Legislative Report - Week of 1/10-1/17
Governance
By Norman Turrill, Governance Coordinator, and Team
Campaign Finance Reform
SB 162: Establishes Small Donor Elections Program to enable candidates for state Representative and state Senator offices to receive 6-to-1 match on small dollar contributions. (at the request of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan)
SB 170: Requires Secretary of State to study how best to improve Oregon's campaign finance system. (at the request of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan)
SB 500: Prohibits candidates for state office from accepting contributions in excess of amounts specified and from sources not specified. (Chief Sponsor: Senator Golden)
HB 2003: Establishes limits on campaign contributions that may be accepted by candidates and political committees; providing that this Act shall be referred to the people for their approval or rejection. (Chief Sponsors: Rep. Rayfield, Holvey, Valderrama)
HB 2106: Requires Secretary of State to study how best to ensure transparency through reporting of campaign contributions and independent expenditures. (at the request of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan)
HB 2695: Requires paid-for-by tagline on political communications by candidate to identify top five large donors to candidate's principal campaign committee. (Chief Sponsor: Rep. Rayfield)
HJM 1: Applies to Congress to call convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution that address campaign finance reform. (Chief Sponsor: Rep. Rayfield)
The Honest Elections Oregon coalition, of which the LWV of Oregon is a part, has filed two initiatives for the 2024 general election ballot. Both IP 8 and IP 9 are in the long ballot title process and have received certified ballot titles from the Attorney General’s office. These are now on appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.
Redistricting
By Chris Cobey and Norman Turrill
The People Not Politicians coalition, in which the LWV of Oregon is a leader, has now received certified ballot titles for its two initiatives for the 2024 general election ballot, IP 13 and IP 14. The coalition will now decide which of these to circulate and begin collecting petition signatures, probably in February. Several related bills have been filed in the Legislature:
SB 173: Requires Secretary of State to study how to best improve the process for conducting state legislative and congressional reapportionment in this state. Directs the secretary to submit findings to interim committees of the Legislative Assembly related to elections not later than September 15, 2024. (at the request of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan)
SJR 9: Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution establishing Citizens Redistricting Commission to adopt redistricting maps for Senate, House, and US Congress. Refers proposed amendment to people for their approval or rejection at the next general election. (Chief Sponsor: Senator Bonham) This bill is similar to PNP’s IP 34 (2021).
SJR 10: Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution establishing Citizens Redistricting Commission to adopt redistricting maps for Senate, House, and US Congress. Refers proposed amendment to people for their approval or rejection at the next general election. (Chief Sponsors: Senator Thatcher, Golden, Hansell, Representative Lively, Smith G; Regular Sponsors: Senator Weber, Representative Cate, Hieb, Levy B, Morgan, Owens, Scharf) This bill is similar to PNP’s IP 34 from 2021.
SJR 25: Proposes amendment to Oregon Constitution establishing independent redistricting commission to adopt redistricting maps for Senate, House, and U.S. Congress. Refers proposed amendment to people for their approval or rejection at the next general election. (Chief Sponsor: Senator Girod). This bill would create a 36 member commission, one from each county, appointed by county commissioners.
Election Methods
By Barbara Klein
SB 506: Senator Jeff Golden continues to support Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) by introducing SB 506, which permits counties to adopt RCV for conducting county elections. It further requires the Secretary of State to create and staff the division to assist counties that adopt RCV in purchasing compatible computers, voting machines and vote tally systems.
HB 2004: Promoting RCV on another bill are chief sponsors Representatives Rayfield, Fahey, Reynolds, Marsh, Senator Sollman; and regular sponsors Representative Pham K, Senator Dembrow, Golden. HB 2004 establishes RCV as the voting method for selecting the winner of election to U.S. President, U.S. Senator, Representative in Congress, Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Attorney General. Authorizes cities, counties, metropolitan service districts and local government and local service districts to elect to use RCV to nominate or elect candidates for relevant offices. Moves election for Commissioner of Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) to general election, where election is also conducted using RCV. NOTE: this bill does not establish RCV for state legislative offices for representatives or senators.
Cybersecurity and ORMAPs
By Becky Gladstone
This work continued over holidays with the DoR (Dept of Revenue) ORMAP’s Land Information System OAR and Cybersecurity Working Group. See earlier reports for previous intersession work including the AG’s data privacy progress and numerous elections bills. See upcoming reports as the session proceeds.
HB 2049: Work on this cybersecurity omnibus committee bill has been nonstop since HB 4155 failed to progress after unanimous committee passage in 2022, with League support. Specific recent work addressed processes to administer federal grant funding.
OAR 150-306-0130: My appointment to the ORMAP Advisory Group extended to appointment through the governor’s office to the RAC, Rules Advisory Group, to review “Oregon Land Information System Fund and the ORMAP Project”. Several members joined my appeal to push for rule language to facilitate data sharing (in compatible formats), a long-standing roadblock.
Rights of Incarcerated People
By Marge Easley
The League will be keeping a close eye on SB 579, introduced by request of the Oregon Justice Resource Center, that allows incarcerated people to register to vote, update voter registration, and vote in elections. It is the third try for the enfranchisement of incarcerated individuals in Oregon. The League supported the two previous bills in 2021 and 2022. Passage of the bill would restore voting rights to 12,000 to 15,000 individuals and allow Oregon to join Maine, Vermont, and D.C. in allowing convicted felons in correctional facilities to vote.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Worthy causes go unaddressed for lack of League volunteers. If you see a need and can offer your expertise, please contact our staff at lwvor@lwvor.org.