Legislation

March 12, 2014 - Completing the short session two days before the Constitutionally-imposed deadline, the Oregon Legislature passed up the opportunity to advance an important civil liberties bill on privacy and let squeak by a proposal that could have significant implications for patient access to medicine.

Automatic License Plate Reader Surveillance Technology (SB 1522)
SB 1522 was a priority bill for the ACLU this session because of the need for privacy guidelines around the use of surveillance technology by government. Ironically, there was widespread and bipartisan support for the privacy regulations but the bill did not move forward this session because legislators could not settle on the appropriate timeframe for law enforcement to hold on to innocent people’s captured plate data. Legislators on one side of the debate were ready to accept a compromise proposal from law enforcement. Other legislators refused to accept the compromise and would support the bill only with a more privacy-protective data retention period.

SB 1522 proposed clear guidelines for government’s use of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR’s), which is among a growing list of new surveillance technologies currently being utilized by law enforcement agencies without respect to the significant privacy implications. ALPR’s are made up of high-speed cameras designed to capture a photograph of each and every passing license plate, combined with software that analyzes these photographs to identify the license plate number. Law enforcement agencies that utilize ALPR’s are retaining location information and a photograph of every vehicle that crosses the camera’s path, not simply those that generate a hit. SB 1522 was a smart proposal to enable law enforcement to use ALPR’s for uses that may be beneficial to public safety but also with guidelines to protect the privacy of all those who’s private travel information is captured.

Look for this bill concept to come back again in the 2015 legislative session.

Local Bans on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (SB 1531)

SB 1531 proposed to allow local jurisdictions – cities and counties across the state – the authority to ban medical marijuana dispensaries. We strongly opposed this bill and, while we are disappointed with the compromise that was struck and the provisions of the bill that did pass, we are encouraged that the Legislature was not willing to allow localities unchecked authority to ban dispensaries indefinitely. Instead, the version of SB 1531 that passed allows cities and counties to pass only a one year moratorium on the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries with the expectation that a temporary moratorium will provide the locality the time it needs to develop reasonable regulations for the dispensary to operate within its jurisdiction.

Proponents of SB 1531 failed to recognize that the debate about the medicinal value of marijuana is over. Voters approved the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) in 1998. The OMMA permits marijuana use for adult Oregonians suffering from debilitating medical conditions without being in violation of Oregon criminal law.

In 2013, the Legislature passed a bill, enabling a legal and regulated means of getting authorized amounts of marijuana to OMMA patients who cannot grow their own. Licensing and regulating medical marijuana facilities provides consistency across the state for dispensaries and law enforcement. The result is better care and better outcomes for patients.

Reasonable regulations on the time, place, and manner in which dispensaries may operate may be appropriate, but outright bans will have a significant and detrimental effect on patient access to needed medication. We hope that the “moratorium” structure set forth in SB 1531 will mitigate what was likely to be a significant harm in the original bill.