Oregon Voter Approval for Transportation Tolls and Fees Initiative (2020)

Oregon Voter Approval for Transportation Tolls and Fees Initiative
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Transportation
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens
List of Oregon measuresOregon Measure 107Oregon Measure 108Oregon Measure 109Oregon Measure 110Submit

The Oregon Voter Approval for Transportation Tolls and Fees Initiative was not on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.

Measure design

The measure would have prohibited the collection of transportation tolls or fees except for fees or tolls that:

(1) were approved by a majority of voters statewide and a majority of voters in each county the toll or fee would apply to;

(2)that were in effect before January 1, 2018;

(3)that applied to marine uses or rail systems; and

(4)are collected to be solely spent on net new capacity.

Under the measure, net new capacity would have meant "expansion of transportation infrastructure which did not exist prior to January 1st, 2018, and which has not been converted from a previous form of transportation infrastructure which had already been built and/or operated with public dollars."

Text of measure

Ballot title

The certified ballot title for this measure would have been as follows:

“

Amends Constitution: Certain transportation fees/tolls require state, county voter approval unless financing “net new capacity”; retroactive

”

Ballot summary

The certified ballot summary for this measure would have been as follows:

“

Amends Constitution. Currently, transportation fees or tolls may be established by cities, counties, Metro, the Oregon Transportation Commission, the Legislative Assembly, or voters. Measure prohibits imposition of transportation fees or tolls on personal or recreational vehicles, or commercial trucks, except for fees or tolls: approved by a majority of state voters and voters in each county where the fee/toll applies, used to finance “net new capacity,” which were effective prior to January 1, 2018, or which apply to marine uses or a rail system. “Net new capacity” is defined as “expansion of transportation infrastructure which did not exist prior to January 1, 2018, and which has not been converted from a previous form of transportation infrastructure” already built and/or operated with public moneys.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article IX, Oregon Constitution

The measure would have added a new section, Section 16, to Article IX of the state constitution. The following underlined text would be added:

Section 16. Requirements for Transportation Fees and Tolls

(1) No personal or recreational vehicle, or commercial truck usage, of transportation infrastructure in Oregon may be subject to any transportation fee or toll, unless:

(a) The entirety of the fee or toll is used to finance net new capacity for personal or recreational vehicle, or commercial truck usage and the fee or toll is only applied to the net new capacity; or

(b) The fee or toll was in operation prior to January 1, 2018; or

(c) The fee applies to marine uses, or a rail system; or

(d) Such a fee or toll has been approved by both

(1) A majority of voters in the state; and

(2) A majority of voters in each county in which the fee or toll applies.

(2) "Net new capacity" is defined as expansion of transportation infrastructure which did not exist prior to January 1st, 2018, and which has not been converted from a previous form of transportation infrastructure which had already been built and/or operated with public dollars.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Oregon

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

• Mike Nearman, Les Poole, and Julie Parish filed this initiative on July 27, 2018.
• The measure was cleared for circulation on December 17, 2018.
• The initiative did not submit signatures by the July 2, 2020 deadline.

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Transportation on the ballot

Oregon

• Oregon ballot measures
• Oregon ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Full text
• Ballot title and summary letter