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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Here's a look at highlights of the past week in the Oregon Legislature:
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BIRTH CONTROL
Two bills expanding access to birth control are headed for votes in the House and Senate after advancing through committees last week. The Senate will take up a bill that would require private insurers to cover up to 12 months of birth control at a time, much more than the 30- or 90-day supplies that women can currently get. In the House, the Rules Committee advanced another bill that would allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense birth control without a doctor's prescription. The advocates of each measure say fthey'd make it easier for women to access contraception and reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. Neither had opposition in the committees.
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SEX CRIMES
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to double the amount of time that police and prosecutors have to bring charges against people accused of rape or sexual assault. The proposed 12-year statute of limitations is still less than the 20 years that some sexual assault victims are seeking. Meanwhile, the Senate backed a bill aimed at closing a loophole in state privacy laws that recently let a man go unpunished after he took photographs up a teenager's skirt. The House also voted to outlaw so-called "revenge porn," making it a crime to share intimate images of someone without that person's consent.
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TALKING ABOUT PAY
The Oregon Senate endorsed a bill that would allow people to sue an employer if they're sanctioned for discussing their pay with other people or for seeking a raise. The bill is backed by Democrats who say it would help women who make less than their male co-workers fight for fairness. Republicans were staunchly opposed, saying it would expose businesses to lawsuits and wouldn't fix the wage gap between men and women.
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MARIJUANA
The Senate voted nearly unanimously to impose stricter regulations on Oregon's medical marijuana program, advancing a bill that's viewed much more skeptically in the House. Key representatives — including the co-chairman of the committee that will consider it — oppose a provision allowing cities and counties to ban marijuana stores in their boundaries. The bill is part of the Legislature's effort to rein in the medical marijuana program, which is widely believed to create excess pot that ends up on the black market, before recreational marijuana becomes legal.
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