Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution requiring 6% of voters from each congressional district in Oregon for initiative petitions, and 8% for a petition to amend the Constitution.
Personal Choice and Responsibility
Removes the possibility of an individual citizen from the petition process.
Fiscal Responsibility
It dramatically increases the costs to get initiatives and referendums on the ballot perhaps by as much as 50%. The unions have money to do that but other organizations do not.
Limited Government
While it makes it more difficult for the unions it also makes it impossible for citizens to get anything on the ballot. If it had been in effect previously there would have been no measure 5 (saving Oregon taxpayers around 20 billion in property taxes since 1991), or measure 11 putting violent offenders in prison, or repeal of illegal alien drivers licenses. It would shift the power of the initiative and referendum process to the unions and the legislature and makes it impossible for any grassroots effort to advance limited government ideas. It will open the door for unions to qualify another measure 97 and make it impossible to refer legislative tax increases to the voters within the 90 day time frame. The unintended consequences are devastating to liberty and good governance.
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