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Oregon Changes to Animal Abuse, Neglect, and Assault Law Initiative (2022)
| Oregon Changes to Animal Abuse, Neglect, and Assault Law Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Treatment of animals | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Oregon Changes to Animal Abuse, Neglect, and Assault Law Initiative was not on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated state statute on November 8, 2022.
The initiative would have made the following changes to Oregon law concerning animal abuse, neglect, and assault:[1][2]
- add an exception for actions against an animal that are "necessary to defend him or herself against an apparent threat of immediate violence"
- remove the exception for "good animal husbandry", rodeo animals, fishing, hunting, trapping, scientific research using animals, and pest control.
The changes would have become effective 30 days after the law was approved.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The certified ballot title for this measure would have been:[3]
| “ | Criminalizes injuring/ killing animals, including killing for food, hunting, fishing; criminalizes most breeding practices. Exceptions
Result of 'No' Vote: 'No' vote retains current law allowing injury/death in various circumstances, including for purposes of farming for food, hunting, fishing, trapping, pest control, animal research.[4] |
” |
Ballot summary
The certified ballot summary for this measure would have been:[3]
| “ | Under current law, many activities that do or may kill or injure animals are lawful, including animal husbandry practices; slaughtering livestock and poultry; animal breeding practices; fishing, hunting, and trapping; wildlife management practices; rodeos; scientific and agricultural research and teaching; control of vermin and nuisance animals; reasonable handling, training techniques. Proposed measure would make those practices, and other common practices involving animals, criminal offenses if injury/ death occurs. Criminalizes animal breeding practices for domestic, livestock, and equine animals that involve touching the mouth, anus, or sexual organs of the animal. Exception for 'good veterinary practices' (undefined), self-defense. Applies to mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish. Elimination of hunting/ fishing licenses would remove funding from wildlife conservation efforts by Department of Fish and Wildlife. Other provisions.[4] | ” |
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Oregon, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 6 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Signatures for Oregon initiatives must be submitted four months prior to the next regular general election. State law also requires paid signature gatherers to submit any signatures they gather every month.
Moreover, Oregon is one of several states that require a certain number of signatures to accompany an initiative petition application. The signatures of at least 1,000 electors are required to trigger a review by state officials, a period of public commentary, and the drafting of a ballot title. Prior to gathering these initial 1,000 signatures, petitioners must submit the text of the measure, a form disclosing their planned use of paid circulators, and a form designating up to three chief petitioners. The 1,000 preliminary signatures count toward the final total required.
The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2022 ballot:
- Signatures: 112,020 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was July 8, 2022.
In Oregon, signatures are verified using a random sample method. If a first round of signatures is submitted at least 165 days before an election and contains raw, unverified signatures at least equal to the minimum requirement, but verification shows that not enough of the submitted signatures are valid, additional signatures can be submitted prior to the final deadline.
Details about this initiative
- The initiative was filed on November 2, 2020, by David Andrew Michelson.[2]
- The sponsorship signatures were submitted to the secretary of state for verification on April 28, 2021.[2]
- On July 15, 2021, the initiative was approved for signature gathering.[2]
- On March 28, 2022, the sponsors of the initiative withdrew the petition.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Complete Text of Initiative 2022-013," accessed November 9, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2022 Initiatives, Referendums and Referrals, "Petition 2022-013," accessed November 9, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Oregon Secretary of State, "Attorney General letter," accessed July 9, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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State of Oregon Salem (capital) |
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