Governance

Since this was a short session things seemed to move quickly. In the beginning there seemed to be adequate notice on hearings and bills to be heard, changing as the session progressed.

An amazingly historic thing happened with campaign finance reform as explained here in the Capital Chronicle.

During the 2/29 public hearing on the -3 amendment to this placeholder bill, HB 4024, good government groups severely criticized the amendment for leaving huge loopholes for special interest organizations to still make 6-figure campaign contributions.

A placeholder bill, HB 4024, is being pressed into service from unusual partners, labor (which is otherwise promoting IP 42 against IP 9), and business.

SB 1538 is an election law clean-up bill that makes many changes, was amended in several details and passed out of the Senate Rules Committee on 2/15.

For the first week of session, this news includes committee bills we’re working on / watching and news from the quarterly EPAB Meeting.

The Interim Senate Rules and Executive Appointments Committee met 1/10/24 and introduced three legislative concepts (LCs) for the Public Records Advisory Council (PRAC) to study public records requests fees charged (LC 196); make youth sporting events grants available (LC 195); and to make many changes in an election law clean-up bill (LC 194).

The LWV of Oregon has endorsed and is actively circulating IP 9 on Campaign Finance and IP 14 on Redistricting.

The LWV of Oregon has endorsed and is actively circulating IP 9 on Campaign Finance and IP 14 on Redistricting. We urge you to download, print, sign and return petitions by mail from Honest Elections for IP 9 and People Not Politicians for IP 14.

In the final days of the legislative session only one bill, SB 166, the SoS’s omnibus elections bill, passed that included any campaign finance provisions.

In the final days of the Legislative session, only one bill, SB 166 Enrolled, passed that included many subjects.

The OR Senate walkout from May 3 finally ended on June 15, with a quorum present. 394 bill actions were scheduled including 40 from the House, which suspended rules to increase by 10. 144 bills have already been signed by the Governor.

The June 8 House Rules Committee finally saw some CFR action, starting at ~1:20 in the video. Speaker Rayfield’s staff explained some history, concepts, and complications of crafting a CFR bill.

Hopes for breaking the Senate walkout logjam seem slim, now in the sixth week. The singular focus on HB 2002 is likely to kill many critical bills as processing time vanishes, including critical cybersecurity bills carried over from 2022.

Sine die is technically imminent as the Speaker invoked House Rule 8.15(6) and the Senate President, Senate Rule 8.16 on May 23, a full month before the projected final session date, June 25.

No bills on campaign finance have yet been scheduled for a hearing. However, there has been some movement behind the scenes about what could be passed during this session.

It appears to this reporter that the Oregon legislative session could effectively be over. Several Republican Senators will soon run out of their 9 allowed unexcused absences, but several others will alternate with them to deny a quorum in the Senate for a few more days or a week.

Republican Senators walked out (press), citing bill summary readability; see the Flesch Kincaid Calculator. The walkout prevents a required quorum and delays progress for divisive gun safety and healthcare bills.

IP 9 petition cover and signature sheets are being prepared for signature gathering. The League supports IP 9 as a Chief Petitioner.

The SoS elections bill (SB 167) pushed for overdue software updates.

Bills are appearing fresh here, including some we missed in the first chamber.

We spoke to the SoS’s budget bill this week. We’re following the progress of numerous cybersecurity and public records bills.

The League was able to give verbal testimony (at minute 33) for HB 2004, regarding Ranked Choice Voting.

HB 2345-1, which mandates that reasonable efforts will be made to limit the length of time an incarcerated person can remain in segregated housing (solitary confinement), is scheduled for a work session on April 3.

Another Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) bill was added to the March 16 House Rules hearing.

Two major bills passing unanimously in 2022 committees, failing to progress, are moving in 2023. SB 619, for Consumer Data Privacy had a public hearing and the cyber bill, HB 2049, is in W&Ms. Public records, judiciary, and privacy bills are moving.

House Speaker Rayfield submitted a new bill at the request of Governor Kotek on campaign contribution limits, HB 3455. Analysis has shown that this bill is very similar to Rayfield’s previous bill, HB 2003, and bills from previous sessions, with the same gaping loopholes for special interest groups.

Numerous promising bills mentioned in hearings will probably pop up for first public hearings shortly. Watch the legislative calendar for bill processing deadlines.

The Oregon Election Reform Coalition has filed an initiative by the same name (now IP 19). It’s an open primaries proposal using a ‘Final Five’ system similar to the Alaska model, as well as other reform features.

Both SB 804 by Senator Manning and SB 499 by Senator Weber would move the Presidential Primary to Super Tuesday. Things are in the works now to merge these two bills into one.

The People Not Politicians coalition, in which the LWV of Oregon is a leader, now has an office in Wilsonville and a campaign manager. It will circulate only IP 14 (only legislative redistricting) and will begin collecting petition signatures probably in February.

The People Not Politicians coalition, in which the LWV of Oregon is a leader, has now decided to circulate only IP 14 (only legislative redistricting) and to begin collecting petition signatures probably in February.

Two major bills that passed unanimously from committees in 2022 and failed to progress will now be moving in 2023. 

Work continued over holidays with the DoR (Dept of Revenue) ORMAP’s Land Information System OAR and Cybersecurity Working Group. See earlier reports for previous intersession work including the AG’s data privacy progress and numerous elections bills.