PAGE 2 | October 19, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
... Ballot Measures
From Page 1
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
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NO: Measure 104 is anti-democracy.
Democracy is about majority rule, but
in Oregon, a long-ago ballot measure
established rule by minority when it
comes to one subject: the tax revenue
the state needs to pay for everything it
does, from schools to public safety to
caring for disabled seniors. Thanks to
Ballot Measure 25, which passed by 54
percent in a May primary election in
1996, Oregon lawmakers can lower
taxes by a simple majority vote, but
must have a 2/3 supermajority to raise
them. That goes a long way to explain
why Oregon now has one of the
shortest school years in the country
— and the nation’s lowest overall tax
burden on corporations. Measure 104
would make that even worse. If it
passes, not only will it take a 2/3
supermajority to raise taxes on
corporations and the rich, but also to
reduce or eliminate special interest tax
loopholes. Those tax breaks may be
passed with the best of intentions, and
some of them may accomplish what
they set out to. But lawmakers often
find that the jobs that the tax breaks
are supposed to incentivize never
materialize, or that the cost in lost
revenue is higher than anticipated. For
example, a few years ago state
lawmakers changed a tax law to
incentivize Google to install fiber, but
Google never came, and Comcast and
Centurylink took advantage of the tax
break without doing anything new.
Measure 104 would make it harder to
repeal wasteful tax breaks like that.
NO: Measure 105 would repeal a 1987
state law that bars state and local law
enforcement officers from
apprehending people SOLELY on
suspicion that they violated federal
immigration law. Back then, the law
passed with support from both
parties, in response to racial profiling
by police, like a case in which Polk
County sheriffs demanded that a U.S.
citizen of Mexican descent prove he
was in the United States legally. Under
the law, local police are still arresting
immigrants if they commit crimes. But
Oregonians can’t be stopped, detained
or interrogated just because someone
thinks they might be an
undocumented immigrant.
NO: Measure 106 would amend the
Oregon Constitution to prohibit public
funds from being spent on abortions.
It would impact not just the 271,833
women of reproductive age who are
enrolled in the Medicaid-funded
Oregon Health Plan, but also the
77,344 women who get health
insurance as a public employee
benefit. The majority of those are
union members, and those are
benefits they bargained for.
METRO-ONLY
YES: Measure 26-199 is long overdue.
In polls, Portland metro residents
name homelessness and a lack of
affordable housing among their top
concerns. Measure 26-199, a $653
million regional housing bond, would
make a serious dent in the problem. At
a cost to the average homeowner of
$5 per month, it would pay to build or
renovate affordable housing for low-
income families, seniors, veterans and
people with disabilities, up to 12,000
people in all. [Bonus: It would also
mean union construction jobs!]
PORTLAND-ONLY
YES: Measure 26-201, sponsored by a
coalition of community groups, would
require retailers that have over $1
billion in revenue to pay a 1 percent
surcharge on their Portland revenues
— to fund clean renewable energy
projects and job training. Sales of
groceries, medicine, and health
services would be excluded from the
tax. About three-fourths of the
estimated $30 million a year in
revenue would pay for projects like
rooftop solar installations, urban tree
planting, and energy efficiency
upgrades in affordable housing
complexes, while about a fourth
would pay for job training so that
women, people of color, people with
disabilities, and the chronically
underemployed could benefit from the
jobs created by the measure.
WASHINGTON STATE
YES: I-940 requires that police be trained
for violence de-escalation, mental
health, and first aid. It also removes
legal immunity, adopts a standard of
an objectively reasonable response to
a situation, and requires independent
investigations of police use of deadly
force.
CORRECTION:
In the Oregon Union
Election Guide in our
Oct. 5 issue, we mistak-
enly left Oregon Building
Trades Council’s out of
the list of endorsers of
Janelle Bynum for House
District 51 (Clackamas).
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