2008 Supplemental Session
The supplemental, or special, session of 2008 opened with little fanfare in the Senate, but with charges of partisan gamesmanship in the House. The legislature was criticized for preparing bills in secrecy, without posting draft legislation on its web site. Senate President Peter Courtney expressed satisfaction with the session's work, citing laws benefitting senior citizens, children in foster care, people with disabilities, and patients at the Oregon State Hospital.
During the special session, lawmakers established a tax force to explore ways to reform Oregon's medical liability limits, in response to a December 2007 Oregon Supreme Court ruling. The task force will be headed by Senator Floyd Prozanski and Representative Suzanne Bonamici.
A bill seeking to limit the use of medical marijuana in the workplace met with opposition from Associated Oregon Industries and The Oregonian's editorial board, and was not passed.
The legislature passed a law requiring proof of residence in order to obtain an Oregon drivers license, in order to comply with the Federal Real ID law. The legislature was criticized, however, for failing to take on an idea, previously advanced by Governor Kulongoski, to provide for an alternate "driving only" card.
The legislature referred a bill to voters, a toned-down alternative to a Kevin Mannix-backed bill establishing mandatory minimum sentences for property crimes.
Three bills passed by the legislature related to land use, including restoring funding for the Big Look Task Force, and addressing funding in light of the passage of Measure 49.
Read more about this topic: 74th Oregon Legislative Assembly, Bills
Famous quotes containing the word session:
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)