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Oregon Compensation for Loss of Property Value Due to State Regulation Initiative (2020)
| Oregon Compensation for Loss of Economic Value of Property Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Eminent domain and Property | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Oregon Compensation for Loss of Economic Value of Property Initiative did not appear on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
The measure would have amended Oregon's Constitution to add that landowners must be compensated if they lose all economic value of their property due to state laws that take effect on or after January 1, 2020.[1][2]
On February 10, 2020, petitioners announced that they had signed an agreement with petitioners of opposing ballot initiatives to work together to achieve forest regulation reform via the legislature rather than the initiative process. Twenty-six groups signed the cooperative memorandum. One side of the debate included groups like Oregon Wild, the Audubon Society of Portland, and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. The other side included timber companies, like Stimson Lumber, Roseburg Forest Products, and Weyerhaeuser. The agreement focuses on reforming the Oregon Forest Practices Act of 1971 with the aim to enact new legislation by the February 2022 legislative session. The agreement sets up an 18-month process to establish a federally approved habitat conservation plan, which would take into account the Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts and the interests of the timber industry. Additionally, the two sides agreed to support a bill that would limit aerial pesticide treatments and allow regulations that would restrict logging near streams in southern Oregon’s Siskiyou region. On April 7, 2020, both sides of the agreement formally withdrew their petitions from the Oregon Secretary of State.[3][4]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The certified ballot title was as follows:
| “ | Amends Constitution: Compensation required if laws eliminate 'substantially all' value of all or portion of land; retroactive
Amended Ballot Title [5] |
” |
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Oregon, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 8 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 requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 149,360 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was July 2, 2020.
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
- Jim James, Scott Russell, and Neil Westfall filed the initiative on November 5, 2019.[2]
- On April 7, 2020, petitioners withdrew the ballot initiative.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Complete Text of Initiative #53," accessed November 5, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Oregon Secretary of State, "Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division Initiative, Referendum, and Referral Search for 2020," accessed November 5, 2019
- ↑ The Ridgefield Press, "Timber companies, environmentalists sign 'historic' pact," February 10, 2020
- ↑ OPB, "Environmentalists And Timber Industry Reach Agreement On Forests, Avoiding Oregon Ballot Fights," February 10, 2020
- ↑ 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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