Prop*50

Casino gambling proposal fails to qualify in Oregon; backers sue

Backers of an initiative proposal have sued Secretary of State Kate Brown.  Initiative 76 would have allowed a single non-tribal casino in the state.  Secretary Brown announced on July 27 that the initiative did not contain enough valid signatures and would not be on the November ballot.  Casino developers have filed suit against the secretary of state, alleging that the state's random sampling method is flawed, and that the petition did in fact have enough valid signatures.

This isn't the first suit filed this year over signature verification.  Backers of Initiative 50, a redistricting measure, also sued when their signatures were declared insufficient.  They said the state's rules for judging which signatures were eligible for the verification process was unfair.  The court disagreed on Monday, saying the process was fair and the petition lacked sufficient valid signatures.  Initiative 50 backers have not said whether they will appeal that decision.

A separate casino measure, Initiative 77, did qualify for the Oregon ballot on Tuesday.  It would authorize a single privately-owned casino in Multnomah County.  The problem is that backs need both Initiative 77 and Initiative 76 to pass.  76 would create an exception in the state constitution providing for a non-tribal casino, and 77 would authorize the backer's casino.  Without passage of 76, Initiative 77 is meaningless.

Oregon: 2 initiatives qualify for the ballot

The Oregon secretary of state announced today that two initiatives have qualified for the ballot:

• Petition 13 would impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain felony sex crimes and DUI convictions.  It's sponsor is former legislator Kevin Mannix, who has sponsored a number of anti-crime initiatives in Oregon.  Most recently, he sponsored Measures 60 and 61 in 2008, both of which failed to pass.
• Petition 28 would allow the creation of dispensaries to sell medical marijuana.  The use of medical marijuana is already legal in Oregon, but its sale is not.

Three more initiatives are in the signature verification stage, and results for all will be announced no later than August 1.

Oregon: Six initiatives filed

Proponents of six ballot initiatives filed signatures for verification by the July 2 deadline.  The secretary of state has 30 days to verify the signatures.  The six initiatives filed were:

13: mandatory minimum sentences for drunk drivers and sex offenders

28: create dispensaries for medical marijuana

50: create an independent redistricting commission

70: dedicate lottery funds to parks and wildlife

75 and 77: casino gaming

Read more about all six at OregonLive.com.

Oregon: Initiative Review Panel Seeking Citizen Participation

An Oregon non-profit yesterday sent out surveys to 10,000 randomly selected voters in hopes that they will agree to serve on Citizens' Initiative Review Panels.  Panelists will be selected from among the qualified voters who return their surveys.

This pilot project in Oregon sponsored by the group Healthy Democracy Oregon will take a novel approach to providing voters with information on initiatives.  Up to three initiatives will undergo reviews by diverse panels of 24 randomly-selected Oregon citizens.  Each panel will hold public hearings for five days, hearing testimony for initiative sponsors and opponents, as well as policy experts on the issues at hand.  The panels will then draft a "Citizens Statement" on each initiative, which will be included in the state's official voters' pamphlet.  Archives of the panels' public hearings and related materials will also be publicly available online.

This year's pilot project was approved and funded by the legislature in 2009.  In 2008, Healthy Democracy Oregon conducted their own independent demonstration project, reviewing Measure 58 on the November 2008 ballot.  This video provides an overview of the project's goals and a review of the 2008 project.

This is a project worth keeping an eye on.  It has the potential to provide a new, unbiased source of information on initiatives.