OCRA

Legislative Update

Legislative Committee Update – August/September

Carol Studenmund

Like many bills in the Oregon legislature this session, our Senate Bill 409 died a quiet death near the end of the term. This bill would have required a live certified reporter to be assigned to all death penalty cases heard in Oregon courts. SB 409 made its way through the Senate successfully, and ended up moving out of the House Judiciary Committee with a do-pass recommendation, with a great deal of support by many members of the House. After leaving the House Judiciary Committee, it went to the Joint Ways and Means committee, where it died its quiet death due to a lack of money.

Our committee worked hard to help pass this bill. The Oregon District Attorneys Association supported SB 409, as did the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. But the Chief Justice’s budget was very low on money, and our bill gasped its last breath in late June.

Our committee plans to communicate with the State Court Administrator’s office to see what we should do in the 2013 session about this issue. Yes, the Oregon legislature meets in 2012, but that is for a limited session only, and our issue will not be on the agenda.

I must give great credit for the progress SB409 made, in spite of the lack of money in the budget, to our lobbyists Lara Smith and Dave Barrows. Lara and Dave both have great reputations in the Capitol, and were able to smooth out many bumps in the road that occurred throughout the session. Thanks to these people, OCRA is seen as a credible, smart group that doesn’t play games or waste anyone’s time. Those are important qualities to have when trying to influence Oregon lawmakers.

One of the bills our committee tracked this session was House Bill 2691. This was a very general housekeeping bill submitted by the State Court Administrator (SCA) to clean up some rules and statutes to enable the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) to run more smoothly and efficiently. It was one bill into which the SCA dropped many changes to many programs and laws involving the OJD. We watched this bill because 2691 would have changed some of the statutes that concern our Certified Shorthand Reporter program into rules, which would have made it easier for the program to remain viable under the budget constraints the OJD faces. The goal of the bill was not to reduce the importance of our CSR program, or to get rid of it at all, but to make it easier for the OJD to keep our program alive and functioning. The bill did not pass into law. We will be discussing this issue with the State Court Administrator’s office also in the coming months.

I really enjoy working with our committee. We have a great team keeping an eye on the Oregon legislature with regard to court reporting issues. Mary Fagan, Shellene Iverson, Karen Eichhorn, President Catherine Teach, and Past President Kellie Humiston were all great to work with. We will keep Kellie in the loop, now that she’s moved to Washington, D.C., because she is such a great source of information about how the Oregon system works. We are very pleased that Eileen Sterns will be joining the committee.

We look forward to discussing this legislative session at the business meeting this fall.

OCRA

Legislative Update

CONTENTS

Legislative Committee Update – August/September