Chapter 201 Oregon Laws 2001

AN ACT

HB 2409

Relating to courtroom security; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 166.360.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 166.360 is amended to read:

166.360. As used in ORS 166.360 to 166.380, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) “Capitol building” means the Capitol, the State Office Building, the State Library Building, the Labor and Industries Building, the State Transportation Building, the Agriculture Building or the Public Service Building and includes any new buildings which may be constructed on the same grounds as an addition to the group of buildings listed in this subsection.

(2) “Court facility” means a [county] courthouse or that portion of any other building occupied by a [court] circuit court, the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court or the Oregon Tax Court or occupied by personnel related to [court] the operations of those courts, or in which activities related to [court] the operations of those courts take place.

(3) “Loaded firearm” means:

(a) A breech-loading firearm in which there is an unexpended cartridge or shell in or attached to the firearm including but not limited to, in a chamber, magazine or clip which is attached to the firearm.

(b) A muzzle-loading firearm which is capped or primed and has a powder charge and ball, shot or projectile in the barrel or cylinder.

(4) “Public building” means a hospital, a capitol building, a public or private school, as defined in ORS 339.315, a college or university, a city hall or the residence of any state official elected by the state at large, and the grounds adjacent to each such building. The term also includes that portion of any other building occupied by an agency of the state or a municipal corporation, as defined in ORS 297.405, other than a court facility.

(5) “Weapon” means:

(a) A firearm;

(b) Any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slingshot, metal knuckles or any similar instrument or a knife other than an ordinary pocket knife, the use of which could inflict injury upon a person or property;

(d) An electrical stun gun or any similar instrument;

(e) A tear gas weapon as defined in ORS 163.211;

(f) A club, bat, baton, billy club, bludgeon, knobkerrie, nunchaku, nightstick, truncheon or any similar instrument, the use of which could inflict injury upon a person or property; or

(g) A dangerous or deadly weapon as those terms are defined in ORS 161.015.

SECTION 2. Section 3 of this 2001 Act is added to and made a part of ORS 166.360 to 166.380.

SECTION 3. (1) Notwithstanding ORS 166.370 (2) and except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a peace officer, as defined in ORS 161.015, or a federal officer, as defined in ORS 133.005, may possess a weapon in a court facility if the officer:

(a) Is acting in an official capacity and is officially on duty;

(b) Is carrying a weapon that the employing agency of the officer has authorized the officer to carry; and

(c) Is in compliance with any security procedures established under subsections (3) and (4) of this section.

(2) A judge may prohibit a peace officer or a federal officer from possessing a weapon in a courtroom. A notice of the prohibition of the possession of a weapon by an officer in a courtroom must be posted outside the entrance to the courtroom.

(3) A presiding judge of a judicial district may establish procedures regulating the possession of a weapon in a court facility by a peace officer or a federal officer subject to the following:

(a) The procedures must be established through a state court security improvement plan under ORS 1.180; and

(b) Notice of the procedures must be posted at the entrance to the court facility, or at an entrance for peace officers or federal officers if the entrance is separate from the entrance to the court facility, and at a security checkpoint in the court facility.

(4) A judge may establish procedures regulating the possession of a weapon in a courtroom by a peace officer or a federal officer. A notice of the procedures regulating the possession of a weapon by an officer must be posted outside the entrance to the courtroom.

Approved by the Governor May 25, 2001

Filed in the office of Secretary of State May 25, 2001

Effective date January 1, 2002

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