Terms Used In Oregon Statutes > Chapter 469 - Energy; Conservation Programs; Energy Facilities

• Actuarially sound: means funding and insurance sufficient to pay those losses and their related costs which are known or are projected by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services from analyses of claims, loss experience and risk factors. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Adjournment sine die: The end of a legislative session "without day." These adjournments are used to indicate the final adjournment of an annual or the two-year session of legislature.
• agency: means each state branch, institution, department, board, commission or activity of whatever nature. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Any other state: includes any state and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney fees: has the meaning given that term in ORCP 68 A. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Board of directors: means the individual or individuals who are vested with overall management of the affairs of a domestic corporation or foreign corporation, irrespective of the name that designates the individual or individuals. See Oregon Statutes 65.001
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Corporation: means a domestic corporation or a foreign corporation. See Oregon Statutes 65.001
• Data: means information previously converted to language or symbols in a form which can be directly read by the information processing equipment. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defense attorney: Represent defendants in criminal matters.
• Deliver: means to transfer by any method of delivery used in conventional commercial practice, including delivery by hand, mail, commercial delivery and electronic transmission. See Oregon Statutes 65.001
• Department: means the Oregon Department of Administrative Services. See Oregon Statutes 276.001
• Department: means the Oregon Department of Administrative Services. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Engineering specifications: means those records which provide detailed documentation of the construction, wiring, arrangement and related engineering details of the information processing equipment. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• executive department: means all statewide elected officers other than judges, and all boards, commissions, departments, divisions and other entities, without regard to the designation given to those entities, that are within the executive branch of government as described in Article III, section 1, of the Oregon Constitution, and that are not:

  (a) In the judicial department or the legislative department;

  (b) Local governments; or

  (c) Special government bodies. See Oregon Statutes 174.112

• Financial institution: means any person lawfully conducting business as:

  (a) A financial institution or trust company, as those terms are defined in ORS § 706. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005

• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Foreign corporation: means a corporation that is organized under laws other than the laws of the state and that would be a nonprofit corporation if organized under the laws of the state. See Oregon Statutes 65.001
• Forfeiting agency: means a public body that is seeking forfeiture of property under this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Forfeiture counsel: means an attorney designated by a forfeiting agency to represent the forfeiting agency in forfeiture proceedings. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gender identity: means an individual's gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behavior, regardless of whether the identity, appearance, expression or behavior differs from that associated with the gender assigned to the individual at birth. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Instrumentality: has the meaning given in ORS § 131. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• judicial department: means the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Oregon Tax Court, the circuit courts and all administrative divisions of those courts, whether denominated as boards, commissions, committees or departments or by any other designation. See Oregon Statutes 174.113
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• legislative department: means the Legislative Assembly, the committees of the Legislative Assembly and all administrative divisions of the Legislative Assembly and its committees, whether denominated as boards, commissions or departments or by any other designation. See Oregon Statutes 174.114
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Media: means all active information processing material including all forms of data, program material and related engineering specifications employed in the agency's information processing operation except property which the agency elects not to cover. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Member: means a person that is entitled, under a domestic corporation's or foreign corporation's articles of incorporation or bylaws, to exercise any of the rights described in ORS § 65. See Oregon Statutes 65.001
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Motor vehicle with a hidden compartment: means a motor vehicle as defined in ORS § 801. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Personal property: means tangible personal property owned, leased, controlled or possessed by a state agency and includes all chattels and movables, such as merchandise, furniture, goods, livestock, vehicles, aircraft, movable machinery, movable tools, movable equipment, general operating supplies and media. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Proceeding: means a civil, criminal, administrative or investigatory action. See Oregon Statutes 65.001
• Proceeds of prohibited conduct: includes any benefit, interest or property of any kind, without reduction for expenses of acquiring or maintaining the property. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Program material: means stored data used to direct the information processing equipment as to which input or memory to use, how to use it, and the type of results to obtain, including any diagrams or other records which can be used to reproduce such instructions. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Property: means real and personal property as defined in this section, and any other property under the control of the state in which the state has an insurable interest as determined by the department. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Property: means any interest in anything of value, including the whole of any lot or tract of land and tangible and intangible personal property, including currency, instruments or securities or any other kind of privilege, interest, claim or right whether due or to become due. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public body: has the meaning given in ORS § 174. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Seizing agency: means a law enforcement agency that has seized property for forfeiture. See Oregon Statutes 131A.005
• Sentencing guidelines: A set of rules and principles established by the United States Sentencing Commission that trial judges use to determine the sentence for a convicted defendant. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sexual orientation: means an individual's actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• special government body: means any of the following:

  (a) A public corporation created under a statute of this state and specifically designated as a public corporation. See Oregon Statutes 174.117

• state government: means the executive department, the judicial department and the legislative department. See Oregon Statutes 174.111
• State Treasury: includes those financial assets the lawful custody of which are vested in the State Treasurer and the office of the State Treasurer relating to the custody of those financial assets. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial jury: A group of citizens who hear the evidence presented by both sides at trial and determine the facts in dispute. Federal criminal juries consist of 12 persons. Federal civil juries consist of six persons.
• True bill: Another word for indictment.
• Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Vessel: means a boat, ship, craft or structure made to float or travel upon the water which may or may not be powered by a marine engine. See Oregon Statutes 278.005
• Violate: includes failure to comply. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.