Pubdate: Sat, 08 Jul 2000 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2000 The Register-Guard Contact: PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Website: http://www.registerguard.com/ Author: David Steves, The Register-Guard UP TO 28 INITIATIVES ON BALLOT SALEM - Political activists rushed to the state Capitol on Friday to turn in signatures for initiatives that would legalize marijuana, tighten restrictions on gun sales, ban schools from promoting homosexuality and make Oregon the first state to repeal the death penalty since its reinstatement. It will be weeks, however, before voters will know which of these hot-button proposals will make the November ballot. The approach of Friday's 5 p.m. signature deadline set off a flurry of activity at the Capitol, where elections workers today will begin determining how many of the 20 pending initiatives will qualify for the Nov. 7 election. They have until Aug. 4 to determine which measures have enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot. While the fate of some measures appeared uncertain, several others seemed to have plenty of signatures, thanks to last-minute petitioning. Those include six initiatives from Bill Sizemore and his group, Oregon Taxpayers United, that would cut state income taxes, abolish merit pay and seniority for teachers, staunch the flow of money from union members to political campaigns, and require voter approval for tax and fee increases. Fellow limited-government activist Don McIntire also submitted what appeared to be more than enough signatures for an initiative that would limit government spending. Combined with the eight measures from the Legislature that are guaranteed a spot on the ballot, Oregon voters will face between 22 and 28 ballot measures this fall - more than in any other state but still short of the record-setting 29 measures on a 1914 election. But if not the most, this still may be the weightiest stack of measures ever, given the high-profile nature of many of the questions that could face voters. Should the state abolish executions? Should Oregon's income taxes drop for Oregon corporations and middle- and upper-income households? Should schools, universities, social services and the rest of government dramatically curb spending? Throw in measures to ban animal trapping, restrict schools' ability to address issues related to homosexuality, and weaken the clout of unions. "The breadth and spread of all this is really something," said Katherine Eaton of Eugene, who is in charge of analyzing measures for the Oregon League of Women Voters. "I'm really concerned about the complexity of some of the issues on this ballot. On top of that, we have social policy issues like the death penalty that people are really going to need to think about." Eaton readily acknowledges that, as a chief sponsor for one of the ballot measures, she's partly responsible for the work that's in store for voters. Her measure would create a system of publicly financed campaigns. Like many initiative activists, Eaton said she went the ballot route as a last resort. "We would rather have gotten this through the Legislature. We tried, and we couldn't get them to do anything," she said. With tough new rules in place for validating signatures on initiative petitions, six measures are in jeopardy of falling short of the number required to appear on the ballot. These include measures touching on the volatile issues of capital punishment, homosexuality, gun control and drug legalization. The other two measures on the bubble would require government compensation for property "takings" and expand the Legislature's power to control administrative rule-making. The more difficult signature standard was prompted by two new laws. One prescribes how elections workers filter out invalid signatures, and the other was interpreted to discount signatures from voters who are deemed ``inactive'' because they've moved or haven't voted in five years. In addition, a proliferation of paid signature gatherers is being blamed for a higher rate of improperly signed petitions. Initiative petitions submitted earlier this year came back with nearly 27 percent invalid signatures, compared with about 17 percent during the 1990s. If these preliminary validity rates hold true this year, measures that would amend the Oregon Constitution will need about 123,000 signatures to come out with the required 89,048 valid ones. For initiatives that change state law, it would take about 92,000 raw signatures to end up with the necessary 66,786 valid signatures. Although the raw signature counts for six initiatives fell below those thresholds, backers expressed confidence that their signatures sheets were "clean" enough to pass muster. "I think you'll see that our petitions are cleaner than most," said Lon Mabon, head of the Oregon Citizens Alliance. The OCA, with help from the Christian Coalition, was the only group to rely solely on volunteer efforts as they collected 83,281 signatures for a measure that would amend state law to ban schools from promoting homosexuality. Mabon and Christian Coalition of Oregon leader Lou Beres led a group of nine people, each carrying a cardboard carton full of the signature sheets into the Capitol about a half-hour before the deadline. A gathering of gay-rights advocates and other opponents listened intently as reporters questioned Mabon. Although the scene was relatively subdued, it was reminiscent of Oregon's culture wars of the early 1990s, when the OCA pushed two unsuccessful initiatives to ban the use of all public resources to promote homosexuality. This time, Mabon said, his group is pushing a more streamlined proposal. He said it would not target teachers and schools who teach about AIDS, HIV, diversity and other issues "in a neutral way," but would "just stop the promotion" of gay and bisexual lifestyles in schools. Opponents disagreed and said they were ready to fight the OCA measure just as passionately as they did in 1992 and 1994. "Schools should be a safe place for everyone. If this measure passes, for the first time we would be singling out a group of students and teachers for unfair treatment," said Liz Kaufman, a Portland-based campaign consultant who will work to defeat the OCA measure should it qualify for the ballot. Nationally, combatants in the emerging debate over the death penalty will be keeping a close eye to see whether the proposal to replace capital punishment for a life-without-parole sentence makes Oregon's ballot. That would position Oregon to be the first state to repeal the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. "We believe Oregon is going to spark a chain reaction, leading to the repeal of the death penalty state by state," said Robert Jones, operations manager for the New Orleans-based group Moratorium 2000, which was founded by capital punishment foe and author Sister Helen Prejean. If state Sen. Ginny Burdick's gun-control initiative qualifies for the ballot, voters will have a chance to decide whether to extend background checks to gun shows. Colorado, which like Oregon experienced a school shooting, is the only other state where such an initiative is being proposed, said Burdick, a Portland Democrat who fell one vote short of passing such a measure in the 1999 Legislature. Although Oregon is one of several states whose constitutions allow citizens to put measures on the ballot through signature gathering, no other state is approaching the 14 to 20 initiatives that could appear on the ballot here. Seven measures are expected to qualify for the ballot in Washington, and five will go to voters in California. Arizona voters will face eight initiatives and seven legislative referrals. "You'll be way out in front," said Rich Arnold, a national initiative-system expert and publisher of the Direct Democracy Journal. "Oregon continues to lead the nation in the use of the initiative process, as they have for many years." STATUS OF STATE BALLOT MEASURES Here's a look at the status of measures for the Nov. 7 ballot. Only the first eight have been assigned ballot-measure numbers; the rest will get measure numbers once they've qualified for the ballot. ALREADY CERTIFIED 1) Measure 83: Sets new standards for veterans' loans (legislative referral) C 2) Measure 84: Requires state to compensate local governments for state-mandated programs (legislative referral) C 3) Measure 85: Modifies requirements for forming new counties (legislative referral) C 4) Measure 86: Places "kicker" tax refund law in Oregon Constitution (legislative referral) C 5) Measure 87: Allows zoning laws to restrict sexually oriented businesses (legislative referral) C 6) Measure 88: Increases deductibility of federal taxes on state income taxes from $3,000 to $5,000 (legislative referral) C 7) Measure 89: Places tobacco settlement money into a trust fund, with interest going to health, housing and transportation (legislative referral) C 8) Measure 90: Authorizes utility rates to be used to cover costs of closing the Trojan nuclear power plant. (referendum) S WILL PROBABLY MAKE IT 9) No. 10: Full deductibility of federal taxes on state income taxes (Oregon Taxpayers United) C Reported signatures: 118,486 10) No. 24: Bans the use of public resources for political purposes, limits payroll deductions (OTU) C Reported signatures: 124,725 11) No. 25: Bans payroll deduction for political purposes without written authorization (OTU) C Reported signatures: 126,530 12) No. 29: Bans seniority-based pay and job security for teachers (OTU) C Reported signatures: 134,425 13) No. 43: Repeals the Measure 11 mandatory minimum sentencing law (state Rep. Jo Ann Bowman) S Reported signatures: 109,058 14) No. 47: Requires supermajority voter approval for most taxes and fees (OTU) C Reported signatures: 130,293 15) No. 63: Legislature cannot restrict initiative process (OTU) C Reported signatures: 136,247 16) No. 69: Allows for public funding of campaigns (League of Women Voters, Common Cause) S Reported signatures: 101,641 17) No. 81: Bans animal traps and poisons, restricts fur trade (former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse) S Reported signatures: 102,815 18) No. 88: Restricts state spending to 15 percent of personal income (conservative activist Don McIntire) C Reported signatures: 138,000 19) No. 90: Requires Legislature to fund schools adequately to meet state quality goals (Gov. John Kitzhaber) C Reported signatures: 136,418 20) No. 104: Creates commission ensuring quality home care for elderly and disabled people (Oregon Public Employees Union) C Reported signatures: 125,123 21) No. 130: Property seized by police must be returned if owner not convicted (Oregon ACLU) C Reported signatures: 137,022 22) No. 133: Dedicates tobacco settlement money to the Oregon Health Plan (Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems) S Reported signatures: 106,334 TOO CLOSE TO CALL 23) No. 16: Bans schools from sanctioning homosexuality (Oregon Citizens Alliance) S Reported signatures: 83,281 24) No. 42: Permits adults to buy marijuana through liquor stores (Activist Paul Loney) S Reported signatures: 78,640 25) No. 46: Government reimbursement to landowners for regulatory "takings" (Oregon Taxpayers United) C Reported signatures: 114,732 26) No. 66: Replaces death penalty with life without parole (former U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield) C Reported signatures: 112,142 27) No. 71: Authorizes Legislature to review administrative rules (Oregonians In Action) C Reported signatures: 115,475 28) No. 99: Requires background checks at gun shows (state Sen. Ginny Burdick) S Reported signatures: 92,160 DID NOT QUALIFY No. 84: Allows prepayment of state real estate loans without penalty (lobbyist Mark Nelson) C Reported signatures: 99,761* C Constitutional amendment (requires 89,048 valid signatures) S Statutory proposal (requires 66,786 valid signatures) * Because signatures were submitted early, Elections Division already has determined it had too few valid signatures to qualify. Source: State Elections Division - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D