There has been much publicity over the past few days about "HB 2414" and how it would reverse the meaning of votes on certain expected referenda on tax bills enacted by the 2009 Oregon Legislature. This new "HB 2414" is not the HB 2414 that is part of the IPO's 2009 legislative agenda. Instead, our HB 2414 was "gutted and stuffed" with the new content. Read More ...

In Oregon, a bill passed by the Legislature is entirely nullified by the submittal of sufficient valid signatures on a referendum petition. The voters then decide in the next election whether they want to adopt the bill that was nullified by the signatures. Thus, a "yes" vote adopts the Legislature's bill, while a "no" vote rejects it.

The new HB 2414 would reverse the meaning of "yes" and "no" votes on certain tax bills. Opponents of those taxes have severely criticized this concept, as did an editorial in The Oregonian.

The new HB 2414 is not the HB 2414 that is part of the IPO's legislative agenda for 2009. The original 2414 would allow a candidate who is nominated by more than one party to list up to 3 such party names next to her name on the ballot, instead of just one. After the House passed HB 2414 by a vote of 53-7, the Senate Rules Committee held onto the bill for several weeks and then suddenly on June 24 had it referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee, followed by an assignment to the Subcommittee On Capital Construction and Info Technology. There its entire content was stripped out and replaced with inserted the content about changing the effect of votes on referenda. This is called a "gut and stuff" of the bill.

To avoid the death of HB 2414, its supporters in the House went to the House Rules Committee and amended SB 326 to include all of HB 2414. SB 326 is also part of the IPO's 2009 legislative agenda. It would repeal the 2005 law that made it more than twice as difficult to collect sufficient signatures to qualify a non-affiliiated candidate for the ballot. The House then passed the new SB 326 by a vote of 42-17 on JUne 25. It is scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor on June 29.