This story in the Statesman Journal is accompanied by a list of the bills “In the Pipeline,” “Still Brewing,” and “In Limbo or Dead”:
Measure 57 key to ending the 2009 session, Issue keeps budgets of public-safety agencies in limbo, by Peter Wong • Statesman Journal, June 21, 2009.
Landlord-Tenant Law and Legislation:
Sleepy radio listeners have long muttered “WHAT hour?” at radio announcers who say, “it is 10 minutes past the hour.” (Would it be so hard to say, it is 10 minutes past 7 a.m. in San Francisco? Public radio listeners are smart enough to figure out what time it is then in Indianapolis. Radio announcers also play this game with the stock market. “The Dow Jones went up 13 points today.” TO WHAT, pray tell?!)
And newspaper readers (especially lawyers and law librarians) have long muttered, “WHICH statute?” at newspaper reporters who write, “a 1999 statute ….” WHICH STATUTE?!
Recent stories in the newspapers keep saying, “a 1999 statute” changed the law in Oregon [about religion as a defense when parents withhold medical treatment from their child] without otherwise identifying WHICH statute. For the record: it is this statute:
Cutting public sector budgets is a complex enterprise. Sometime cutting $$ out of a budget means cutting 2, 3, or 20 times the original $$ cut, e.g. when you cut a budget item and lose the matching funds or when you cut “officers of the state” positions (e.g. state police or state park rangers) and lose the revenue from licenses or law enforcement.
Sometimes it makes sense to spend money to make money, which can work in the public sector the same way this works in the private sector. For example:
Oregon has a variety of county, municipal, and justice courts. And now it has a new county justice court. Read the online Blue Book entry on justice court judges (or follow the OJD link). You can also read the state statutes on Justice Court: ORS, Chapter 51.010 et seq.
Clackamas County’s new Justice Court has a new Justice of the Peace: Oregon City attorney named Clackamas County judge, by Steve Mayes, The Oregonian, Monday June 15, 2009.
In Oregon, SHIBA, for Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance, assists Medicare beneficiaries and those going into Medicare through all the hoops of Medicare and the options that can lower out of pocket expenses for health care. Staffed by highly trained volunteers supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as well as State Department of Human Services, they are available for one on one consultation, group presentations and classes to help people make informed decisions.
To find a SHIBA volunteer in your area, call the Oregon State SHIBA Office: 1-800-772-4134.
Liz alerts me to the Oregonlive Track a Bill service. For the average Jo(e), it sure is easier to use (though not more comprehensive) than the Legislature’s (official) bill tracking webpages, though the Oregonlive service will be around only as long as Oregonlive is around, which is why librarians want governments to preserve and protect government information on government websites. This too is an imperfect system, but for different reasons – elections!
In any event, take a look at the website, OregonLive Your Government and the Track a Bill slice. Interesting and educational.
You can read more about tracking Oregon legislation from this OLR post.
Non-attorney Oregon legal researchers frequently overlook Oregon attorney-general opinions. Not every legal problem will require a search of attorney general opinions, but you don’t want to miss this research resource when it is relevant. (Other states also have AG opinions, and so does the U.S.)
There are a number of ways to find relevant AG opinions, using the Annotation volume of the ORS, an online legal research database that has the AG opinions, a citator, or by looking at the Oregon Attorney General (AG) Opinions website, which has opinions from 1997 to the present:
“The opinions fall into two broad categories, formal and informal opinions. Formal opinions are signed by the Attorney General as chief legal officer of the State and typically respond to questions concerning constitutional issues and other matters of statewide concern. Informal opinions are issued on matters less likely to impact those other than the requestor and are signed by the Chief Counsel of the Department of Justice General Counsel Division. The informal opinions can be distinguished from the formal opinions through their designation. Informal opinions appear in the subject index as, for example, 1997-1. Formal opinions appear as, for example, 8246.” (link to AG website)
It’s hard to keep up with all the new laws coming out of Salem. Here’s a news story from KOHD News describing how Governor Kulongoski signed 24 bills into law on June 2, 2009 – just try reading those in one day!
You can find other bills signed into law at the Governor’s website.
Find other Oregon Legal Research blog posts about Legislation by clicking on keywords in the side-bar’s LABELS list.
WisLaw blog reports on BillFinder, a free service from StateScape. Whether you’re reading, drafting, tracking, or merely surfing new legislation, it’s a powerful little tool, for no cost. Amazing.
Try it out: BillFinder
“Oregon AG Public Records and Meetings Manual” and Superseded ORSs
My Oregon public law librarian “Please, sir, I want some more” Wish List is not long:
1) Superseded Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS). Is there a reason why the Legislature cannot put the superseded ORSs on the Legislature’s Bills and Laws website? Do they know how important superseded statutes, laws, and calendars are to lawyers (and to their clients)? They (superseded ORSs) are priceless! Ask any lawyer, especially after Gaines.
This is the time of year when we start getting questions from people wanting the 2009 Oregon statutes or laws.
This is also the time of year when we explain:
1) The 2009 Oregon Legislature is still in session and unless there is a serious emergency requiring immediate legislative action, no 2009 Oregon legislation will have an effective date (click on Other Information) before July 1, 2009 and likely not before January 1, 2010:
Oregon Legal Research Blog