State v. Rodriguez

The majority’s construction of Oregon Laws 2003, chapter 346, robs the statute of its plain meaning through the guise of creating ambiguity from wordplay. The license revocation sanction only applies to a person “whose third [DUII misdemeanor] conviction * * * occurs on or after” January 1, 2004. Or Laws 2003, ch 346, § 4. The majority reads this limitation to include the exact opposite — that the sanction applies to a person whose third DUII misdemeanor conviction occurs before January 1, 2004. That result is reached through a misapplication of the statutory construction principles set out…