Oregon Public Broadcasting

Hollywood writers love to borrow ideas from real life events. So do – it turns out – lawmakers.

Ripped from the headlines isn’t just for TV. Every legislative session brings a new round of bills that respond to issues in the news.

We asked our statehouse correspondents in Washington and Oregon to pick out a few of the best from this year’s sessions. We start with Austin Jenkins in Olympia.

A big issue in the news last year was toxic toys. Like this report on CNN.

CNN: “The safety of our imported products, downright scary...an eleventh hour recall of Halloween products tens of thousands of fake toy teeth.”

This year, Washington State Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, a Seattle Democrat, has a – you guessed it – toxic toys bill.

Mary Lou Dickerson: “Toys like little dangerous ducky here.”

At a recent legislative hearing, Dickerson gingerly held up an oversized yellow rubber ducky.

Mary Lou Dickerson: “I brought this ducky to show you because it actually has incredibly high levels of lead. I’ve been a fan of rubber duckies for years. But this little guy, he’s dangerous, and after I get through testifying I’m going to go and wash my hands.”

To be fair, Dickerson says she was working on her toxic toys bill before all the headlines. But she admits the media frenzy increases the odds her bill will pass this year.

Mary Lou Dickerson: “It gives it some extra oomph. That’s for sure. It still has to go through all the committees, there’s no change there. But there’s more of a willingness to hear the bill and try to really understand what the bill’s trying to do, to perfect the bill and then move it along.”

It’s not just lead-laced toys that have caught the attention of Washington lawmakers. There’s a proposal to create an airline passenger bill of rights. That’s in response to horror stories of people stuck for hours on the tarmac. One lawmaker wants the state to divest from any companies that do business in Iran. The Governor has made campus safety a top priority in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings and another shooting at the University of Washington.

And, of course, mortgage reform is a hot topic.

It’s a similar story in the Oregon legislature. That’s where we find my colleague Chris Lehman.

Here in Salem there are several bills ripped from the headlines.  Remember the mountain climbers rescued on Mount Hood recently?  That prompted one lawmaker to renew his push to require climbers to carry locater beacons. And it seems every day there’s another story on foreclosures so of course there are several mortgage lending reform bills in the pipeline.

Not everyone’s a fan of those measures.  In a pre-session hearing, Republican Representative Kim Thatcher said mortgage regulation can wait until the full length session next year.

Kim Thatcher:  “I just look at this issue as being pretty darn complex to be tackling in a February session.”

That prompted this response from Democratic Representative Diane Rosenbaum:

Diane Rosenbaum:  “I think if you stopped most people on the street in this or any other state they would wholeheartedly disagree with you.  They would think that mortgage lending and the issues of foreclosure are very much at a crisis situation and something that ought to be dealt with.”

News driven issues may be popular attention getters for lawmakers.  Pacific University Political Science Professor Jim Moore says there might be an underlying motive behind them.

Jim Moore:  “It’s not very effective in terms of getting policy done in Salem.  But it can be very effective in mobilizing your base and getting people to turn out to vote in elections.”

But Moore says not all “ripped from the headlines” bills are duds.

Jim Moore: “If there is an actual issue that is going to have a direct impact on a huge number of Oregonians, that’s a legitimate issue. Mortgages, yes.  Because the housing crisis, while it’s not as bad in Oregon as the rest of the country, it’s certainly coming to Oregon.  Toys from China, no. That doesn’t have an impact on a very big number of people in the state”

Oregon House Democrats disagree with that assessment.  They find headlines informative and have put toy safety on the top of their priority list for the February session.