Bit nervous...
No, not about the baby.
About how I might end up spending my Thursday.
For all those who've forgotten, I'm locally employed as a criminal prosecutor in the county DA's office. As such, besides writing bloggy stuff in my free time, I also end up doing real, official, and even important work.
Several months ago, one of the sergeants at the Gresham Police Department asked me why Oregon didn't have a law to deal with people who drive with really high blood alcohol contents. For instance, many states have not only a DUII (driving under the influence of intoxicants) statute, which (almost universally) criminalizes driving while having a BAC of .08 or more, or while being visibly impaired by alcohol or drugs, but also have Aggravated DUII statutes which increase penalties for driving with particularly high BAC's (usually in the neighborhood of .16 to .20).
I told the sergeant that was an excellent point, and that he should call his legislator. But then, a few months passed, and one of the supervisors in my office sent out an e-mail soliciting ideas for new legislation to be proposed to the legislature. Remembering the sergeant's idea, I proposed an Aggravated DUII law. The supervisor liked my idea, and suggested I draft one up.
After much hard work, and the passage of some time, my work product is in front of the legislature as HB 2360 (for the purposes of academic honestly, I note that some modifications--though nothing major--have been made by other people in shepherding this to the legislaure).
I really wasn't expecting to have anything more to do with this statute, except to have some feeling of personal satisfaction if/when the law was placed into effect (and, just to make sure it's clear, I've kept the sergeant up on all of this to, because he's the person who inspired it). But I received a call earlier this week from another supervisor in our office, noting that the first supervisor wasn't available to take part in a scheduled legislative work session, and neither was Josh Marquis, one of the biggest guns of the Oregon District Attorney's Association, and a man who has guided several DUII law revisions into our statute books. Would I be available to go?
Anyway, upshot is I will (most likely) be in Salem on Thursday, addressing the legislative sub-committee that's working on this bill, on behalf of the state's DA's. A bit daunting for a small-town boy just trying to make it good.
Wish me luck.
And thanks to the many people who've commented (well, only Betsy so far...) or sent me personal congrats on the bun in the oven. I'm very excited, and I'm happy to know that others are rooting for us as well.
Catch ya later.
About how I might end up spending my Thursday.
For all those who've forgotten, I'm locally employed as a criminal prosecutor in the county DA's office. As such, besides writing bloggy stuff in my free time, I also end up doing real, official, and even important work.
Several months ago, one of the sergeants at the Gresham Police Department asked me why Oregon didn't have a law to deal with people who drive with really high blood alcohol contents. For instance, many states have not only a DUII (driving under the influence of intoxicants) statute, which (almost universally) criminalizes driving while having a BAC of .08 or more, or while being visibly impaired by alcohol or drugs, but also have Aggravated DUII statutes which increase penalties for driving with particularly high BAC's (usually in the neighborhood of .16 to .20).
I told the sergeant that was an excellent point, and that he should call his legislator. But then, a few months passed, and one of the supervisors in my office sent out an e-mail soliciting ideas for new legislation to be proposed to the legislature. Remembering the sergeant's idea, I proposed an Aggravated DUII law. The supervisor liked my idea, and suggested I draft one up.
After much hard work, and the passage of some time, my work product is in front of the legislature as HB 2360 (for the purposes of academic honestly, I note that some modifications--though nothing major--have been made by other people in shepherding this to the legislaure).
I really wasn't expecting to have anything more to do with this statute, except to have some feeling of personal satisfaction if/when the law was placed into effect (and, just to make sure it's clear, I've kept the sergeant up on all of this to, because he's the person who inspired it). But I received a call earlier this week from another supervisor in our office, noting that the first supervisor wasn't available to take part in a scheduled legislative work session, and neither was Josh Marquis, one of the biggest guns of the Oregon District Attorney's Association, and a man who has guided several DUII law revisions into our statute books. Would I be available to go?
Anyway, upshot is I will (most likely) be in Salem on Thursday, addressing the legislative sub-committee that's working on this bill, on behalf of the state's DA's. A bit daunting for a small-town boy just trying to make it good.
Wish me luck.
And thanks to the many people who've commented (well, only Betsy so far...) or sent me personal congrats on the bun in the oven. I'm very excited, and I'm happy to know that others are rooting for us as well.
Catch ya later.
posted by Rusty at 9:55 PM
3 Comments:
Being a bouncer for four years I hope something like this passes. Peace...Jake
Thanks, Jake.
This is great news as well. Good luck - don't be nervous - I'm sure you know your stuff.
You are definitely having a good week, eh?
Denise
And So It Goes
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