Governor Kate Brown released the following statement Wednesday regarding a special session to clarify the ambiguity around Senate Bill 1013:
"While it is clear there is a misunderstanding regarding the intent of the words in Senate Bill 1013, it is also clear there is not sufficient support for a special session to pass a fix. When announcing my support for a special session, I said that it was conditional on stakeholders and legislators crafting bill language that had the votes to pass. That has not been achieved. I cannot justify the additional cost and time a special session requires without that support, and I will not be calling the legislature into a special session this month before the law goes into effect."
Legislators were originally told the bill would not be retroactive, but the Oregon Department of Justice later issued an opinion that the bill could apply to previous death penalty cases.