February 23, 2023

Law Improvement Bills Move Through First Chamber

This session the Oregon State Bar submitted eight bills for consideration to the Oregon Legislature.  The bills, split equally between the House and Senate, each received a public hearing and work session in the respective Judiciary Committees. As of February 21, 2023, all eight bar bills have passed out of the first chamber.

The four House bills:

• • House Bill 2324 comes from the Appellate Practice Section. The bill passed the House 57-0-2 and is expected to be scheduled for a Public Hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • House Bill 2325 comes from the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors. The bill passed the House 49-8-2 and is currently scheduled for a Work Session in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • House Bill 2329 comes from the Elder Law Section. The bill passed the House 57-0-2 and has a work session scheduled in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • House Bill 2330 comes from the Debtor-Creditor Section. The bill passed the House 56-1-2 and is expected to be scheduled for a Public Hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The four Senate bills:

• • Senate Bill 306 A comes from the Oregon State Bar Board of Governors. The bill, as amended, passed the Senate 27-3 and is awaiting assignment to committee in the House.
  • Senate Bill 307 comes from the Consumer Law Section. The bill passed the Senate 25-3-2 and is current assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
  • Senate Bill 308 A comes from the Estate Planning and Administration Section. The bill passed the Senate 30-0.
  • Senate Bill 309 comes from the Estate Planning and Administration Section. The bill passed the Senate 26-2-2.

Thank you to the OSB Section and BOG volunteers for traveling to Salem to testify in support of the bar’s Law Improvement Bills!

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Oregon Judicial Department Submits Five Bills for Consideration

The Oregon Judicial Department (OJD), as the third branch of government, has the opportunity to submit five bills each biennium to the Oregon Legislature. This year OJD’s bills address a variety of concepts, from judicial compensation, to collection of demographic data.

• • Senate Bill 233 – Salaries to attract and retain highly-qualified judges. Currently assigned to the Senate Rules Committee.
  • Senate Bill 234 – Collect demographic data to identify disparate justice outcomes. Passed out of the Senate on a 20-10 vote and is scheduled for a First Reading in the House.
  • Senate Bill 235 – Add judicial positions to provide timely access to justice. Passed out of Senate Judiciary and is currently assigned to the Joint Ways and Means Committee.
  • House Bill 2224 – Pay jurors more than $10 per day to keep democracy strong. A public hearing was held in the House Judiciary Committee on February 8, 2023.
  • House Bill 2225 – Court efficiencies and housekeeping changes. A Public Hearing and Work Session was held in the House Judiciary Committee.  The bill moved out of committee on a 9-0-1 vote.

In addition, the Oregon Judicial Department has also submitted a budget bill, Senate Bill 5512. SB 5512 is expected to receive a public hearing in March.

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Senate and House Judiciary Committee Membership

House Judiciary Committee

• • Representative Jason Kropf – Chair
  • Representative Tom Andersen – Vice Chair
  • Representative Kim Wallan – Vice Chair
  • Representative Janelle Bynum
  • Representative Farrah Chaichi
  • Representative Charlie Conrad
  • Representative Rick Lewis
  • Representative Lily Morgan
  • Representative Lisa Reynolds
  • Representative Thuy Tran

Senate Judiciary Committee

• • Senator Floyd Prozanski – Chair
  • Senator Kim Thatcher – Vice Chair
  • Senator Sara Gelser Blouin
  • Senator Dennis Linthicum
  • Senator James Manning Jr.

Joint Ways and Means Committee, Public Safety Subcommittee

• • Senator Janeen Sollman – Co-Chair
  • Representative Paul Evans – Co-Chair
  • Senator Chris Gorsek
  • Senator David Brock Smith
  • Representative Dacia Grayber
  • Representative Jeffrey Helfrich
  • Representative Rick Lewis
  • Representative Daniel Nguyen

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2023 Legislative Session Measure Introduction Deadline

With a few exceptions, February 21, 2023 is the measure introduction deadline for legislators to submit new legislative concepts for consideration. While bills may be amended to add, subtract, or modify language after the twenty-first, for the most part, the bills that are posted in the Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS) are the bills that will be considered this session.

This session, similar to years past, proposed legislation runs the gamut of topics.  A few of the bills that may be of particular interest to bar members are listed below.

• • House Bill 2578 – Directs Department of Human Services to establish, by rule, continuing education requirements for mandatory abuse reporters.
  • Senate Bill 619 – Permits consumers to obtain from a controller that processes consumer personal data confirmation as to whether controller is processing consumer’s personal data and categories of personal data controller is processing, list of specific third parties to which controller has disclosed consumer’s personal data and copy of all of consumer’s personal data that controller has processed or is processing.

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Oregon State Bar and the Legislative Process 

Oregon State Bar Public Affairs is available to assist Oregon State Bar sections and committees track proposed legislation. If a section or committee identifies specific bills to follow, please contact Sara Doherty in Public Affairs at [email protected], to ensure that legislation is included in a section’s bill-tracking list.

As bills are introduced, Public Affairs reviews the proposed legislation and refer specific bills to groups that may be interested in the subject. Throughout the session, a section or committee’s legislative contact will likely receive periodic emails from Public Affairs notifying him or her of bills that might interest the group.

Once a section or committee has identified bills to follow, those bills will be input into the group’s bill-tracking page. Each group has its own page on the Public Affairs Department’s webpage. This will enable each group to receive updates and to review changes to any legislation that a group has expressed an interest in following.

If you have any questions about proposed legislation, do not hesitate to reach out to Public Affairs.

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