SENATE COMMITTEE ON RULES

February 11, 2003 Hearing Room 343

3:00 pm Tapes 6 - 7

SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT: Sen. Bev Clarno, Co-chair

Sen. Kate Brown, Co-chair

Sen. Jason Atkinson, Vice-chair

Sen. Ginny Burdick, Vice-chair

Sen. Roger Beyer

Sen. Tony Corcoran

HOUSE MEMBERS PRESENT: HOUSE COMMITTEE ON RULES AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Rep. Dan Doyle, Chair

Rep. Linda Flores, Vice-chair

Rep. Laurie Monnes-Anderson, Vice-chair

Rep Vic Backland

Rep. Betsy Close

Rep Phil Barnhart

Rep Joanne Verger

MEMBER EXCUSED: Sen. Jason Atkinson

STAFF PRESENT: Jim Stembridge, Committee Administrator

Pam Cox, Committee Assistant

MEASURE/ISSUES HEARD: Informational Meeting

Oregon Initiative, Referendum and Recall Process

These minutes are in compliance with Senate and House Rules. Only text enclosed in quotation marks reports a speaker’s exact words. For complete contents, please refer to the tapes.

TAPE/#	Speaker	Comments
TAPE 6, A
015	Chair Doyle	Opens committee meeting 3:06 p.m. Opens informational meeting.
INFORMATIONAL MEETING Oregon Initiative Referendum and Recall Process
024	John Lindback	Secretary of State, Elections Division. Describes the Oregon’s initiative and referendum processes. Submits prepared information (EXHIBITS A, B, C).
120	Chair Doyle	Asks for clarification of percentage of verification samples that become initiatives.
122	Lindback	Answers.
155	Sen. Burdick	Asks for explanation of the formula used to determine samples.
157	Lindback	Answers.
256	Sen. Corcoran	Asks what happened when the Secretary of State’s Office dealt with fraudulent petitions.
257	Lindback	Answers.
268	Sen. Corcoran	Asks if all signatures were counted.
270	Lindback	Answers.
282	Sen. Corcoran	Asks about the process of counting signatures.
283	Lindback	Answers.
293	Sen. Corcoran	Notes the Secretary of State’s Office has not come up with a process to handle these fraudulent signatures.
320	Lindback	Responds.
340	Chair Doyle	Notes duplicate signatures are not always fraudulent.
350	Lindback	Continues to explain fraudulent voters which are called writers.
397	Sen. Burdick	Asks if counties check actual signatures.
399	Lindback	Answers signatures are checked against voter’s card.
405	Sen. Burdick	Asks for clarification between written and printed signatures.
410	Lindback	Explains verifying signatures and duplication rate.
TAPE 7, A
004	Lindback	Continues.
014	Chair Doyle	Asks about voter’s active status.
015	Lindback	Comments on inactive voters.
019	Chair Doyle	Ask about active status being changed on the day of election.
026	Lindback	Notes they need to have an active status the day they signed the petition.
030	Rep. Close	Comments she believes the law was passed in last session.
039	Lynn Rosik	Assistant Attorney General. States the law referring to inactive voter signature has not changed.
044	Lindback	Continues.
059	Sen. Burdick	Comments on evidence of being inactive.
064	Lindback	Continues on inaccurate voter name transcription.
074	Rep. Close	Asks requirements for circulators of signatures.
076	Lindback	Explains and continues on fraudulent signature gathering.
129	Chair Doyle	Asks if his office has done something that has impacted the validity rate.
132	Lindback	Notes he is not sure. Continues to describe process.
204	Rep. Monnes-Anderson	Asks about voter’s signature that is illegible.
208	Lindback	Answers the county verifies signatures.
224	Rep. Flores	Asks about controversy on challenging signatures and throwing out an entire sheet.
230	Lindback	Answers he does not know of that being done. Continues to explain systematic witnesses and proposed solutions.
238	Lindback	Comments about hiring paid signature gatherers.
410	Rep. Close	Asks if someone has been convicted for a double signature.
421	Lindback	Notes he does not know.
453	Co-chair Clarno	Asks about charging petitioners.
456	Lindback	Answers regarding costs.
TAPE 6, B
044	Lindback	Continues.
053	Phillip Schradle	Assistant Attorney General, Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ). Testifies on the constitutional requirements for signature gathering.
150	Schradle	Continues.
279	Sen. Brown	Asks how other states handle their ballot title process.
282	Schradle	Answers there are a variety of ways.
292	Sen. Brown	Asks of those filed what percentage are used.
298	Schradle	Estimates.
330	Rep. Close	Asks for costs.
340	Schradle	Answers fifteen hours of attorney time.
358	Rep. Verger	Asks how to receive more than one ballot title so a choice may be made on the best suited for the measure.
359	Schradle	Discusses the need to submit different ballot titles to describe different measures.
386	Rep. Verger	Asks how much of a difference.
387	Schradle	Describes similar cases.
428	Sen. Burdick	Asks how a person would reduce property taxes regarding ballot titles.
438	Schradle	Explains.
461	Co-chair Clarno	Closes informational meeting. Adjourns committee meeting at 4:24 p.m.

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – Informational Meeting, Initiative/Referendum overview, John Lindback, 11 pp

B – Informational Meeting, booklet on State Initiative Petition, John Lindback, 26 pp

C – Informational Meeting, Verification of Initiative Petition Signatures, John Lindback,
4 pp