Senate panel approves referral of constitutional amendment banning 'secret police' to the floor

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to adopt the dash‑3 amendment to SJR 203 and sent the constitutional referral to the Senate floor with a due‑pass recommendation and prior reference to the Rules Committee.

Committee counsel explained the dash‑3 replaces a prior, more prescriptive text with a short statement that "the people of Oregon have a right to be free from enforcement of the law by secret police," and would send the amendment to voters at the next statewide general election. Senators asked staff whether "secret police" has any constitutional history or settled judicial definition; legislative counsel said the term does not appear elsewhere in the Oregon Constitution and would require interpretation if adopted by voters.

Senator Manning said he supports the amendment because of public concerns about masked or unidentifiable people acting with law‑enforcement markings, and he asked that any future implementation include statutory language to define enforcement mechanisms. Senator McLean asked whether the measure would exclude undercover operations; counsel and the chair said the amendment was intentionally concise and implementation questions would be addressed in later statutory work if voters approve.

The committee adopted the dash‑3 amendment and then voted to move SJR 203 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation and referral to Rules. The clerk called roll on the amendment adoption and recorded six ayes, zero noes.

What's next: If passed by the Senate, SJR 203 would be placed on the ballot for a statewide vote; implementing statutes and definitions would likely be considered in a subsequent legislative session.