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DISCUSS:
Should Ore. lawmakers meet every year?
By Associated PressThe (Corvallis) Gazette Times on why the Oregon Legislature should meet annually: Related ContentAs the Oregon Legislature gathers this week for its second go-round at a special short session, one of the main subplots to watch will be this one: Will legislators succeed in making a case for annual sessions? The Legislature met two years ago for its first short session, billed in some ways as a test drive for the idea of annual sessions. It went OK, and we expect that legislative leaders will be just as focused this year on keeping matters relatively orderly. (We still hope, however, that there is time for deliberation on the issue of kicker reform, helping to pave the way for a broader discussion of tax reform in the 2011 full session.) In any event, mid-valley legislative leaders such as Sen. Frank Morse tell us to keep an eye out for a constitutional amendment coming out of this session to authorize annual sessions. Oregon is one of just six states that does not hold some kind of annual session. In Morse's preferred version, the number of total legislative days would not increase (Morse is only half-joking when he says "The public is always safer when we're not in session"), but rather would be divided across two years: In even-numbered years such as this one, the session would be limited to 45 days. The regular session, held in odd-numbered years, would be limited to 135 days. That makes sense to us. One of the complaints we had with the four-week session in 2008 was that it was too rushed, and a number of legislators had the same beef. Stretching it out a bit would give a chance for more complex proposals to get a fuller debate and it would give legislators a chance to catch their breath. We know we'll hear the objection that annual sessions will somehow detract from the state's tradition of having "citizen legislators." But the fact of the matter is that for our legislators, this public service amounts to a full-time job regardless of how often the Legislature actually meets. The bottom line for us remains the same as it was after the 2008 session: The business of governing Oregon has simply gotten too big, too complex, to be adequately handled in every-other-year sessions. Having a chance to meet every year, in sessions that have strict time limits, belatedly recognizes that truth. |
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February 9, 2012
- Roseburg, Oregon
