Senator Jeff Kruse - February 4th, 2014

 Working Hard For You

February 4, 2014

The issue for this Session I have received the most email traffic on is SB 1551, otherwise known as the background check bill.  A couple of weeks ago I sent out a newsletter on the subject.  Since that time I have received a few hundred emails from people who did not receive my newsletter.  Because of this fact I am resending it.  For most of you this will be a repeat, but it will also serve to let you know my position has not changed. It should also be noted the bill is scheduled for a hearing Thursday. Other topics will follow in future letters.

JANUARY 14, 2014

We are only a couple of weeks from the next Legislative Session, and I have received several hundred emails from people who have never contacted me before.  For this reason I thought I would restate my newsletter policy.  It is very simple; I feel those who choose to share their opinions with me might like to hear my opinions in return and I add them to the newsletter list.  I also want to say I read all of my own emails and I will never let someone else’s words go out with my name attached.

Most of the new correspondence I have received deal with Senator Prozanski’s attempt to reintroduce the failed background check bill from the 2013 Session.  In 2013 it was SB 700 and it is currently LC 154. This bill, to the best of my knowledge does not have the votes in the Senate to pass, so the question is why run it?  The answer is very simple; the democrats think this is as issue they can gain votes on in the next election.  I think we need to look deeper.

There is no question there are those in the Assembly who will not be happy until all guns are registered.  As of now they do not have the votes to make this happen, but if they get greater numbers in November it would be at the top of their agenda.  Additionally we are also dealing with an administration (both at the state and national level) that seem very willing to both ignore the Constitution and also pick and choose which laws we should follow.  The separation of powers in our Constitution is very clear.  It is the job of the Legislature to enact laws and the job of the Executive Branch to carry out the enforcement of those laws.  Historically this has been diluted to some degree through the administrative rule process, which allows agencies to “interpret” what any given law was meant to accomplish.  I have seen many cases where administrative rule has turned thing in as completely different direction from what the Legislature intended. When you add to this the fact both our Governor and President are now usurping legislative authority through executive order, it becomes even more troubling.

My concern goes way beyond just the gun bill, but for the purpose of this letter I will only add the health care issue.  Back in 2009 (when the democrats had super majorities) we created the Oregon Health Authority as a new state agency.  We also ceded to them a lot of the authority that historically belonged to the legislative branch.  Subsequent to that we created the insurance exchange (Cover Oregon) as a public corporation, which put them outside the control of the legislature.  I think we are headed for a massive train wreck and it may be by design.  The reason I say this is because our Governor, and many members in the legislature truly want the complete government takeover of the health care system and this may be the way to accomplish that.  I will go into more details during the February Session on this issue.

I will close this with a request.  I know there are many people who are fed up with government.  I know there are also many people to whom one particular issue is the most important to them.  What I am asking is twofold.  First, stay engaged.  It is more important now than at any time I can remember for the people to hold politicians accountable.  Secondly, expand your interest beyond your singularly most important issue.  I still believe you can do a better job of running your life than the government can, and we are losing these essential freedoms.

I am not sure at this point what will happen during the 35 days of the 2014 Session, but I hope you will be paying attention.

Sincerely,

Senator Jeff Kruse