Oregon Public Employee Compensation Initiative (2020)
| Oregon Public Employee Compensation Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Wages and pay and Labor and unions | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Oregon Public Employee Compensation Initiative did not appear on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
The measure would have required public employees in Oregon to be paid equally to employees of comparable jobs in the private sector.[1][2][3]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed ballot title for this measure was as follows:[3]
| “ | Amends Constitution: Requires public employee “compensation” (defined) “equal” (defined) to comparable private employees; legislature adopts criteria; reporting.[4] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary for this measure was as follows:[3]
| “ | Amends Constitution. Currently, public employers are not constitutionally required to compensate employees similarly to private employees in comparable jobs. Measure requires “public employers” (defined) to provide compensation “equal” to “compensation of individuals employed in Oregon in like or comparable jobs” by private employers. “Compensation” defined as employer’s total cost of employee’s “pay” plus “benefits.” “Pay” includes wages, salary, other monetary compensation. “Benefits” includes health and other insurance, retirement contributions, paid leave. “Equal” defined to mean within five percent (higher or lower), except that for “senior managers” “equal” is defined to mean not more than five percent higher. Requires legislature to establish criteria for public employers to determine comparable jobs. Requires public employers to report each employee’s compensation and how employer determined comparable jobs and compensation.[4] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article IX, Oregon Constitution
The measure sought to add a new Section 16 to Article IX of the state constitution. The following underlined text would be added:[1] Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
Sec. 16. (1) A public employer shall provide its employees compensation that is equal to the compensation of individuals employed in Oregon in like or comparable jobs with other than public employers.
(2) As used in this section:
(a) The compensation of an employee of a public employer is equal to the compensation of an individual employed in Oregon who is not an employee of a public employer when the public employee’s compensation is not less than five percent below or more than five percent above the compensation of an individual employed in Oregon in a like or comparable job who is not an employee of a public employer.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, the compensation of an individual designated by a public employer as a senior manager of the public employer is equal to the compensation of an individual employed in Oregon who is not an employee of a public employer when the senior manager’s compensation is not more than five percent above the compensation of an individual employed in Oregon in a like or comparable senior management role who is not an employee of a public employer.
(c) “Benefits” means nonwage compensation for which an employer incurs a cost, including but not limited to:
- (A) Health, life, disability and other insurance.
- (B) Payments by a public employer to the Public Employee Retirement System, Social Security or other retirement program on behalf of an employee.
- (C) Vacation, holiday and sick leave and any other paid time off work.
- (d) “Compensation” means the total cost to an employer of an employee’s pay and benefits.
- (e) “Pay” means wage, salary or other monetary compensation, including overtime compensation and premium pay.
- (f) “Public employer” means any agency, board, commission, committee, department, division or institution in the executive, administrative, legislative or judicial branch of Oregon state government, and any Oregon county, city, district or other municipal corporation or public corporation organized for a public purpose, including but not limited to a public university and a cooperative body formed between municipal or public corporations.
(3)(a) The Legislative Assembly shall adopt legislation to implement subsections (1) and (2) of this section.
(b) The legislation must:
- (A) Establish criteria to guide public employers’ determinations of when an employee’s job is like or comparable to the job of an individual in Oregon who is not employed by a public employer, including but not limited to a comparison of hours worked in relation to compensation.
- (B) Require public employers to report to employees, residents and taxpayers:
- (i) The compensation for each employee.
- (ii) Information explaining how the public employer determined that public employees’ jobs and compensation are comparable to the jobs and compensation of employees not employed by a public employer.
- (c) The criteria required by paragraph (b)(A) of this subsection must allow determinations based on like or comparable jobs in adjacent states, adjusted for differences in per capita income and cost of living, in the event a public employee holds a job for which there is no like or comparable job in the private sector in Oregon.
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
- Erica Hetfeld-Schpak and Kim Sordyl filed this initiative on July 17, 2018.[2]
- The petition was withdrawn in September 2019.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Oregon Secretary of State, "Complete Text of Initiative #7," accessed November 17, 2018
- ↑ 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 16, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Oregon Secretary of State, "Ballot title and summary letter for Initiative 7," accessed November 17, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
 |
State of Oregon Salem (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
