Opposition grows to Legislative bill limits

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

After the Session brought a record number of bills, along came HB 2006 which would set limits on the number of pieces of legislation a lawmaker could introduce.

Republican lawmakers have sternly opposed the idea.

Oregon Capitol Insider notes, “The Joint Ways and Means Committee is excluded from the bill. The bill wouldn’t preclude sponsors from introducing more than 25 pieces of legislation if, for instance, another sponsor requested the drafting from legislative counsel. Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, said the idea of bill limits “is great,” but that the bill is “extremely problematic.” She noted that the legislation would allow for the Senate president and speaker of the House to authorize additional measures for members or committees. Combined with the 400 measures the governor and state agencies could introduce, “that’s a problem,” she said. “You have the majority party being able to authorize,” she said. “There’s no limit on that.”

The Oregonian notes, “Republicans pointed out that while the bill appeared equitable on the surface, it would give a formidable advantage to the Democrats in Oregon government, who have controlled both the House and the Senate for the past dozen years and held most statewide elected offices during that time. Doing the math, Republicans say, that works out to be more than 2,500 bills that Democrats could file in a session and just 900 for Republicans…The nitty gritty specifics, Republicans note, are as follows: Not only would the proposed legislation grant each of the 54 Democratic representatives and senators (compared to their 36 Republican counterparts) the liberty to file up to 25 bills during each long session, it’d also give the Democratic governor and the state agencies under her control the power to file up to 400 bills total, Democratic-controlled committees 15 bills each and Democratic statewide elected officials including the secretary of state and attorney general 25 bills apiece.”

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