05/23/07
Emergency! Emergency! Let's save the Oregon Trail! -
Categories: Yesterday I quoted a bizarre bit of legislation from Oregon, which aimed to zone development around the Oregon Trail out of bounds. But I didn't comment on this bizarre clause:
SECTION 3. This 2007 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2007 Act takes effect on its passage.
An emergency? A real zoning emergency?
I contacted Steve Buckstein, who wrote about Oregon Trail legislation on the Cascade Policy Institute site. He had astutely drawn out the pioneer spirit
question. So I asked him about this odd clause regarding emergency. He confirmed my suspicion:
The emergency clause is attached to many bills just because it can be. Almost none of these bills are truly emergencies, it just seems to be a way for legislators to say
we want this, and we want it now.
Apparently, once you are a politician, stretching the meaning of language is no stretch at all.
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