Co-chair, Government Relations Practice Group

Representative Experience
Representing and advising clients on matters such as lobbying for state and federal legislation, campaign finance, government ethics, initiatives and referenda, insurance recovery actions, response to environmental claims, appellate cases and a variety of litigation matters

Has authored and been a primary advocate for major legislation in areas of state and local taxation (with special emphasis on property tax), tort reform, and other specific legislative changes

Notable Legislative Accomplishments
Organized the Oregon Litigation Reform Coalition, which successfully lobbied a package of bills providing for reciprocity in attorney fee awards, prohibiting application of RICO in most business disputes unless a prior criminal conviction was obtained, changing standards for punitive damages awards, allocating 60 percent of those awards to the state, and abolishing the doctrine of joint and several liability replacing it with the doctrine of reallocation of most tort actions

Authored and lobbied for numerous sections of “Measure 50” and its implementing legislation reducing and limiting property taxes statewide

Authored and successfully lobbied “Right to Farm” legislation protecting agriculture from many nuisance and trespass suits as development moves closer to farming communities

Negotiated and successfully advocated legislation preempting local governments from imposing “conversion penalties” on HUD Section 8 landlords who convert to “free market” at completion of Section 8 programs

Authored and successfully lobbied adoption of the Oregon Ethics Reform Act and the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission Amendments

Successfully lobbied adoption of legislation permitting public utilities to include in rates a return on undepreciated value of closed power plants

Authored and successfully lobbied Oregon’s “Environmental Cleanup Assistance Act” requiring Oregon law to apply to insurance policies on environmental claims and expanding definition of “suit” to include voluntary responses to environmental regulatory bodies

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation providing transition rules for owners of historic properties which experience property tax assessment “step ups” upon program renewal

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation exempting property used in egg production from property tax

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation providing immunity from suit for antifreeze manufacturers who add “bittering agents” to antifreeze products for safety

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation permitting both in-state and out-of-state residents “like-kind exchange” tax treatment for Oregon income tax purposes

Authored and successfully lobbied for 2003 Transition Amendments to the Environmental Cleanup Assistance Act permitting "all sums" recovery against non-settling insurers remaining as defendants in pending environmental insurance recovery cases

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation permitting certain aerial display fireworks companies to maintain their operations in exclusive farm use zones

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation creating Oregon's Willamette River Cleanup Authority to monitor the Portland Harbor Superfund RI/FS process and recommend whether the state should issue pollution control bonds to finance the cleanup

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation relieving developers of certain licensing requirements and permitting "down stream" suits to recover damages from subcontractors notwithstanding license status of developer

Successfully lobbied for legislation providing some regulatory oversight relating to SAIF Corporation

Lobbied numerous amendments for a variety of business clients

Authored and successfully lobbied for legislation exempting from property tax, interests out of state cities in the Pacific N.W. AC Intertie electrical transmission system.

Successfully lobbied for legislation exempting religious schools from state oversight relating to degrees offered.

Successfully lobbied for a variety of appropriations

Significant Appellate Cases
Has argued or briefed 50 reported cases including:

Oregon Waste Systems. et al. v. Department of Environmental Quality, 511 US 93, 114 S.Ct. 1345, 128 L.Ed.2nd 13 (1994)

Gilliam County v. Environmental Quality Commission, 316 Or 99, 849 P2nd 500 (1993); also at 114 OrApp 369, 837 P2nd 965 (1992)

Van Natta v. Keisling, 324 Or 514, 931 P2nd 770 (1997)

Van Natta v. Keisling, 131 F3rd 1215 (1998)

Drummond v. Oregon, 83 OrApp 66, 730 P2nd 582 (1986)

Associated Builders and Contractors v. Tri-Met, 170 OrApp 271, 12 P.3d 62 (2000)

League of Oregon Cities v. State of Oregon, 334 Or 645, 56 P3rd 892 (2002)

Oregonians for Sound Economic Policy, Inc. v. State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation, 187 Or App 621, 69 P.3d 742, rev den 336 Or 60 (2003)

Perrin, et al v. Kitzhaber, et al, 191 Or App. 439, 83 P.3d 368 (2004), rev dismissed 338 Or 17 (2005)

Prior Experience
Shareholder, Hagen, Dye, Hirschy and DiLorenzo, P.C.

Partner, O’Connell Goyak & DiLorenzo

Partner, Moshofsky DiLorenzo & Dietz

Sole Proprietor, John DiLorenzo, Jr., Attorney at Law

Memberships and Activities
Oregon State Bar

Bar of the District of Columbia

Admitted to the Oregon State Courts, the Federal District Court for the District of Oregon, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Oregon, the Courts of the District of Columbia, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court

Appointed by Oregon Senate President to Oregon Law Commission

North American Regional Vice-Chair of Government Affairs for Lex Mundi, an organization of independent law firms

Chair-Elect, Lex Mundi Government Affairs Practice Group

2005 "Best of the Bar" Award Recipient, Government Law, Portland Business Journal

Selected to "Oregon Super Lawyers," Law & Politics, 2006, 2007

1999-2001, Board of Directors, Arlington Club

1993, 1997, Board of Directors, University Club of Portland

Education
J.D., Willamette College of Law

B.S. in Economics, cum laude, Willamette University