LUCKILY, New Year’s resolutions aren’t legally binding. But the new Oregon laws that went into effect on January 1 are, so listen up or pay the price.
No Texting While Driving: OMG, research shows that driving while using a cell phone can be as dangerous as driving drunk. As of January 1, 2010, no Oregonian under 18 can use a cell phone while driving and adults can only use phones if they’re wearing one of those lame-ass hands-free headsets. That means no texting, and technically no dialing, unless it’s 911. Don’t make the first Twitpic you post this year be an iPhone snapshot of an officer writing you a $90 ticket. link to law
No TV Dumps: Going Office Space on your old television or computer is now a punishable crime in Oregon. Covered Electronic Devices (CEDs) like monitors and laptops can leak toxic chemicals like lead and mercury, so now it’s illegal to dump them anywhere but a certified “e-cycler,” which includes most Goodwills and Free Geek (1731 SE 10th). Taking a dump ON your TV is still legal in most circumstances. link to law
Renters’ Rights: Starting in 2010, landlords now have to give you at least 60 days before booting you out with a no-cause eviction (unless you’re on a month-to-month lease, in which case they still have to give you 30 days). If the house you’re renting gets foreclosed on, the new owner has to honor the length of your original lease unless they’re going to occupy the house as their primary residence, in which case they have to give you at least 90 days to get out. link to law
It’s Prayer Time! Businesses are now required to allow workers to wear religious clothing and take time off for religious holidays unless it would create “significant cost” or “undue hardship” on the business. Whether that means praying once a year or once a day does not matter; both are legally protected as time you should be allowed off. link to law
Online Voter Registration: As of March 1, the state elections office will finally move into the 21st century and you will be able to register to vote on “the internet.” Whatever that is. link to law
Hetero Military Leave: If your significant other is a member of the armed forces, your employer now has to allow you 14 days of unpaid “military leave” to see your spouse off or welcome them home. (link to law) Unless, of course, you are gay and therefore your significant other cannot be your spouse. Sorry, not all the bad laws were changed in 2009. Maybe next year.
It would be nice if you were to add links to the ORS on each of those. Rather curious about how “religious” is defined. My cricket promoting non-profit is considered a “religious charity”, so I’m pretty excited about team captains getting time off to call the squad with practice/game reminders!
The “prayer” law is very un-settling, i find. Because we all know that it will mostly be evagelical christian fanatics who’ll take [by far] the most advantage of this. They’ve already been brazinly violating the seperation of state & church for years. Now they’ve been given this “legal” exception.
Good idea, Zarathustra. I added links to all the bills spelling out the new laws, except for the TV dumps rule. The bill for that law was so dense and tough to decipher that I linked to a much more coherent source, the Oregon Environmental Council.
Thanks for the compliment Sarah! We take pride in making sense out of the wonk.
You should double check the links. The enrolled version of the bill is the one that became law. The link in the story to the cell phone bill was to the introduced bill, which is how it started in the legislature. The enrolled bill is the final product. There were quite a few changes between the two versions.
Religions get way too many special rights! Keep you religion private and to yourself. Why should I have to be subjected to seeing your religious clothing and hearing your religious prayers in my workplace? My beliefs are very anti god and anti religion. Am I allowed to wear clothing that profess my anti religion and anti god beliefs?
Yes, do make sure to dispose of your lead/mercury laden electronics properly so that some poor sap in in some thrid-world country can extract it for us at the lowest human cost, humans. But don’t worry, they’re “third-world” people, that must add up to at least 5 first-world people, right? ๐
Dildo hats and flip-flops Fridays here I come.
EVH, I agree with you to some extent. I am not “anti-religion” I am more anti-dumb-ass. If you can form full sentences and speak with some coherence I don’t mind if you are religious. I become anti-religious when religious people become evangelical and righteous. You want to be religious? Go for it, but don’t commercialize your “deeper understanding” of the meaning of God/Gods and his/her plans.
Regarding this law. I have a few problems with it. Accommodating people is okay up to a certain point but the idea that society as a whole as to accommodate you simply because of “your” beliefs is actually discriminatory. Not toward the religious but instead toward the nonreligious, i.e. Agnostics, Atheists and Nihilist. The idea that because you are “religious” everyone else should afford you special privileges is going too far. I could for example just start making sh!# up and found my own religion, let’s call it Go-F!-Yourselfism. If you believe in GFY you “should” for all intents and purpose be afforded your days off work shouldn’t you?
I think if you want to be religious, go ahead but if you think by being religious you are somehow special from and exempt from the realities of everyday life like everyone else, you should go be religious in a cave somewhere. There you can practice your religion to the fullest, no interruptions. And good luck to you.
So if the god is cocaine and my beliefs require to partake of a line of his body every 10 minutes, does my work have to allow me to do that?
“So if the god is cocaine and my beliefs require to partake of a line of his body every 10 minutes, does my work have to allow me to do that?”
I am afraid so. It is the “law.” How do you no cocaine is a “he” though?
Because he is married to Goddess Marijuana, who requires me to cleanse me soul every 15 minutes by burning a small part of her and inhaling the smoke.