Mike McInally

Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Thursday signed a pair of bills that were to some extent inspired by reporting by Gazette-Times reporter Bennett Hall.

Senate Bill 771 is a package of reforms meant to fill in several cracks in Oregon’s Landlord-Tenant Law. Hall’s reporting on Corvallis landlord Kip Schoning helped focus attention on some questionable fees charged by landlords. As a result, the bill tightens up broad language that allows property managers to charge a fee for “any specific reasonably anticipated landlord expense.”

Kulongoski on Thursday also signed House Bill 2318, which allows people who have been arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants — but who never were charged with the crime — to petition a judge to have the arrest stricken from their record. A loophole in state law meant that DUII arrests continued to shadow the records of even people who never were charged. Hall discovered the loophole as he investigated a Corvallis police officer who became notorious for overzealous DUII enforcement.

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