Article IV, Section 10 thru 11 of the Oregon State Constitution

In this post, we will look at Article IV, section 10 of the Oregon State Constitution.


Section 10 defines when the house and senate will sit.  For odd numbered years, it will sit for less than 160 days.  For election years, it will sit for less than 30 days.  It is possible to convene the legislature for emergency work as defined in Section 10a.  However, I am rather astounded that the sessions of the legislature are so short.  There truly is not a lot that can be achieved in 30 days of session.


Subsection (2) defines an "organizational" session, in which the legislature can do everything except overturn gubernatorial vetoes and pass new legislation to be sent to the governor's desk.


Subsection (3) defines that the limits in (1) above can be extended through voting to do so in both the House and Senate, but it needs renewed every 5 days.


Section 10a defines a process to have the legislature sit in an emergency session if so deemed necessary by half the members.  While it makes it read better to have inserted a section 10a, it might have been possible to simply add this as subsection (4) to section 10.


Section 11 states that the legislature has to make up all the rules by which it runs.  Here is a link to Robert's Rules of Order which is a common set of rules of parliamentary procedure.
Note that the rules enacted by each house may be different from the other.