Two gun bills passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
House Bill 4035 , which allows corrections officers to travel to and from work with their own defensive firearms and HB 4068, which corrects mistakes in current law dealing with minor marijuana convictions, have passed out of the committee and will now go to the full Senate. They previously passed the House.
HB 4035 had a last minute amendment added to it.
Here’s what the amendment said : “SECTION 4. This 2014 Act takes effect on the 91st day after the date on which the 2014 regular session of the Seventy-seventh Legislative Assembly adjourns sine die.”
Section 3 of the bill says :“Section 2 of this 2014 Act applies to employment contracts entered into or renewed on or after the effective date of this 2014 Act.”
Without the amendment the bill would have taken effect as soon as it was signed into law.
So what does this mean for corrections officers? We have been informed that most Oregon corrections officers are currently working without a contract. What it certainly seems to mean is that should they agree on a contract before 91 days after the current legislature adjourns then this legislation and the protections it provides would not apply until the next time they agree on a contract.
The representative of the corrections officers’ union did not object to this amendment and does not believe it will be a problem. We hope she is right, but for now it is hard to see how this can mean anything else.
Should they agree to a contract 91 days after the bill passes (assuming the Governor signs it) it appears they will be protected, but we don’t see how they can be protected if they reach an agreement before that date.
We’ve brought this to the attention of the bill’s sponsor and now we’re hoping that the people this bill was intended to help actually get the protections it affords.
We’ll be watching.