Articles Posted in State Government & Legal Resources

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If you want or need to track Oregon consumer law legislation, here are two recent bills that may be of interest. And, here is the press release: Senate votes to strengthen Oregon’s Lemon Law, another tool for tracking legislation (and part of a law’s legislative history, though who knows if copies of the press releases are always put in the bill files).

SB 515 (html or PDF): “Changes period in which remedy is available to consumer for motor vehicle that does not conform to manufacturer’s warranty.”

HB 2268 (html or PDF): “Requires vehicle repair shop to prepare estimate of work that vehicle repair shop proposes to perform on motor vehicle before beginning work. Specifies contents of estimate. Requires vehicle repair shop to obtain separate, specific authorization for certain types of work if work is estimated to cost motor vehicle owner or owner’s designee more than $200.”

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Today’s Oregonian has an editorial by Oregon Senator Bonamici and Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish about Senate Bill: 2009 SB 952 (A-Engrossed) in PDF or HTML:

Excerpt from the editorial: Renters, too, can face the hit of foreclosure:

“Losing a home to foreclosure can be devastating. Typically, homeowners come to mind when we think of foreclosure. But the fact is, many foreclosed properties are places that renters call home, too….
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The Oregon Legislature is working on Senate Bill 952 to protect tenants whose homes are in danger of foreclosure. This bill would require that in addition to the property owner, tenants be provided with foreclosure notice. Tenants without a lease would receive 30 days notice. Tenants with a lease would receive up to 60 days notice. SB 952 also protects tenants’ security deposits, requiring that landlords in foreclosure apply the deposit toward rent. The bill gives tenants time to look for a new home and save money for expenses….” (read full editorial)

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In our continued exploration of the Oregon Legislature, in particular the information on their website, don’t forget the Committee Services webpages. Click on Committee Services Publications for, among other things, previous session summaries. You can find full session publications or view these reports section by section, e.g. 2008 Judiciary.

These and other useful publications are from the Legislative Administration Services Committee Office. (I last blogged about them when reporting on the demise of the legislative minutes.)

Lawyers, and their clients, and law librarians, live in the present, future, and especially in the past – seriously. There is a reason we need to keep superseded laws, regulations, and rules in our libraries, many of which are “out of print” and not online, so we are thrilled to see “retrospective conversion” digitization projects going on.

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One day I’m going to blog about the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of legal research, though I’ll put it more in terms of the Expensive, the Impossible, and the Obscure. For now, I’ll limit myself to writing about The Boring, but Necessary: Court Rules (which have nothing to do with the popular saying, “Librarians Rule” 🙂

Court Rules run the gamut from the statewide Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure and Uniform Trial Court Rules and more, all of which you can find at the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) website, under Court Rules.

There are also local court rules, which include the Supplementary Local Rules (SLRs) and General Orders. The SLRs can be found at your Circuit Court’s website.

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A 2009 HB 2620 to rewrite the Oregon Constitution has been introduced, by Representative Chuck Riley:

A summary from the Legislature (html or pdf):

“Provides for constitutional convention in 2011. Establishes qualifications for delegates, number of delegates and manner of electing delegates. Requires that chairperson of convention certify proposed Constitution to Secretary of State no later than August 26, 2011. Requires that Secretary of State submit proposed constitution to people for approval or rejection at special election to be held on November 8, 2011.

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Give a big welcome to a (relatively) new entrant in the Oregon legal research database field of players: Oregon Laws dot org. It’s a legal research database designed and powered by law students (our future!). I like it so far – and its associated blog too.

The owners solicit feedback, which I’m sure they’ll get from law librarians on issues of authentication, PURLs, archives, and more – oh my (law librarians always have something to say, and we’re always glad to see new entries into the Legal Information to the Public arena).

Lawyers might have other things to add, including our friends at PLoL and Justia and Public Resource, all very public spirited, like librarians.

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Update: In case you haven’t heard (anyone?), the Oregon Courts will remain open on Fridays, except for Friday, March 13th, 2009. Stories about this are at all news outlets, radio, TV, newspaper, and online.

See the Legislature’s press release about this good news.

This good news also means regular access to county law libraries located in courthouses. Those of us not located in courthouses had planned to stay open despite the other closings.

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So, how do you find out if a bill has become a law or where it is in the legislative process?

With the Oregon Legislature in session now, take this opportunity to explore the Legislature’s online resources for bill-tracking. It may be more interesting than you expect!

If this sounds familiar, it is. I’ve blogged several times about the legislative process, most recently here. But the more people who learn about law-making, the more people will participate in the process and the less likely we will have problems like this:

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Legal research is seldom quick and easy, but it sure is interesting. If you are at all inclined to dip your toe(s) into the Oregon Legislative process, here’s one way to start. Let’s say you want more information about a bill that was mentioned in a recent news story. I use one bill number for an example, but there are thousands more to choose from!

Re: 2009 HB 2537: Relating to powers of attorney; creating new provisions; amending ORS 93.670, 125.445 and 125.710; and repealing ORS 127.005,127.015, 127.025, 127.035 and 127.045.

1) Visit the Oregon Legislature’s 2009 Laws/Bills pages to track down the full text of this bill in PDF or HTML.

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Links to Previous Bites can be found here at, “Oregon Consitution in Small Bites: So Far“

Today: Oregon Constitution in Small Bites: Bite #15 (Article IV, Legislative Department, Sections 7-9) copied from this version at the Oregon Legislature’s website)

ARTICLE IV
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

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