Published on:

By

While searching for recent 2011 Oregon bills, I found a glitch in their search engine. The bill I knew existed wasn’t showing up, no matter what word or number I used to search for it. I double-checked (against the actual bill) and triple-checked by asking colleagues to see if the problem was me rather than the database. It wasn’t me.

The lesson here is: Be careful about relying solely on the Oregon Legislative bill searching utility, Ultraseek. (You can also reach this search engine from the Legislature’s website. Then, click on Bills/Law, and then click on the year you want to search – and then “Search the bills and laws.”)

Keep in mind also that Ultraseek is not an exception to any search engine reliability rule – and it’s actually not too bad as these sorts of free search engines go. The problem exists for all search engines (and databases); they are all flawed (e.g. Google isn’t perfect either –aren’t you shocked, shocked?!)

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

If you saw the Oregonian story (or in other news sources):

“John Doe’ faces deportation after serving sentence for stealing slain Ohio boy’s name,“ January 28, 2011, by Bryan Denson, you might have read this part of the article:

“…. His fraud was uncovered last year when agents of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service ran a data search of passport applications against the names and identifications of deceased citizens. The ongoing probe, known as Operation Death Match, spit out the name Jason Robert Evers, which ultimately lead them to Krastev….” (Link to full article.)

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

The Willamette Week has an article about the Oregon Single Payer Health Care Conference, to be held Saturday, January 29, 2010:

Coverage for All: Is Single-Payer Health Care the Cure for Oregon?, by Stacy Brownhill:

“State Rep. Michael Dembrow wants to establish in Oregon what the White House and Congress couldn’t do in last year’s healthcare reform effort: single-payer health care.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

You can view the 2011 State of Judiciary presentation by Chief Justice Paul J. De Muniz at the OJD website. And you can read the transcript, too.

If the State of the Courts Addresses link does not work, you can also link to it from the OJD News webpage (and then click on What’s New). You’ll see the link to the 1/25/11 presentation by the Chief Justice to the City Club of Salem.

Some legal-research and access to justice related highlights from the Chief Justice’s speech:

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

I heard a provocative, and wonderful, interview (with Frances Kissling) on the radio the other day, at On Being, the Krista Tippett radio program that is broadcast on OPB Radio on Sunday evenings, from 7-8 p.m.

I almost turned the radio off, not being much in the mood for “yet another” abortion debate. But then I started listening – and I’m so glad I did.

Listening Beyond Life and Choice: You can read the transcript of the interview or listen to it via download, podcast, and “listen now,” from the On Being website.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

We’ve been working with AALL-SCCLL members to update a state-county law library organization and funding grid, but we are still missing feedback from librarians in several states. If you have reason to think the information in the following grid is incorrect for your state, or if you know there is a more accurate way to describe the situation, please let me know:

Washington County (Oregon) Law Library, About County Law Libraries, and click on “1) DRAFT ….”

You can add a Comment to this blog post or email lawlibrary@co.washington.or.us

Thank you!

By
Posted in: Libraries
Published on:
Updated:
Published on:

By

Multnomah County Library’s “Conversation Project” (“[t]his series is part of a statewide humanities program that promotes thoughtful discussions about important ideas.”) covers some interesting topics, including this one:

The Voters Have Spoken: Oregon’s Controversial Ballot Initiatives, with Jackson Miller, Saturday, March 19, 2–3 p.m. (Troutdale Library)

Published on:

By

In these opening days of the 2011 Oregon Legislative Session, a reminder is in order, especially for people who know they will likely have to compile a legislative history one of these days:

Public records laws, open secrets policies, public meetings laws are all well and good – and you can see Oregon’s Public Records and Public Meetings Manuals posted at the Department of Justice website – but what do you do if you need a legislative history of a law, including its public hearings?

People use their public law libraries and the State Archives (in Salem) every day to research legislative histories of Oregon laws.

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

Public Printer Bill Boarman has named Mary Alice Baish Assistant Public Printer, Superintendent of Documents, for the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO).

A proud day for all law librarians! Mary Alice Baish, formerly Director of Government Relations for the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), is a great friend to public librarians, too.

You can read the GPO press release or link to the story at the Law Librarian Blog:

Continue reading →
Published on:

By

One of our local attorneys and I have been having a conversation about effective dates of ballot measures. Effective dates for ballot measures are different from the constitutional and statutory ones for statutes that are enacted by the Oregon Legislative Assembly.

The Oregon Constitution, Article IV, Section 1 (4)(d) says:

“… Notwithstanding section 1, Article XVII of this Constitution, an initiative or referendum measure becomes effective 30 days after the day on which it is enacted or approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon. A referendum ordered by petition on a part of an Act does not delay the remainder of the Act from becoming effective….”

One could wonder what “the day on which it is enacted or approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon” means. Is it the date of the election or the date of the certification or the date of a ballot recount, if there is one? Not to over-think it, which lawyers (and law librarians) do all the time, common sense says that it is the date of the election, assuming the measure passed.

To confirm this, I wandered here and there online (it’s too soon for the Measure in question to be anywhere in print given that it passed just last November), from the Legislature’s website to the Secretary of State, Elections Division, website, and beyond, to no avail.

My next starting point became the blog post I wrote back in 2007: Effective Dates of (Oregon) Legislation

Continue reading →
Contact Information
The information provided on the Oregon Legal Research website and blog is for research purposes only. We do not provide legal advice, nor do we endorse any person, product, or company

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2015 – 2025, Oregon Legal Research
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design