Dalton's Law passes out of Judiciary!

SALEM – Oregon State Representative Donna Nelson (R-McMinnville) celebrated an important milestone towards enacting Dalton’s Law. House Bill 3176, named after the late Dalton Robertson, was unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee and will now proceed to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

In 2005, Dalton Robertson disappeared in his brand new car equipped with an anti-theft vehicle locator device. Because the device could only be activated by the vehicle’s owner, law enforcement was unable to use it to find Dalton. When Dalton was found five days later, he was already dead; the coroner’s report indicated his death occurred earlier that same day. Had law enforcement been able to quickly obtain the vehicle location, Dalton could have been saved.

“This is a great day for the safety of our citizens,” said Representative Nelson. “This bill will help law enforcement quickly and safely find missing people when lives are in danger.”

Once enacted, Dalton’s Law would require vehicle location services to provide vehicle location information to law enforcement when life is danger or when crimes are committed. Representative Nelson’s office worked together with the Department of Justice and civil liberties groups to strengthen the bill’s capabilities to respond to life-threatening emergencies while protecting individual rights. J Graigory, Representative Nelson’s son and a personal friend of Dalton Robertson, emphasized the focus of the bill: “Dalton’s Law is about time: it protects the responsibility to obtain search warrants while affording the opportunity of law enforcement to save lives when time is of the essence, such as an Amber Alert, a violent car-jacking, or when a person suffering from an illness disappears.”

During the committee hearing, Representative Nelson read a prepared statement from Ann Robertson, Dalton’s Mother: “The greatest gift of Dalton’s Law is sparing a mother the frustration and anguish of knowing there is a way to immediately locate her son who’s in imminent danger, but law enforcement is not being allowed to utilize it—so the family must wait. Wait and fear. Wait and cry. Wait until it’s too late. House Bill 3176—Dalton’s Law—will not only save lives, it will save mothers and brothers and cousins and spouses from that terrible wait.”

The committee also received written testimony from John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted. “Every minute counts when trying to find missing persons. Oregon House Bill 3176 saves time, saves the resources of law enforcement, and saves lives.” The importance of time was echoed in written testimony from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. According to NCMEC President Ernie Allen, “immediate response is critical to safely recovering an abducted child. A recent study found that in 76% of the child abduction-homicide cases, the child is killed within the first 3 hours.”

Representative Nelson is optimistic that Dalton’s Law will soon pass the House of Representatives and move on to the Oregon Senate for further consideration.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

House Bill 3196 Approved by House Committee on Veterans Affairs


SALEM – An important measure to help Oregon’s disabled veterans cleared a major hurdle today. House Bill 3196, sponsored by Oregon State Representative Donna Nelson (R-McMinnville), has been approved by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

“This is a tremendous first step towards ensuring disabled veterans residing in rural areas will have adequate access to the health care they have earned,” said Representative Nelson. “We owe our veterans everything for the freedoms we enjoy. It is our duty to them to ensure they have the health care they need.”

House Bill 3196 will give rural disabled veterans access to care through the Oregon Health Plan. Even though disabled veterans have coverage through the Veterans Administration, they must seek medical care at regional medical centers in Portland or Roseburg. The tremendous distances some disabled veterans must travel is an impossible burden. By allowing rural disabled veterans access to the Oregon Health Plan, they may seek medical attention from local health care providers.

“Veterans have been concerned about this for decades,” said Greg Warnock, Executive Director of Oregon War Veterans Association. “This bill provides a stop-gap solution to issues of unavailable care for veterans in rural communities. The best solution would be for the federal government to provide mandatory health care through the Veterans Administration. Mandatory care would permit any disabled veteran to see any health care provider at VA expense. Until Congress provides this level of care, we would like rural disabled veterans to have access to the Oregon Health Plan for their urgent medical needs.”

House Bill 3196 now proceeds to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

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