Oregon Legal Research BlogLatest posts on the upcoming June 19th hearing in Salem:
1) From Wikiprojectoregon, Time to Get Political! (which also posts time/place of hearing)
2) Jack Bog’s Blog, State of Oregon as cyberbully
Articles Posted in State Government & Legal Resources
Published on:
Oregon Measure 53 (Civil Forfeiture) 6/13/08 Update
Seized-property measure in doubt: Votes too close to call, so a recount may decide issue, by Peter Wong • Statesman Journal:
“With fewer than 600 votes separating passage from failure, the state Elections Division has ordered a hand recount of the ballots cast in the May 20 primary for a statewide measure allowing police to retain some proceeds from seized property….” (full story)
Previous post here, with link to full text of Measure 53.
Published on:
Oregon Measure 53 Update
* From the Oregonian 6/6/08 Newsflash: Recount likely for Ore. Measure 53, civil forfeitures:
“SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A recount is likely for Measure 53, the statewide ballot measure to change civil forfeiture laws on property seized by police in Oregon.
As of Friday, Measure 53 was passing by 861 votes out of 975,000.
Published on:
Oregon Ballot Measures Archives Project
I’m thrilled to report on this story (librarians have weird wish-lists) from the Salem Statesman Journal:
Project seeks to gather history of Oregon measures
‘PORTLAND, Ore. — Within the marble walls of the State Archives Building, it’s all there—almost. Every word officially spoken by and to Oregon legislators since 1859 has been recorded, itemized and stored.But something is missing, and the Ballot Measure Archives Project hopes to help plug the hole, the paper trail left by Oregon’s other lawmakers — the citizens, who have passed laws and amended the state constitution through the initiative system since 1904. “The Ballot Measure Archive Project is arguably a political version of the Human Genome Project,” said donor and supporter Phil Keisling, a former secretary of state who recently turned over his collection from the 1998 initiative he promoted that created Oregon’s vote-by-mail system.Keisling said he’s encouraged by the progress so far and hopes others with old boxes of ballot-measure campaign documents will make them available for historians, researchers and others….’ (link to full story)
Published on:
Trimet Loses Free Speech Case: Commercial and Political Ad Protections in Oregon
1) ACLU of Oregon story (and links)
2) Oregonlive stories:
a) Trimet loses free speech case (includes link to opinion):
Published on:
Sansone v Gordon: Medical Marijuana and Concealed Handgun Licenses (CHLs)
Re: Sansone v. Gordon, Washington County (Oregon) Circuit Court Case No. C073809CV
“County to appeal decision allowing medical pot users to carry concealed weapons,” Friday, May 30, 2008, by Kurt Eckert:
“Next week, Washington County commissioners will consider filing an appeal to lift the haze over defining the right of Oregon medical marijuana users to possess concealed weapons.
Published on:
Oregon Estate Planning Laws: 2007-08 Updates
The latest section newsletter from the Estate Planning and Administration section of the Oregon State Bar (OSB) includes the following articles. (Only past issues are online, but you can contact your nearest law school or county law library (see sidebar for links) and ask to see a copy.)
1) “Changes to the Oregon Uniform Trust Code,” by Christopher Cline.
2) “2008 Special Legislative Sesion Establishes Farming, Forestry, and Fishing Inheritance Tax Credit,” (HB 3201, history, and HB 3618, property definitions clarified), by Jeffrey Cheyne.
Published on:
Oregon Revised Statute error/correction: 2007 ORS 680.505
The print 2007 ORS has a printing error affecting §ORS 680.505.
The online version or the ORS has been corrected. Legislative Counsel has a PDF document with the correct text that can be inserted into the 21-volume print set.
In case you were wondering, yes, these things do happen, which is why one should usually take a quick look, or a longer one as the case may be, at the session law, at least in those instances where something doesn’t seem quite right about the code.
Published on:
Oregon Revised Statutes Copyright Dispute: June 19th Hearing
June 19th, 2008, hearing in Salem, on this copyright dispute. (I last posted about this dispute here.) No details yet about time, where, or who.
Letter here (via Public Resource dot org).
SCRIBD documents on this matter are located in this Scribd group, also courtesy of Public Resource dot org.
Published on:
Oregon Revised Statutes Copyright Dispute: The Copyright Comic Book (and a few more side dishes)
If you are following this dispute (and I last posted about it here), you might want to do a little reading about copyright, the history of commercial and official legal publishing, and vendor neutral citation (yes, all of these are entertwined) – unless you want to sound ill-informed (or worse) when you Comment about the issue on the various blogs and news sites that are running stories about this dispute.
1) For fun, start with Bound by Law, the copyright comic book by Keith Aoki, James Boyle, and Jennifer Jenkins.
2) A very interesting, provocative, and readable article: “Neutral Citation, Court Web Sites, and Access to Authoritative Case Law, by Peter Martin, 99 Law Library Journal 339 (Spring 2007) will give you an idea how much and how long these issues have been debated. (Quite a few of the articles in this issue are equally provocative, including an update to one of my favorites: “Why Do We Ask the Same Questions: The Triple Helix Dilemma Revisited,” by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic.)