76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2011 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 1365
House Bill 2785
Sponsored by Representative THATCHER (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Requires elected State of Oregon officials at local, state and
federal levels, or public employees who must swear or affirm to
support United States Constitution or Oregon Constitution as
condition of office or employment, to take examination on
constitutional principles where results of examination would be
made accessible to public.
Establishes constitutional competency examination test question
bank to be maintained by State Court Administrator. Requires
selection of nonprofit constitutional organization to provide
examination questions, training and study materials.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to constitutional competency examinations.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + (1)(a) Every elected official or public
employee who is required to swear or affirm to support the United
States Constitution or the Oregon Constitution as a condition of
office or employment shall take a constitutional competency
examination within six months of taking office every election
cycle for the position in which they have been elected or within
six months of having been employed in the position that requires
an oath or affirmation as a condition of employment.
(b) The examination required under paragraph (a) of this
subsection shall be given to:
(A) Persons elected to federal office;
(B) Persons elected to statewide office;
(C) Persons elected to the Legislative Assembly;
(D) Persons elected to local office; and
(E) Persons employed in a position that requires an oath or
affirmation specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection.
(2) The constitutional competency examination required under
subsection (1) of this section shall be developed and managed by
the State Court Administrator.
(3)(a) Questions for the constitutional competency examination
shall be developed by a nonprofit constitutional organization,
selected by the State Court Administrator and a panel of six
people chosen at random from a jury list specified under ORS
54.070. The State Court Administrator will provide a report
outlining each of the proposed organizations, its advantages and
disadvantages, and a summary of the preferred organization. Each
person will have equal weight in voting for the organization,
requiring at a minimum four of the seven agreeing for an
organization to be selected.
(b) The nonprofit constitutional organization selected under
paragraph (a) of this subsection shall submit questions developed
for review by the State Court Administrator and a panel of six
people chosen at random from a jury list specified under ORS
54.070. A person chosen under this paragraph may not be a person
who serves on the panel created under paragraph (a) of this
subsection. Each person will have equal weight in voting for the
questions, requiring at a minimum four of the seven agreeing for
a question to be selected for inclusion in the test question bank
to be used for the selection of questions for the examination.
(c) The panel specified in paragraph (b) of this subsection may
develop potential questions for consideration for inclusion in
the test bank and submit the questions to the selected nonprofit
constitutional organization to be assessed for future inclusion
in the test bank.
(d)(A) The State Court Administrator and the panel specified in
paragraph (b) of this subsection shall meet every four years to
determine if the questions in the test bank meet the needs of the
State of Oregon based on economic factors and social factors.
(B) If the panel determines that different questions are needed
for the examination, the State Court Administrator and the panel
will suggest areas of focus, or suggested questions, to the
nonprofit constitutional organization. These suggestions shall be
submitted within three months of the initial meeting of the
panel. No more than three months from the date the suggestions
are submitted, the nonprofit constitutional organization shall
provide questions suggested for inclusion in the test bank to the
panel. These suggested questions shall be selected for use,
while existing questions shall be selected for removal from the
test bank. Each person shall have equal weight in voting for the
questions, requiring at a minimum four of the seven agreeing for
a question to be selected.
(e) The pool of questions to choose from may not be less than
150 percent or more than 200 percent of the number of questions
required for the examination.
(4)(a) The constitutional competency examination required to be
developed as provided under subsection (2) of this section shall:
(A) Consist of at least 100 questions and no more than 200
questions selected from the test bank developed and managed by
the State Court Administrator.
(B) Be at least two hours and no more than four hours in
continuous length when sitting for the examination.
(C) Consist of two primary areas of study:
(i) The United States Constitution; and
(ii) The Oregon Constitution.
(D) Consist of examination questions grouped into four equal
areas covering:
(i) Working knowledge of the Oregon and United States
Constitutions;
(ii) Practical application of the Oregon and United States
Constitutions;
(iii) Level of self-interest based on the degree of using the
position for personal gain; and
(iv) Level of commitment to the position based on the degree of
desire to enforce the Oregon and United States Constitutions.
(E) Contain an equal number of questions from the following
subject areas:
(i) Use of regulation;
(ii) Implementation of the justice system;
(iii) Framing legislation for economic growth; and
(iv) Understanding constitutional requirements. As used in this
paragraph, 'understanding constitutional requirements ' means
comprehension of constitutional principles including, but not
limited to, protected rights, separation of powers and
fundamental principles of democratic republic-based government
with an understanding of the intent of the founding fathers.
(F) Have the questions for each of the sections chosen at
random to ensure that each test will be different and will
prevent individuals from documenting answers to the questions.
(G) Provide for relative weighted scoring of the examination of
the practical application against four political areas of thought
as follows:
(i) Republican political thought;
(ii) Democratic political thought;
(iii) Socialistic political thought; and
(iv) Theological political thought.
(H) Be structured so that each examination question will have
multiple choices selected so that each answer will indicate a
direction to one of the four listed political areas of thought,
and that the scoring of the examination will provide a percent of
applicability within each of the political areas of thought
specified in this subsection.
(I) Contain questions that are weighted by their importance
based on the relevance to the subject area and grouping.
(b) As used in this subsection:
(A) 'Level of commitment to the position' means a relative
weighted score that demonstrates the general commitment to the
elected position from committed to working to provide the level
of effort to satisfy and lead their constituents and other
citizens to an interest in the position to further their own
career with the least amount of effort.
(B) 'Level of self-interest' means a relative weighted score
that demonstrates the general level of effort that the elected
official may be focused on in advancing their own self interest
from extremely self interested to focus on delivering results to
the official's constituents and other citizens.
(5)(a) The officer or entity responsible for giving the
examination shall score and provide the results to the State
Court Administrator so the results can be posted as required by
this subsection.
(b) The results of the examination required under this section:
(A) Are public records subject to disclosure under ORS 192.410
to 192.505.
(B) Shall be posted on the website of the State Court
Administrator.
(C) Must be readable and downloadable in the standard internet
format and be easily accessible by other websites.
(D) Shall indicate that the test was 'REFUSED' if the elected
official or public employee required to take the constitutional
competency examination has failed to do so.
(6)(a) The State Court Administrator shall make available to
the elected officials and public employees required to take the
constitutional competency examination training and study
materials to assist in the preparation for the examination.
(b) The training and study materials shall be purchased by the
official from their own personal funds or their election funds.
(c) The cost of testing, training and study materials shall be
consistent with other costs for government and private industry
for these types of services and products and may not exceed the
general average cost for similar services and materials by more
than 125 percent.
(d) Administration of the examination by the State Court
Administrator shall be within standard testing guidelines, as
established by a nationally recognized testing service.
(7) The nonprofit constitutional organization selected under
subsection (3) of this section shall:
(a) Make available training and study materials required by the
State Court Administrator.
(b) Provide a constitutional competency training course at
least once every six months within the State of Oregon. + }
SECTION 2. { + Section 1 of this 2011 Act applies to officials
elected and public employees employed after the effective date of
this 2011 Act. + }
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