The Oregon House is within days of scheduling a work session and floor vote on legislation preventing any future unlawful deployments of the Oregon National Guard. Cooperation between Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point) and Rep. Chip Shields (D-Portland) has led to bipartisan support for Oregon’s HB 2556, a bill that makes explicit the governor’s power to ensure the Guard is only used in the presence of a "valid Congressional enactment consistent with the Constitution of the United States of America." HB 2556-1 has gathered enough support to win adoption by the Oregon House, according to grassroots organizers who support it.

Thirteen state legislatures have begun consideration of similar legislation, including those of Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Grassroots campaigns are also under way in eleven other jurisdictions, being Alaska, California, District of Colombia, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. Yet Oregon may be on the verge of becoming the first state to adopt the proposed reform.

"This is the most important issue of our time, how and when to send our National Guard members into war," said Rep. Shields. While 2600 Oregon National Guard soldiers were mobilized in early May to head to Georgia and then Iraq, the legislation could still affect future deployments. Shields, Richardson, their cosponsors and supporters in the House and Senate, the organizers of the Campaign to Keep the Guard in Oregon, and at least 7200 Oregonians who signed petitions supporting the effort, expect that the bill will move to a work session and a floor vote very soon.

Rep. Richardson, whose own military service included service as an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, sees the issue as a question of state and federal powers, which are clearly spelled out in the Constitution. "The Constitution gives only Congress the authority to declare war," said Richardson. "If the new President, a constitutional scholar, wants to use Oregon's National Guard, he should only do so pursuant to a valid Congressional Resolution. The Oregon National Guard should not be treated like the private army of any U.S. President."

The Oregon legislation is a product of a national multi-state campaign organized under the name, "Bring the Guard Home! It's the Law." The national campaign launched on January 21, 2009, on the day following the presidential inauguration, with a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. (see www.BringtheGuardHome.org for video). National campaign organizers say that Oregon's success, just months after the national launch, is providing inspiration to similar campaigns in the other 23 states. In the end, organizers say, they hope to democratize defense policy by restoring the National Guard to its proper, central military role.

More info:

National campaign: http://www.BringtheGuardHome.org
Oregon campaign: http://www.rdrop.com/~pjw/guardhomecampaign08.html

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