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Legislature Back in Session
Ten Commandments, Executions, and Criminalizing Fertilization

What do the Ten Commandments, state procedures during executions and criminalizing fertilization all have in common? These are some of the more than 300 different issues we are actively following in the 2001 Oregon Legislature. As of this writing, it is still early enough in the session that only about half of all the bills that will be introduced this year are already in the pipeline. This year we expect to review a record 4000 bills. Weāll keep an eye on about 600 and actively lobby on about 150.

The legislative leadership is making the usual pronouncements about maintaining civility and keeping the session focused on balancing the state budget. Nevertheless, we expect to see plenty of bills moving out of committee that would be bad for civil liberties.

 

Ten Commandments ö Church/State. A bill to allow Oregon public schools to post the Ten Commandments and include instruction on their "historical impact" was introduced by Rep. Betsy Close (R-Albany). The provisions of HB 2086 would only apply if voters in the district approve and any expense is covered through private donations. The bill is clearly unconstitutional, but that doesnāt necessarily mean that it wonāt pass. If it gets a hearing, weāll have some fun with our testimony. For example, did you know that there are three different versions of the Ten Commandments in the Bible? Shall we teach about the historical significance of God prohibiting His followers from bowing down to graven images? If we want all students to follow the Ten Commandments, perhaps we should prohibit reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and remove all flags from the schools.

Witnesses to an Execution ö Free Press/Public Right to Know. The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) is trying to roll back one of our court victories with HB 2096. The issue is whether public witnesses to death penalty executions will be able to see the entire execution. When the first two Oregon inmates were executed by lethal injection a few years ago, DOC adopted rules that severely restricted what public witnesses could see during an execution. For at least the past 100 years, a small number of news media representatives have always been allowed to witness executions from start to finish. But DOC decided for security reasons that it would only allow witnesses to view the portion of an execution just before and during the lethal injection÷after corrections personnel had restrained the inmate, inserted intravenous tubes and left the execution chamber. In 1999, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Departmentās rules violated Oregon law because they didnāt permit witnesses to see the entire process of "execution."

Now the Department is seeking the power to define "execution" more narrowly. Weāre working with representatives of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Assoc. and the Oregon Broadcasters Assoc. to meet DOCās safety concerns and still allow witnesses to view the entire execution. Rep. Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass), chair of the House Rules Comm. and a radio broadcaster, is sympathetic to our concerns and we are optimistic that a satisfactory solution will be found.

Criminalizing Fertilization ö Reproductive Freedom. At the request of Oregon Right to Life, Rep. Betsy Close introduced HB 2769 to expand all murder and criminal homicide laws to include "an unborn child at every stage of gestation beginning with fertilization." The purpose of the bill is unclear because it provides an affirmative defense for any act of the pregnant woman or for medical procedures performed by a licensed medical professional at the request of the pregnant woman. Regardless of the billās target, it would set a terrible precedent to place a provision in Oregon law to the effect that life begins at conception. Such a bill would criminalize several forms of birth control.

Elsewhere on the reproductive freedom/privacy front, bills have been introduced to require parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion (HB 2071), to prohibit state funding of abortions (SB 228) and also Death with Dignity (SB 218).

Death Penalty ö Cruel and Unusual Punishment. At a time when nationwide attention is focused on states that are imposing moratoriums on the death penalty, our legislature is poised to expand the categories of victims covered by the death penalty. HB 2092, which expands the aggravated murder statute to include the murder of witnesses in juvenile delinquency proceedings, already has passed the House and is headed to the Senate. SB 156 would expand the death penalty to cases in which reserve police officers were killed.

In the meantime, the Life for a Life Committee has re-filed its initiative petition for 2002. It would replace the death penalty with a mandatory sentence of life without parole plus restitution. Youāll be hearing more about the new initiative in the coming months.

Forfeiture Reform ö Search & Seizure. One of our victories this past election was the overwhelming public approval of Measure 3, which requires a conviction prior to government forfeiture of property derived from or used to facilitate crimes. The ACLU played a central role in the campaign and we have been part of a task force drafting HB 2429 which will bring state forfeiture law into compliance with the constitutional provisions of Measure 3.

Law enforcement officials are resisting Measure 3ās provisions that prohibit forfeiture proceeds from being used for law enforcement purposes. We believe those provisions are important to eliminate the conflict of interest in the current law which allows the agencies which seize property to keep the proceeds of civil forfeitures. Some law enforcement agencies have suggested creating a new criminal forfeiture law to get around these provisions of Measure 3. Weāll be opposing that unless it has adequate safeguards to eliminate such conflicts of interest.

Library Records ö Censorship. Those who want to censor what minors can read, see and hear are back with legislative proposals to give parents or guardians access to the library records of minors. We oppose SB 27 because public libraries are one of the few safe places for teens to get access to accurate information about issues related to sexuality, mental health and physical abuse. Most libraries do not keep circulation records after materials have been returned in order to protect the privacy of library patrons. The bill is pending in the Senate Education Comm.