2005-02-09 Alert

Legislative Update

Dear OCVA Members & Friends:

Things are happening quickly in Salem - and so far it's all been good news on issues of high interest to us. We now have THREE bills in the works to reform ORS-195 the way we want, plus two for SDC reform. WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW TO MOVE THESE! Summaries of the bills and contact information follows:

SB-380 (ORS 195 Reform): Still sitting in the Senate Environment & Land Use Committee. Action: Contact committee chair Senator Charlie Ringo and ask that the bill be given a hearing. Contact information for all the Legislators mentioned in this alert is included at the end.

HB-2484 (House companion bill): Just assigned to the House Land Use Committee where we believe we have three of the necessary 4 votes to move it. Action: WE NEED EVERYONE TO CONTACT THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS - Especially Reps. Nolan, Anderson and Smith to express support for the bill and ask that it be given a hearing. And, if you feel like it, call Rep. Minnis and thank her for acting on our request to assign the bill to a committee. She's likely to be an opponent when it gets to the trenches - maybe a little kindness on our part might sway her. We need to remember to thank those legislators who respond to our requests and issues!

SB-491 (ORS 195 & 222 Reform): New bill from some of the same sponsors as the others plus other legislators. Also addresses some of the current "no vote" provisions of ORS-222. Sitting on Senate President Peter Courtney's desk. We're going to watch to see if this one gets a committee assignment soon and will let you know if we need to apply pressure. Right now the other two ORS-195 bills are top priority.

SB-307 (SDC reform): Still in the Senate Environment & Land Use Committee. Action: Contact the committee chair Sen. Charlie Ringo and ask that the bill be given a hearing.

HB-2523 (House companion bill sponsored by Reps Greenlick & Avakian and Senators C. Starr and Ringo. Sitting on Speaker Minnis' Desk. Action: Contact Rep. Karen Minnis and ask that the bill be assigned to a committee and given a hearing.

Contact Information (Save for future reference)

The email addresses for all legislators are in the format rep.fullname@state.or.us or sen.fullname@state.or.us. Examples: rep.robertackerman@state.or.us or sen.charlieringo@state.or.us Note no space between first and last names!

Mailing addresses are:

Room #
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301

Room & phone numbers are provided below:

House Land Use Committee

• Rep. Bill Garrard, Chair         H-384 503-986-1456
• Rep. Robert Ackerman             H-389 503-986-1413
• Rep. Mitch Greenlick             H-393 503-986-1433
• Rep. Gordon Anderson             H-284 503-986-1403
• Rep. Mary Nolan                  H-486 503-986-1436
• Rep. Patti Smith                 H-276 503-986-1452
• Rep. Mac Sumner                  H-478 503-986-1418

Senate Environment & Land Use Committee

• Sen. Charlie Ringo, Chair        S-318 503-986-1717
• Sen. Jason Atkinson              S-216 503-986-1702
• Sen. Roger Beyer                 S-217 503-986-1709
• Sen. Ginny Burdick               S-317 503-986-1718
• Sen. Frank Shields               S-309 503-986-1724

• House Spkr Rep. Karen Minnis:    S-269 503-986-1200
• Senate Pres. Peter Courtney:     S-203 503-986-1600

As always, the guidelines are to make your message short and to the point. Again, it's NUMBERS of contacts that will make the difference! If there is more than one person in your household, have each one make a contact. If asked, "are you a constituent?," the reply should be, "YES because this issue affects ALL Oregonians!"

It's still early in the game and there's a lot of work to do - NOW. and a lot MORE later! And the "other shoe" in the form of directly competing bills is bound to drop soon. SO - Spread the word far and wide and LET'S DO IT!

Jerry Ritter

Secretary, OCVA

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This page last modified on 2005-11-16 08:29.