Article 6:

The People’s Branch; Referendum, Initiative, and County Commissioners Powers

This is a new concept. The referendum and initiative process is elevated to an Article to give equal footing to the Legislative Process.

  1. Will be the location of all referendum and initiative process definitions.
  2. Will define and grant powers to the referendum and initiative process.
  3. Will define County Commissioners Power and authority.

Section 3-a: The people reserve to themselves the referendum power, which is to approve or reject at an election any Act, or part thereof, of the Legislative Assembly that does not become effective earlier than 90 days after the end of the session at which the Act is passed.

Section 3-b: A referendum on an Act or part thereof may be ordered by a petition signed by a number of qualified voters equal to four percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the election at which a Governor was elected for a term of four years next preceding the filing of the petition. A referendum petition shall be filed not more than 90 days after the end of the session at which the Act is passed.

Section 3-c: A referendum on an Act may be ordered by the Legislative Assembly by law. Notwithstanding section 15b, Article V of this Constitution, bills ordering a referendum and bills on which a referendum is ordered are not subject to veto by the Governor.

Section 4-a: Petitions or orders for the initiative or referendum shall be filed with the Secretary of State. The Legislative Assembly shall provide by law for the manner in which the Secretary of State shall determine whether a petition contains the required number of signatures of qualified voters. The Secretary of State shall complete the verification process within the 30-day period after the last day on which the petition may be filed as provided in Section 2-e or Section 2-b.

Section 4-b: Initiative and referendum measures shall be submitted to the people as provided in this section and by law not inconsistent therewith.

Section 4-c: All elections on initiative and referendum measures shall be held at the regular general elections, unless otherwise ordered by the Legislative Assembly.

Section 4-d: An initiative or referendum measure becomes effective 30 days after the day on which it is enacted or approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon. A referendum ordered by petition on a part of an Act does not delay the remainder of the Act from becoming effective.

Section 5: The initiative and referendum powers reserved to the people are further reserved to the qualified voters of each municipality and district as to all local, special, and municipal legislation of every character in or for their municipality or district. The manner of exercising those powers shall be provided by general laws, but cities may provide the manner of exercising those powers as to their municipal legislation. In a city, not more than 15 percent of the qualified voters may be required to propose legislation by the initiative, and not more than 10 percent of the qualified voters may be required to order a referendum on legislation.

Section 6. Payment for signatures. It shall be unlawful to pay or receive money or other thing of value based on the number of signatures obtained on an initiative or referendum petition. Nothing herein prohibits payment for signature gathering which is not based, either directly or indirectly, on the number of signatures obtained.

Section 1. The People shall be vested in the in the Referendum, Initiative, and nullification process.

  1. The people reserve to themselves the Initiative Power, which is to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and enact or reject them at an election independently of the Legislative Assembly.
  2. Referendum by the People to impeach or remove from office shall require:
    1. State wide shall require a quantity of 10% of the registered voters in the State at the time of filing a Referendum.
      1. Shall be on the next voting cycle unless a special election is required by law.
    2. County wide shall require a quantity of 15% of the registered voters in the Counting at the time of filing a Referendum.
    3. City wide shall require a quantity of 20% of the registered voters in the City at the time of filing a Referendum.
  3. Initiative by the People to create a law shall:
    1. An initiative law may be proposed only by a petition signed by a number of qualified voters equal to six percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the election at which a Governor was elected for a term of four years next preceding the filing of the petition.
      1. The Title of the proposed law or Amendment shall be the sole responsibility of the petitioners.
      2. Constitutional Amendments and Laws:
        1. An initiative amendment to the Constitution may be proposed only by a petition signed by a number of qualified voters equal to eight percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the election at which a Governor was elected for a term of four years next preceding the filing of the petition.
        2. An initiative petition shall include the full text of the proposed law or amendment to the Constitution. A proposed law may embrace as many subjects as required to accomplish the creation of the law intended, but may not address any form of unrelated law.
    2. County wide Initiative shall require a quantity of 15% of the registered voters to file.
      1. Override County Commissioners:
        1. Successful signature collection puts a stay on any activity until a vote of the People is completed.
        2.  Challenge to County Commissioners actions and laws via the efficiency clause or Science Clause shall put a stay of activities until resolved.
    3. City wide Initiative shall require a quantity of 20% of the registered voters to file.
      1. Override City Counsel
        1. Successful signature collection puts a stay on any activity until a vote of the People is completed.
  4. An initiative petition shall be filed with the Secretary of State not less than four months before the election at which the proposed law or amendment to the Constitution is to be voted upon.

Section 2: County Commissioner.

  1. County Commissioners Powers and Authority. The County Commissioners shall have the authority to remove the Emergency clause from any bill signed into law by the Governor by a simple majority vote of the Commissioners. The vote of the Commissioners shall be done in writing and does not require a Convention of the Counties. Only Signatures for the removal of the Emergency Clause are required and must be greater than one-half of the Commissioners. The removal of the Emergency Clause from a law allows for the Referendum process to apply to the law.
  2. The County Commissioners shall have the authority to assemble and propose Constitutional Amendments and repeal law Independent of the Legislative Assembly. The assembly of the County Commissioners shall be known as the “Convention of the Counties”.
  3. A signature vote within the Commissioners of two-thirds majority presented in writing to the Governor will compel the Governor to call for a Special Election vote of the People for calling a Convention of the Counties. The goals shall be detailed in the written presentation to the Governor and will be the limits of what a Convention of the Counties will be permitted to address. There shall be no limits to the number of subjects that can be addressed within one presentation and multiple presentations may be combined into one Convention of the Counties. The Ratification of a new Constitution for the State of Oregon shall have a one subject presentation and Convention with the new Constitution presented prior to the convention.
  4. The Majority vote of the People within one county shall be defined as “One County Vote”.
  5. A County Vote of two-thirds of the counties shall be required to repeal a law and a County Vote of three-fourths shall be required to amend the Constitution.
  6. The County Commissioners shall have the authority to write and submit a bill to the State Legislative Assembly during session for consideration and accepting sponsorship. A signature vote within the Commissioners of two-thirds shall be required to send the bill to the Legislature for consideration. The Legislative Assembly shall not attach unrelated amendments to a bill submitted in this fashion.

Section 4: Efficiency Clause

  1. Any revenue collection or taxation shall be null and void if the collection of the fund requires more than 25% of the funds are consumed in the act of collecting and handling of the funds.
    1.  This Clause is not a Referendum or Initiative.
      1. The People are to file in the appropriate City, County, or State Court.
      2. The Filing shall consist of actual and truthful information of costs associated with Revenue collection.
      3. There shall be no cost to the People to file.
      4. The City, County, or State level judge shall be the arbiter and shall render a decision within 30 working days. The Judge may declare that the evidence is overwhelming and deny appeals. Any appeals to a superior court must be filed within 20 working days. A refusal to hear an appeal constitutes the support of the decision of the lower court.
    2. Refusal of the City, County, or State to supply the necessary information are grounds for a Judge to declare the actions of the City, County, or State null and void.

Section 5: Science, Economics, and Transparency Clause

This clause is designed to prevent things like Wind Mills or other government actions that have no basis in reality but do have a basis in making a government official or elected official look good. In the case of wind mills, it is clear that the cost to both the environment and construction far outweigh the benefits. However the “We have got to do something” attitude has completely overwhelmed reality.

A further example are headlights being on during daylight hours. The Human eye works by seeing shadows move in your peripheral vision during the day. Headlights being on during the day only allows a car, truck, or motorcycle to get far closer to someone before they can react to the oncoming vehicle. Yet, the politicians, in their eternal effort to look good may have cost the lives of many people without any accountability. And in some cases, may have gone out of their way to make sure that information, that may have been collected by police, was suppressed to make sure than nobody jeopardizes the Politian’s effort to look good.

  1. Any law or project done by the government shall be made null and void if, in a court of law, it can be shown that such actions are based on lies, half-truths, corruption, or any other form of coercion.
    1. This Clause is not a Referendum or Initiative.
      1. The People are to file in the appropriate City, County, or State Court.
      2. The Filing shall consist of actual and truthful information of costs associated with Revenue collection and the use of funds.
      3. There shall be no cost to the People to file.
      4. The City, County, or State level judge shall be the arbiter and shall render a decision within 30 working days. The Judge may declare that the evidence is overwhelming and deny appeals. Any appeals to a superior court must be filed within 20 working days. A refusal to hear an appeal by a superior court constitutes the support of the decision of the lower court.
    2. Refusal of the City, County, or State to supply the necessary information are grounds for a Judge to declare the actions of the City, County, or State null and void.
  2. Laws elevating such information as DNA to Scientifically Sound are permissible and are to be used for sentencing guidelines for both criminal and civil actions.
  3. Elected and Appointed office holders are subject to Impeachment for “Knowingly” implementing any laws that do not meet the guidelines of genuine science, economic, and transparency.