Majority of bills introduced fall by the wayside

There have been some interesting proposals on the table this legislative session, things like taxing coffee or old cars.

These bills sparked strong reactions on NewsChannel 21’s social media pages.

“Why don’t you just take away everything that we American citizens slaved to own?” said one viewer.

“This sounds like events leading up to the Boston Tea Party,” another said.

Both of these bills died fairly quickly, but there is still plenty of more. State Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, said there’s a reason for that.

“What’s making this much worse right now is that the speaker of the House has allowed a lot of very silly bills to be submitted without anyone’s name attached to them, so they’re all anonymous,” Buehler said Tuesday. “So the accountability part of silliness goes away, and I think it’s a reputational risk for the Legislature.”

Buehler said there has been an uptick in some of the stranger bills, but we probably don’t need to stress too much.

According to the legislative counsel, the average number of bills introduced during a session from 2005 to 2017 is around 2,859. But the average amount actually passed and made law is 897. So on average, more than two-thirds will never see the light of day as actual law.

Many bills will die, but others could have a chance. Buehler said public opinion goes a long way on whether or not a bill becomes a law.

You can read more about bills and find how to contact your legislators by clicking the link: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/