[Libs-Or] A selection of laws that may be of interest to libraries from the 2011 Oregon Legislature

[Diedre Conkling]

I attended the Special Districts Association (SDAO) Legislative Committee
meeting last week and thought I would report on a couple of bills passed
during the last session of the State Legislature that may be of interest to
you.  The full SDAO report has not yet been posted but it will be posted
soon at http://www.sdao.com/legislative.htm.



*HB 2256 – Election Law Changes*

*Effective Date:  January 1, 2012                 Chapter:  607 (2011 Laws)*



HB 2256 is a miscellaneous housekeeping election law bill.  The bill
authorizes election law complaints to be filed electronically; extends the
signature-gathering period to two years for a petition to initiate district
measures and requires it to be filed not less than ninety days before the
election at which the proposed law is to be voted on;  and allows county
clerks to  (in addition to currently mandated newspaper publishing)
advertise election notices on county websites; and other miscellaneous
changes.





*HB 2425 – Local Budget Law Rewrite*

*Effective Date:  January 1, 2012                 Chapter: 473 (2011 Laws)*



During the 2010 interim SDAO participated with other local governments, the
Department of Revenue and the Oregon Newspaper publishers’ Association in a
workgroup to examine ways to streamline and increase transparency with
respect to local budget law.  HB 2425 is a product of that work group.  The
bill makes significant modifications to local budget law for cities,
counties, school districts and special districts.



HB 2425 makes the following changes to state statute:

·         Changes the existing requirement to publish financial summaries of
individual funds to a requirement for publication of summaries of fund
types;

·         Requires the publication of a budget narrative that describes
prominent changes from year to year;

·         Standardizes what must be included in the notice and budget
summary;

·         Allows one of the two required publications for the notice to be
placed on a web site as opposed to a newspaper;

·         Modifies the requirement of how personal service costs be included
in the budget document; and

·         Requires, upon request, a municipal corporation to make available
a list of employee salaries other than hourly or part-time employees.

·         The Department of Revenue will conduct a series of trainings on
these budget changes prior to the Spring of 2012.

·



*HB3207 – Requirement to Interview Veterans by Public Employers*

*Effective Date:  January 1, 2012                                 Chapter:  484
(2011 Laws)*



This measure requires public employers to interview veterans if the
interviews are part of a selection process and the employer determines the
veteran meets minimum and special qualifications for the position and if the
employer determines the veteran has transferable skills.  The bill defines
“transferable skill” as a skill that a veteran has obtained through military
education or experience that substantially relates, directly or indirectly,
to the civil service position for which the veteran is applying.  The bill
allows a public employer to consult with the Oregon Military Development and
Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs to determine if military education or
experience qualifies as transferable skill.  The bill also defines
“eligibility list” as a list of ranked eleigible candidates for a civil
service position who have become eligible for the postion through a test or
series of tests and who will consider for the civil service position in
ranked order.  The bill also exempts a public employer from requirements if
the employer only conducts interviews of candidates chosen from the
eligibility list.  Finally, the bill creates a statutory employment
discrimination claim for violation of certain provisions of the bill.



[SDAO will be doing training on this measure and how to work with it in  our
organizations.  It is obvious that it could significantly increase the
number of people who must be interviewed for some positions and could open
us up to law suits.]





*HB 3482 – Unpaid Leave for Victims of Harassment*

*Effective Date:  August 2, 2011
Chapter:  687 (2011 Laws)*



[I am missing the page with an explanation of this but you can look it up.
;-) ]





*SB 480 – Grants for Afterschool Meal and Snack Program*

*Effective Date:  August 2, 2011
Chapter: 711 (2011 Laws)*

[I just thought some libraries might be doing afterschool programs where
they could use this grant.]



SB 480 appropriates $180,000 General Fund to the Department of Education for
administration and grants to school districts, government agencies and
community groups to enable participation in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Afterschool Meal and Snack Program.  The Afterschool Meal and
Snack Program provides reimbursement to qualifying afterschool enrichment
programs that serve free meals or snacks to children.  Grants may not exceed
$10,000 each and are limited to $150,000 while administration is limited to
$30,000.  Requires Department of Education (ODE) to provide assistance to
school districts, government agencies and community groups to encourage
participation in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Afterschool Meal and Snack Program.  Authorizes ODE to contract with public
or private entity for purposes of providing technical assistance and
administration of the grant program.  Allows ODE to contract with public or
private entities regarding the grant program.





*HB 2244 – Definition of a Public Record*

*Effective Date:  August 2, 2011
Chapter: 645 (2011 Laws)*



Current law defines a public record as any “writing” that contains
information relating to the conduct of the public’s business.  HB 2244
updates the statute to reflect that records in other forms are common with
today’s technology (like Twitter and Facebook).  The modified requirements
for public records within HB 2244 apply only to state agencies and local
governments; the legislative and judicial brances are unaffected.  The bill
requires state agencies to submit written policies for public records
retention to the State Archivist for approval so that the Secretary of State
can ensure appropriate statewide standards are being followed to protect the
records of the state.  The bill also amends the definition of “public
record” in ORS 192.005 to include information that meets the following
criteria:  prepared, owned, used or retained by a state agency or political
subdivision; relates to an activity, transaction or function of a state
agency or political subdivision; and is necessary to satisfy the fiscal,
legal, administrative or historical policies, requirements or needs of the
state agency or political subdivision.  The bill requires public agencies to
maintain a public record without regard to the technology or medium used to
create or communicate a record.



[At the meeting we talked about taking screen shots of Facebook, Twitter and
Blog entries as a way to save them.  Maybe you have some better ideas that
you can share.]








-- 
*Diedre Conkling**
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR 97365
Phone & Fax: 541-265-3066
Work email**: **diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
*
Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>
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