Oregon Business Association

June 25, 2009

Chicago style politics…welcome to the Oregon Capitol

It is not April 1st, and this really did happen.

Late last night, the Ways and Means Committee of the Oregon Legislature voted out HB 2414 with a two minute explanation of the bill and no public testimony allowed.  The bill would change the meaning of a “yes” vote on legislative referrals.  Under the language adopted last night, a measure is considered adopted if it is rejected by the people.

In essence, if you want to adopt a legislative referral you would have to vote “no” and reject it.

Confusing... yes, and that is the intent. A voter wanting to repeal the legislature’s tax package would have to vote “no” on the referral.   The intent is crystal clear and does great damage to the institutions of representative democracy.

When the legislature passed out its permanent tax increases on business and upper-income Oregonians, one of the central arguments the leadership in the Oregon House articulated was that in the extensive polling they had conducted, Oregonians supported permanent changes to Oregon’s tax structure on those two groups of citizens and companies.

Our question is: If Oregon voters support the tax package, why pass an 11th hour unprecedented change to Oregon’s election laws clearly designed to confuse citizens?

OBA has championed a number of bills designed to restore public confidence in our governing bodies.  This session we endorsed a package of bills on initiative reform, increases in compensation for legislators and statewide elected officials and annual sessions of the legislature to strengthen the role of the assembly.  We thought it was important that the business community take the lead on initiatives to repair the relationship between citizens and their elected officials.

Passing HB 2414 undermines much of that good work in less than 24 hours.  We have all heard the coffee shop conversations… "do you believe what they just did in Salem…to get their tax package passed...they changed the meaning of a “yes” vote!”

OBA calls on legislators to vote “no” on HB 2414 on this, the final day of the 2009 Legislative session.