April Legislative Update
Dear friends,
The Capitol has been very busy over the past several weeks! March 29th was the first chamber deadline for bills to get scheduled for work sessions, the bills not scheduled will not move out of their committees – something commonly referred to as “dying in committee”. Our next deadline is tomorrow, when the committees must have held the work sessions by, as a result our committee agendas have been nothing less than chaotic.
However, I am happy to report that many of our bills are moving forward, some have already been voted out of the House and are in the Senate. On many of these bills, I am receiving widespread support across the aisle. If you would like to follow their status, click here and search my name by bill sponsor.
On a different note, many of you have inquired about SB 978, a piece of gun legislation that had a public hearing last Tuesday. The public hearing itself was well balanced, and I can attest that the arguments both in support and in opposition were articulated well.
Initially this bill was drafted to direct the State Police to conduct a study on unlawful firearm transfers. However, the -1 Amendment replaces the entirety of the bill and implements several different restrictions including age restrictions and storage requirements.
Although I know there will be some of you who disagree with my position on guns, I wanted to be honest about where I stand with this legislation. I am an avid outdoorsman and use guns regularly. I understand how essential guns are in everyday life in rural Oregon. Personally, I think that all gun owners should practice responsibility and use every safety precaution when handling firearms; however, I cannot support legislation that would turn law abiding citizens into criminals. I strongly support the 2nd Amendment rights afforded to us in the Constitution.
I appreciate the feedback that you have been giving me on various bills, please know that my staff tracks and communicates each of your comments to me. Your voices are heard and I do my best to represent those voices with every vote that I take.
As always, please reach out if there is anything I can do for you!
Lynn Findley
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