OUR VIEW: So, how did the Legislature do? We shouldn’t be quick to answer

Published 6:00 am Thursday, June 29, 2023

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If you’re fascinated by the trials and tribulations of state government, you no doubt already have been scanning and surfing the initial opinions and rundowns of just what transpired during the recently completed session of the Oregon Legislature.

Well, here’s some good news — we’re not going to attempt to add to that chorus of immediate analysis.

At least not yet.

No, this isn’t a cop-out. Truth of the matter is that so much transpired in the frenetic final days of a session truncated by a walkout of historic length by Republican state senators, that giving our hot-take spin of who did what, when it takes effect, how it will be implemented and where the effects will be felt feels like a waste of effort, words and bandwidth.

How much has transpired, you ask? Well, Gov. Tina Kotek has signed about 250 bills thus far — and still has about 350 more awaiting her review before she gets carpal tunnel syndrome adding her name to them all.

The other reason not to get deep in the weeds quite yet is that many of the bills that have made it through the labyrinthine legislative process are based on ideas in concept — with the nitty-gritty, nuts-and-bolts to be worked out in the days and weeks and months to come.

Consider, for instance, House Bill 2984, which will allow for the conversion of current commercial-use buildings to housing within urban growth boundaries … under certain conditions.

State Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, was the chief sponsor of the bill, which on the surface seems to be a nifty way to deal with a pair of issues being dealt with across the state by communities of all sizes — abundant abandoned business buildings, and the need for more housing opportunities.

And, with any luck, it will turn out that way and be a win-win for all involved. As is the case with so many other bills piled upon Kotek’s desk, however, the “success” of any piece of legislation can’t be judged only on the basis that it managed to get the votes in Salem.

On a more street-level issue, there’s one bill that everyone seems to have an opinion about — House Bill 2426, which will provide Oregonians the possibility of pumping their own gas.

We are willing to go out on a limb here and predict that the implementation of this long-debated cultural matter will cause confusion.

Why? For a couple of obvious reasons.

First, because stations will have to provide a self-serve lane and will want to mark those clearly, there’s little doubt that drivers will wind up beside the wrong pumps. Also, though, let experience be your guide. Have you ever stood in line at the self-checkout registers at a grocery store as another customer attempts to scan the barcode attached to the frame of a piece of wall art, then switches to weigh a bunch of tomatoes?

Now, give these same people a hose, a keypad to enter their discount, a credit card slot and three types of gas to choose from.

The mention of tomatoes, though, does remind us of one decision by the Legislature that is easy to understand — the selection of potatoes as the official state vegetable.

Yes, potatoes are vegetables. (Although, of course, tomatoes are not.)

Despite pushback from those proposing onions, when it came to voting, potatoes had the ayes they needed.

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