Senate Adopts Procedure for Introducing Bills for February 2008 Supplemental Session

The changes affect five specific areas.

Oregon state capitol Photo by: Tim King

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Oregon State Senate voted unanimously today to establish the procedure by which members will draft and introduce legislation for consideration during the ground-breaking 2008 Supplemental Legislative Session.

The procedural rules of the Senate now provide that, for the February 2008 Supplemental Session:

A maximum of 50 Senate Bills may be introduced by individual Senators and Senate committees.

Completed bill drafts must be submitted to the Secretary of the Senate no later than January 18, 2007.

"These procedures—developed in close consultation with both Senate Republican and Senate Democratic leaders—will ensure a short session, narrowly focused on the most pressing issues facing Oregonians," said Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem/Gervais/Woodburn).

Completing the 2008 Supplemental Session is the next step in an historic plan to retime the work of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. In accordance with the recommendations of the Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature, the Senate and the House of Representatives last year overwhelmingly adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 1, which established brand new “hard” deadlines for legislative work, including an experiment with “annual” legislative sessions. Oregon remains one of only six states with a legislature that meets only every two years as a regular course.