November 2008 General Election

Twelve Ballot Measures on November’s Ballot
Secretary of State Bill Bradbury announced that measure numbers have been assigned to the four legislative referrals from the 74th Legislative Assembly and the initiative petitions that have qualified for the November 4, 2008, General Election Ballot.

Oregon State Bar Board of Governors votes
to oppose Ballot Measure 59 at its September 2008 Meeting

Section and Committee Legislative Proposals for the 2009 Legislative Session

At its may meeting, the Board of Governors approved this package of law improvement bills for sponsorship in the 2009 Oregon Legislature. These proposals were made be various bar groups in order to improve Oregon's body of law. The package of proposals was sent to the Judiciary Committee and then the Office of Legislative Counsel in May, where the language will be put into LC draft format.

The legislative proposals are available here.

Get Updated With 2008 Oregon Legislation Highlights

Find out which new laws will affect your practice and clients when you buy 2008 Oregon Legislation Highlights. The Legislatures's 2008 Supplemental Session resulted in the passage of over 70 bills. The 2008 Oregon Legislation Highlights publication describes bills enacted in various practice areas. Effective dates of each described bill are also provided.

Copies are still available for $30. To order, call the Service Desk at (503) 684-7413, or toll-free in Oregon at 1-800-452-8260, ext. 413 or click here to view and print the order form.

Two measures aimed at lawyers appear to be dead for the 2008 election cycle. Initiative Petition 51 would have severely limited contingent fees, and Initiative Petition 53 would have provided sanctions against lawyers for filing “frivolous” claims, defenses, and motions.

On July 10, the Secretary of State’s office halted the signature verification process on each petition, noting “insufficient signatures to continue.” The Secretary refused to count signatures submitted just prior to the July 3 deadline due to violations of election law, leaving the petitioners thousands of signatures short. Expectations to the contrary, it appears that the opponents will not pursue a legal challenge to the Secretary’s decision.

The Oregon State Bar House of Delegates had resolved at its meeting last September to oppose both these measures.

Keller does not prohibit integrated bars from using member dues to advance political or ideological positions that are not germane to the bars purpose; however, it requires that dissenting members receive a refund of the portion of dues attributable to the non-germane activity.

The Public Affairs Committee of the Board of Governors oversees the work of the program, and makes recommendation to the Board of Governors on public policy issues.

Public Affairs Committee Process

The Board or its Public Affairs Committee sets priorities regarding legislation or positions on legislation. In so doing, the Board will make a reasonable effort to do the following:

Encourage as wide a participation of the membership as possible
in formulating positions on legislative issues;
Inform members of the Bars legislative positions;
Respect divergent opinions of subgroups within the legal profession;
Provide assistance to bar sections and committees; avoid
committing bar funds to issues that are divisive or create factions
within the profession;
Present major issues to the House of Delegates for approval.

2008 Public Affairs Committee Members

Tips for Communicating with Your Legislator

Tips for Lobbying and Getting Prepared

OSB Guidelines for Section & Committee Involvement

OSB Legislative Policy Guideline

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