Lawmakers passed bills addressing police reform, promoting affordable housing and making cold medicine available over-the-counter.
SALEM, Ore — Oregon lawmakers adopted a range of reforms, policy changes and civil rights protections during this year’s five-month legislative session, including new laws designed to promote affordable housing, improve police oversight and make it explicitly illegal to intimidate others by displaying a noose.
Those new laws, and many others, take effect Jan. 1. While some were contentious, many passed with overwhelming, bipartisan support.
Here’s a look at some of the changes in store:
POLICE REFORM: George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer triggered a national reckoning on civil rights. Oregon lawmakers responded with several bills aimed at improving police conduct and oversight. Here are some of those that take effect Jan. 1:
· Senate Bill 204 gives civilian oversight board access to a database of police encounters and arrests. The bill passed the House 34-22, and the House 18-11.
· Senate Bill 621 gives local jurisdictions the ability to set law for community oversight boards that oversee police discipline. Lawmakers took up t
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