders, if the violation did not lead to an outbreak of the virus.

Senate Bill 738, currently before the Senate Committee on Health Care, refers to the definition of "disease outbreak" as outlined in ORS 431A.005, which states: "a significant or notable increase in the number of cases of a disease or other condition of public health importance."

Currently, 88 businesses around the state have been fined by Oregon OSHA, ranging from $100 to $15,000, because of regulations imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Knopp said in a newsletter Monday to his constituents.

And yet, Knopp wrote, "little evidence suggests that businesses are a main source of transmission."

“The data suggests that places of business are not a major source of virus transmission,” Knopp said. “Our employers and those who rely on them for their livelihoods have sacrificed a lot over the last year. We don’t need to be adding to their burden by imposing unnecessary fines that have no basis in the data.”

“We need businesses to bounce back and start hiring those who are struggling to make ends meet,” the lawmaker continued. “If the business was not responsible for any COVID-19 outbreak, they should not be fined. Period.

"The policies we make should be rooted in data and science," Knopp said, calling his bill "a great way to utilize the data we have collected throughout this pandemic to give people relief and help them recover.”