On Monday, May 14, 2018, the AOC Governance Steering Committee continued its work reviewing and prioritizing possible legislation for the 2019 Oregon legislative session. A lot of materials relating to possible priorities were included in the Committee’s agenda packet. The Committee agreed to continue their work at their next meeting on June 11, 2018, with regard to at least the following items:

Legislation to accelerate when proposed initiative charter amendments are reviewed for compliance with the Separate Vote Requirement.

Revenue issues, including legislation to fix the so-called “gigabit exemption,” as well as senior property tax deferral.

Legislation to further address the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) and its Unfunded Actuarial Liability (UAL), including, but not limited to, prospective employee cost sharing, benefit equalization between Tier 1/2 and OPSRP, more local options, and a new Tier 4 defined contribution plan.

Drug policy legislation, in at least two areas:

  • Cannabis, including, but not limited to: Further marijuana enforcement legislation, especially in light of the newly released US Attorney’s Marijuana Enforcement Priorities; possible rewrite of the medical marijuana laws to, among other things, move medical businesses from the Oregon Health Authority OHA) to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC); and further fixes to the industrial hemp laws, including requiring shipping manifests.
  • Opioids, including, but not limited to: Mandating decreased prescribing under certain circumstances; changing the perverse incentives inside healthcare driving overprescribing; legislative findings treating addiction as a chronic relapsing disease; building treatment infrastructure inside medical clinics; enforcing parity; further support for opioid agonist treatment; mandatory query of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) under certain circumstances; better training of doctors in medical school; a pharmaceutical tax to support a statewide drug takeback program; limiting the influence of special interests in the medical arena; and three further enhancements to the availability of naloxone (require pharmacies to display information, requiring co-prescriptions under certain circumstances, and requiring emergency departments to prescribe to those who are treated for opioid overdose).

Possible legislative fixes to resolve the ongoing issue of what parts of local building code programs can and cannot be delegated to third party contractors.

Contributed by: Rob Bovett | Legal Counsel