Governance
February 28, 2022 - Week 4
Back to full Legislative Report
by Norman Turrill, Governance Coordinator, and Team
Cybersecurity and Privacy (Becky Gladstone)
The League strongly urged for two dying cybersecurity bills. Each passed from committee with no opposition after extensive collaboration. Does this affect you? Think of your ATM, internet, cell service, passwords, elections, air traffic control, etc. Think of Oregon when cyber attacks are traced to Russia. Coalitions are forming for 2023, aware that we all may deeply regret delays.
HB 4155: the cybersecurity omnibus bill, with League support that we are not protected.
With active cyber-attacks from known “bad actors” against Ukraine, we urge MOST STRONGLY for support of this cybersecurity omnibus bill. We are appalled that it has not been scheduled to move forward, with extensive collaboration and no opposition. Oregonians and our “critical infrastructure”, anything connected digitally, are not adequately protected.
HB 4017: Despite LWVOR support, progress looks grim for the AG’s Data Broker Registry bill. See past Legislative Reports.
HB 4092, for statewide broadband expansion with LWVOR support, returned to full W&Ms.
HB 4133 passed in Senate Rules on a partisan vote of 3 to 2, to align paper and online voter registration and to allow registered 3rd parties to facilitate online voter registration. See League support.
HB 4144: We commented further in Senate Rules on Feb 28, for election worker security (League testimony). A coalition has already formed for the next session.
SB 1527 A passed in House Rules, 6 to 1, is now referred to the House floor. It references “secrecy envelopes” and revises elections recount timing. See League support.
HB 4114: This official records confidentiality bill, despite being scheduled for a public hearing and work session on Feb. 28 in Senate Rules, will be punted to interim work for 2023, and the League is already informally invited.
Campaign Finance Reform (Norman Turrill)
As the end of session approaches, nothing is currently happening on campaign finance reform in the legislature.
As expected, members of Our Oregon and the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce appealed ballot titles of initiative petitions 43, 44 and 45 to the Oregon Supreme Court. Their purpose seems more about delaying the signature gathering than about arguing the wording of the ballot title, since they assert that the court should not rule on the ballot titles because of the Secretary of State’s disqualification of all three initiatives on procedural grounds.
Redistricting (Norman Turrill)
The People Not Politicians coalition is still continuing with IP 34, and it is now waiting on the ballot title appeal by its opponents to the Oregon Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court rules soon, that should allow enough time to collect the 150,000 valid signatures that must be delivered to the Secretary of State by July 8.
Rights of Incarcerated People (Marge Easley & Jaime Carleton)
SB 1584 A defines the criteria for a wrongful conviction determination and establishes a procedure for allocating compensation. The bill passed out of the Public Safety Subcommittee on February 22 and unanimously passed the full W&Ms on February 24. It sets a restitution cap of $65,000 for every year of incarceration and $25,000 for every year of parole or probation, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment. It also orders the court to award punitive damages not to exceed $100,000 for the initial payment and the remainder awarded as an annuity not to exceed $80,000 per year.