In the State Senate’s 2 month term, Orion is constantly in the minority, even casting the sole dissenting vote – in an environment dominated by mining interests to rein in those forces, or at least to abate their more glaring offenses. In the assembly’s deliberation Orion introduced 6 bills, 2 were close to his heart – one was designed to protect “every man, poor or rich, who might buy shares in any mining corporation” by securing and safeguarding that person’s right to elect and remove officers and restricting the power of trustees to levy assessments on stockholders.
The other was intended to change the state’s revenue system by putting the appraisal of a mine’s output on a more realistic basis than currently, by raising the rate of taxation from 50c per $100 of proceeds to $1.25, and by abolishing “the enormously expensive system of suits for [the collection of] taxes” and substituting seizure and sale of assets. both bills are tabled without reading.