Oregon Catastrophic Disaster Amendment, Measure 77 (2012)

Catastrophic Disasters
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Type:	Constitutional amendment
Constitution:	Oregon Constitution
Referred by:	Oregon Legislature
Topic:	Admin of gov't
Status:	a

The Oregon Government Branches Amendment, Measure 77, was on the November 6, 2012 statewide ballot as a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, where it was approved.

The measure revised the Oregon Constitution relating to responses to catastrophic disasters. The measure also required approval by a 2/3rds majority.

Election results

See also: 2012 ballot measure election results

Oregon Measure 77
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		957,646	58.71%
No		673,468	41.29%

Official results from the Oregon Secretary of State.

Text of measure

The official ballot title was:

Amends Constitution: Governor may declare "catastrophic disaster" (defined); requires legislative session; authorizes suspending specified constitutional spending restrictions

Result of "Yes" Vote: "Yes" vote grants Governor constitutional authority to declare "catastrophic disaster" (defined); requires legislative session; legislature may suspend specified constitutional spending restrictions to aid response, recovery.

Result of "No" Vote: "No" vote retains Governor’s statutory authority to declare state of emergency; retains constitutional spending restrictions and constitutional restrictions on legislative authority without exception for emergency.

Summary: Amends Constitution. Currently, Governor has statutory, but not constitutional, authority to declare state of emergency and direct response to emergency. Measure grants Governor constitutional authority to declare and respond to natural or human‐caused "catastrophic disaster" (defined). Authorizes Governor to redirect previously allocated General Fund and lottery monies to disaster response. Requires legislative session (under emergency conditions, if necessary) to enact implementing legislation; legislation may include temporarily suspending specified constitutional spending restrictions. Terminates Governor’s disaster spending authority upon enactment of law specifying purposes for which funds may be used. Limits disaster authority of Governor and legislature to 30 days unless legislature acts to shorten/lengthen period; such legislation may include any provision legislature deems necessary to provide "orderly transition" (undefined) to normal conditions. Other provisions.

Estimate of financial impact: Referral 401 allows for government action in the event of a catastrophic disaster. It grants the Governor temporary authority to redirect certain state monies from legislatively‐approved purposes to disaster response. It requires the Governor to convene the legislature unless the Legislative Assembly is already in session or scheduled to convene within 30 days.

The financial effect of the measure wis indeterminate.

Support

No formal support was identified.

Opposition

No formal opposition was identified.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Oregon Constitution

According to Section 1, Article XVIII of the Oregon Constitution a majority vote of both chambers of the Oregon State Legislature is required to place the amendment proposed by the legislature on the statewide ballot.

On April 27, 2011 the House voted 50 to 9 in favor of the proposed measure; 1 was excused. The Senate amended and approved the proposed measure with a 30-0 vote in favor on June 17, 2011. The House confirmed the amendments on June 21, 2011 by a 57-3 vote. The measure was formally filed with the Secretary of State on June 28, 2011.

See also

By Eric Veram Ballot measure writer

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• Oregon 2012 ballot measures
• 2012 ballot measures

External links

• HJR 7 (full text)