Summary of Oregon Ballot Measures

Posted by Pam Leavitt on October 23, 2024

You may be seeing a few campaign ads on state and federal races around our state.  The other important part of our Fall election, in less than two weeks, will be the measures that were placed on the ballot by the legislature or qualified for your consideration by submitting enough petition signatures. Here is a summary:

Measure 115: Amends Constitution: Authorizes impeachment of statewide elected officials by Oregon legislature with two-thirds vote by each house; establishes process.

This measure was referred by the Legislature to voters, passing both chambers unanimously. The amendment would add a new section to the Oregon Constitution to allow the Oregon State Legislature to impeach and remove elected state executives, including the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, and commissioner of labor and industries. The proposal would require a two-thirds vote in the House to impeach an elected state executive, and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict and remove the official from office. The House could initiate an impeachment for “malfeasance or corrupt conduct in office, willful neglect of statutory or constitutional duty or other felony or high crime.” Oregon is the only state without an impeachment process for executive officials.

Measure 116: Amends Constitution: Establishes “Independent Public Service Compensation Commission” to determine salaries for specified officials; eliminates legislative authority to set such salaries.

This measure was referred by the Legislature to voters and proposes a Constitutional amendment. The amendment would create the Independent Public Service Compensation Commission to set salaries for the governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general, Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner, supreme court judges and other judges governed by the Oregon Judicial Department, district attorneys, state senators, and state representatives. The amendment authorizes the commission to establish different classes of salaries for officials holding positions within those state offices.

Measure 117: Gives voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference; candidate receiving majority of votes wins otherwise known as Ranked-Choice Voting.

This is the final Legislative referral. The ballot measure would establish ranked-choice voting for elections to federal and state offices, including the president, U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, and commissioner of labor and industries. Ranked-choice voting is an electoral system where voters rank candidates by preference. If a candidate wins a majority of votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated and the next-preference choice indicated on those ballots is counted in a new tally. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.

MEASURE 118: Increases highest corporate minimum taxes; distributes revenue to eligible individuals; state replaces reduced federal benefits.  This measure is being opposed by the GoWest Credit Union Association voted by the OR Governmental Affairs Committee.

This measure was placed on the ballot by initiative petition. In Oregon, corporations pay the corporate income tax and a 0.57% Corporate Activity Tax for schools. Measure 118 would add a 3% tax on sales greater than $25 million. The initiative would distribute the new revenue to residents every year who reside in the state for at least 200 days.

Opponents, including The GoWest Credit Union Association, the Governor and Legislative leadership, Business Oregon, Farm Bureau, and Tax Fairness Oregon say that tax increases would be passed to consumers, that the measure is inflationary, would cost jobs, and put Oregon businesses at a disadvantage. Payments would cost the General Fund several billion that would normally go to schools or health care. If poverty is a problem, we should focus on job and education programs or send payments to lower-income people and not to everyone.

MEASURE 119: Cannabis retailers/processors must remain neutral regarding communications to their employees from labor organizations; penalties.

Measure 119 would require cannabis retailers and processors to maintain “labor peace agreements“ with labor organizations actively engaged in or attempting to represent employees. A signed labor peace agreement is defined in the statute as an agreement by which an applicant or licensee agrees to remain neutral with respect to the labor organization’s representatives communicating with the employees of the applicant or the licensee about the employees’ rights.

The Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) led efforts to collect signatures to put this on the ballot. Supporters of Measure 119 say it would protect workers from safety concerns, toxic chemicals and lack of proper equipment. No formal opposition to the measure has formed.

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Oregon Advocacy.