Oregon Advisory Opinions May 07, 1945: OAG 45-75 (May 7, 1945)

Oregon Attorney General Opinions

1945.

OAG 45-75.

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The amendment of section 81-906, O. C. L. A., chapter 186, Oregon Laws 1945, does not require a reorganization of state central committees; such amendment enlarges the committees as presently organized by adding thereto chairmen and vice chairmen of each county central committee.

The term of the present officers of the county central committees is not affected by the amendment of section 81-905, O. C. L. A., by section 5, chapter 450, Oregon Laws 1945.

Dear Senator Pearson: I have your letter of the 2nd instant wherein you propound the following questions with reference to House Bill No. 321:

"(1) Do the Chairman and Assistant Chairman of the County Committees become members of the State Committee when the law becomes effective June 16, 1945?"

"(2) Do the other members of the State Committee remain the same?

"(3) Presuming the answer to the first two questions is Yes, then must the State Committee meet and organize within 90 days or when must it meet and organize?"

You also ask the following questions with reference to Senate Bill No. 321:

"(1) Do the present County Precinct Committee men and women hold the offices until after November 5, 1946 elections?

"(2) Do the present County Central Committee officers hold their positions until the new Committee is elected or organized?

"(3) Do the present Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen become the members of the State Committee until after the November 1946 election?"

A perusal of House Bill 321 of the 1945 session of the legislature, which is chapter 186, Oregon Laws, 1945, and which amends section 81-906, O. C. L. A., leads me to the conclusion that the organizations of the central committees, both county and state, as they exist at present

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will not be affected by the amendment. While the language employed in the amendment involved does not clearly express the changes intended, it is noted that the bill is entitled:

"* * * an act to amend section 81-906, O. C. L. A., as amended by section 1, chapter 134, Oregon Laws 1941, relating to state and county central committees."

and that the language reenacted in the amendments is as follows:

"Sec. 81-906. The officers of the retiring central committees shall preside until their successors are elected; provided, that in the organization, election of officers and transaction of business in all committee deliberations, only duly elected precinct committeemen shall be permitted to participate, * * *." (Italics the writer's.)

This language of the amendment clearly expresses the intent that the present officers of the organizations shall hold until their successors are elected. Such intent further appears by the failure of the legislature to change the following portion of the above quoted phraseology:

"* * * that in the organization, election of officers and transaction of business in all committee deliberations, only duly elected precinct committeemen shall be permitted to participate, * * *." (Italics the writer's.)

Your first two questions, above quoted, are therefore answered in the affirmative and your third question is answered in the negative. Of course, in case of a vacancy caused by death, resignation or otherwise it would be necessary for the state central committee to convene for the purpose of filling such vacancy pursuant to the applicable statute. No such vacancy occurs by reason of the amendment to which you refer.

A further reason for my conclusion is that the amendment to the above section further provides:

"The state central committee shall consist of two state central committeemen elected by the county central committee of each county and the chairman and vice-chairman of the county central committee of each county."

While the amendment enlarges the personnel of the committee by adding the chairman and vice-chairman of the county central committee in each county, this, I take it, merely enlarges the committee and does not affect the organization.

With reference to your inquiry about Senate Bill 321, which is chapter 450, Oregon Laws, 1945, the same conclusion applies, that is, that the organization of the county central committee will hold office until November 5, 1946, or until their successors are elected, and it follows, of course, that there can be no county central committee elected and organized until after the general election in 1946.

Your last question is also answered in the affirmative, that is to say the present chairman and vice-chairman of the county central committee in each county of the state become members of the state central committee when this enactment becomes effective on June 16, 1945. In case of a vacancy in either of such offices such vacancy should be filled by the county central committee and the new chairman and vice-chairman, as the case might be, should qualify and automatically become a member of the state committee at once.

The amendment of section 81-905, O. C. L. A., by section 5, chapter 450, Oregon Laws, 1945, merely changes the time for the meeting of the members of the county central committee from 40 days to 90 days after their election; such is the only change made. It follows, of course, that the county central committee would first have to be organized before the state central committee effects its organization, and if the county central committee fails to organize then there is provision made in the statute whereby such organization may be effected.