Tuesday
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P-O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Today the Emerald editorial board presents its endorsements for all 26 of the state ballot measures. Many of these are critically
important to education funding. Please think about these issuesand vote. Watch for the Emerald’s voters guide, a news supple
ment that will appear on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will offer our endorsements of the state and local candidates and the city
/ and county ballot measures. Ballots must be returned by Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 5 p.m.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Measure 83
YES
This measure allows veterans
♦ who served 210 days of active
* duty or in certain eligible op
erations later than 1976 to be
included in the Veterans’ Home Loan pro
gram. Currently, veterans who served after
1976 are not allowed the benefits of this pro
gram and they should be.
4^* Measure 87
K|0+ Removes the “free
l^lvr^ expression” protec
TVv. tion from sexually oriented
businesses. Currently, if a lo
cality wants to regulate
where a sexually-oriented business is located,
it can do so by showing actual or threatened
harm. A business shouldn’t be refused exis
tence simply based on the content of what
they sell. We should protect free expression.
Measure 84
In 1996, voters approved this
YrV constitutional amendment re
♦ quiringthe Legislature to pro
vide money to local govern
ments if the Legislature mandates programs
or services for those local governments. In
other words, if you tell a city or county to do
something, pay for it. The 1996 measure re
quired a review in 2000. It’s still a good idea.
/
duce the amount of money the state has to
spend on services like education and public
safety. It would cost the state $47 million in
2001-2002.
Measure 85
ln 1857> Oregon decided that
Yrv in order to be a county, an
area of land needed to be 400
square miles and have 1,200
inhabitants. It’s now 143 years later. This
amendment would update the requirement,
allowing new counties to be formed with less
than 400 square miles if more than 100,000
people inhabit the area.
Measure 89
Creates an investment fund
Y rS* f rom Oregon’s share of the to
* bacco settlement to be used
specifically for health, hous
ingand transportation programs to benefit
the most needy Oregonians without using the
principal from the settlement. Let’s use this
free money for as many health-related causes
as possible.
Measure 86
Makes the state’s “kicker law”
Y r\* a Part of the Oregon Constitu
tion. The kicker law says that
when state income exceeds
the state’s estimates, the extra money gets re
turned to the taxpayers. It works fine as a law,
but it doesn’t need to be added to the consti
tution. If our economy changes, our lawmak
ers need to have flexibility when dealing with
taxes.
Measure 90
NIC!* Allows public utili
ties to raise rates in
order to get a return on in
vestments in utility property
that is shut down. Essentially,
Portland General Electric wants to raise elec
tric rates to make money off of the closed
Trojan nuclear plant. In 1998, the Oregon
Court of Appeals ruled that PGE’s plan vio
lates Oregon law. Then the Legislature voted
to change the law. Last year, more than
53,000 voters signed petitions to have the
changed law put to a vote of the people. Sor
ry that nuclear power thing didn’t work out,
but no.
Measure 94
Repeals the mandatory mini
YfcS* mum sentencing require
ments of Measure 11 and re
quires resentencing of
criminals sentenced under Measure 11 ’s mini
mums. Measure 11 has hijacked justice in
Oregon, so we recommend repealing it. But
Oregon needs to increase rehabilitation ef
forts for juveniles and increase penalties for
violent crimes like rape.
Measure 91
klf\» Makes federal in
come taxes fully de
ductible on personal and cor
porate Oregon income tax
returns. Would reduce state
revenue by between $800 million and $1 bil
lion, drastically reducing the state’s ability to
fund education and public safety. y
Measure 92
NO* Ret?u'resorganiza
tions to get specific
/r VV written authorization from
W employees before allowing
those organizations to collect
money through payroll deductions for politi
cal purposes. This hampers one group of peo
ple’s ability to engage in the political process
and is unfair to workers.
Measure 93
NO* Rec*uires voters to
approve nearly
every tax and fee that any
state agency implements.
This unnecessarily ties the
hands of state government to work efficiently
and keep agencies running.