I don’t play poker and have no interest in the game, but I’m trying to understand why 39 members of the Oregon House — NOT including Albany’s Andy Olson — voted on Thursday to shut down and ban private poker clubs in Portland and perhaps other towns as well.
It would be nice if Oregon legislators insisted on getting some facts instead of voting based on assumptions and emotions, as the Senate Judiciary Committee did on the gun-confiscation bill it passed, 3-2, on Tuesday.
On a slow day you can always amuse yourself by browsing what the Oregon legislature is up to. Take, for instance, the left-lane bill that cleared a Senate committee last Wednesday by a vote of 4 to zip.
Guns are on the minds of Oregon legislators again this year, judging by the number of bills introduced so far. Some would relax the restrictions on gun transfers and have no chance with the Democratic majority. Others would tighten restrictions or add new ones.
There are lots of things that could conceivably be taxed. But old cars? Clunkers driven by people who probably can’t afford to get anything new?
“Nor shall any State… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” My question may be overly naïve, but how does the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment allow Oregon to treat wage earners and employers as unequally as the Democrats in the Capitol are doing with Senate Bill […]
It’s obvious that the majority party in the Oregon legislature has no interest in facts when it comes to making laws. The demise of House Bill 4101 is a good example, as though another one was needed.
A handful of Oregon legislators think it would be nice to know what Oregon can expect to gain for all the money residents are being forced to pay to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions. A bill to find out will get a hearing Tuesday. But prudence is in the minority this session, so the bill […]
We all say we want to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people. How do we do that? Not, I hope, the way it would be done under a proposed law the 2016 legislature may be asked to adopt.
Don’t shortcut the Constitution
The legislature is considering a bill that should make Oregon voters mad, or at least uneasy. Why? Because some day the bill might cause Oregon’s electoral votes for president to be cast for someone other than whoever got the most votes in this state.
Tags: agreement to elect president, Electoral College, Oregon legislature, popular vote