Terms Used In Oregon Statutes > Chapter 757 - Utility Regulation Generally

• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Any other state: includes any state and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• board: means the governing body of a people's utility district, elected and functioning under the provisions of this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 261.010
• board of commissioners: means the governing body of a district. See Oregon Statutes 264.010
• Buyer: means a person who buys or contracts to buy goods. See Oregon Statutes 72.1030
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• Commission: means the Oregon Transportation Commission. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County: means the county in which the district, or the greater portion of the taxable assessed value of the district, is located. See Oregon Statutes 264.010
• County board: means the county court or board of county commissioners of the county. See Oregon Statutes 264.010
• County clerk: means the county clerk of the county. See Oregon Statutes 264.010
• County governing body: means either the county court or board of county commissioners and, if the affected territory is composed of portions of two or more counties, the governing body of that county having the greatest portion of the assessed value of all taxable property within the affected territory, as shown by the most recent assessment roll of the counties. See Oregon Statutes 261.010
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• Director: means the Director of Transportation. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• district: means an incorporated people's utility district, created under the provisions of this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 261.010
• District: means a domestic water supply district formed under this chapter. See Oregon Statutes 264.010
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• engineer: means the person designated by the director under ORS § 184. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• Federal funds: means any funds provided by the United States for cooperative road work with states, counties, cities or other municipal subdivisions of the state under Acts of Congress enacted for those purposes. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Highway: means every public way, road, street, thoroughfare and place, including bridges, viaducts and other structures within the boundaries of this state, open, used or intended for use of the general public for vehicles or vehicular traffic as a matter of right. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• Highway fund: means the State Highway Fund. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means the holder of the record title to real property or the vendee under a land sale contract, if there is such a contract. See Oregon Statutes 264.010
• person with a disability: means any person who:

  (a) Has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities;

  (b) Has a record of such an impairment; or

  (c) Is regarded as having such an impairment. See Oregon Statutes 174.107

• petition: means a petition addressed to the county governing body and filed with the county clerk, containing the signatures of electors registered in the affected territory, equal to not less than three percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for Governor within the affected territory at the most recent election at which a candidate for Governor was elected to a full term, setting forth and particularly describing the boundaries of the parcel of territory, separate parcels of territory, city and district, or any of them, referred to therein, and requesting the county governing body to call an election to be held within the boundaries of the parcel of territory, separate parcels of territory, city and district, or any of them, for the formation of a district, the annexation of a parcel of territory or a city to a district, or the consolidation of two or more districts. See Oregon Statutes 261.010
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• public notice: means any legal publication which requires an affidavit of publication as required in ORS § 193. See Oregon Statutes 174.104
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Seller: means a person who sells or contracts to sell goods. See Oregon Statutes 72.1030
• state government: means the executive department, the judicial department and the legislative department. See Oregon Statutes 174.111
• State highway: means any road or highway designated as such by law or by the Oregon Transportation Commission pursuant to law and includes both primary and secondary state highways. See Oregon Statutes 366.005
• 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
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Utility: means a plant, works or other property used for development, generation, storage, distribution or transmission of electricity, or development or transmission of water for domestic or municipal purposes, but transmission of water shall not include water for irrigation or reclamation purposes, except as secondary to and when used in conjunction with a hydroelectric plant. See Oregon Statutes 261.010
• Violate: includes failure to comply. See Oregon Statutes 174.100