UP TO 28 INITIATIVES ON BALLOT

SALEM - Political activists rushed to the state Capitol on Friday to turn
in signatures for initiatives that would legalize marijuana, tighten
restrictions on gun sales, ban schools from promoting homosexuality and
make Oregon the first state to repeal the death penalty since its
reinstatement.

It will be weeks, however, before voters will know which of these
hot-button proposals will make the November ballot.

The approach of Friday's 5 p.m. signature deadline set off a flurry of
activity at the Capitol, where elections workers today will begin
determining how many of the 20 pending initiatives will qualify for the
Nov. 7 election. They have until Aug. 4 to determine which measures have
enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot.

While the fate of some measures appeared uncertain, several others seemed
to have plenty of signatures, thanks to last-minute petitioning. Those
include six initiatives from Bill Sizemore and his group, Oregon Taxpayers
United, that would cut state income taxes, abolish merit pay and seniority
for teachers, staunch the flow of money from union members to political
campaigns, and require voter approval for tax and fee increases.

Fellow limited-government activist Don McIntire also submitted what
appeared to be more than enough signatures for an initiative that would
limit government spending.

Combined with the eight measures from the Legislature that are guaranteed a
spot on the ballot, Oregon voters will face between 22 and 28 ballot
measures this fall - more than in any other state but still short of the
record-setting 29 measures on a 1914 election.

But if not the most, this still may be the weightiest stack of measures
ever, given the high-profile nature of many of the questions that could
face voters.

Should the state abolish executions? Should Oregon's income taxes drop for
Oregon corporations and middle- and upper-income households? Should
schools, universities, social services and the rest of government
dramatically curb spending?

Throw in measures to ban animal trapping, restrict schools' ability to
address issues related to homosexuality, and weaken the clout of unions.

"The breadth and spread of all this is really something," said Katherine
Eaton of Eugene, who is in charge of analyzing measures for the Oregon
League of Women Voters. "I'm really concerned about the complexity of some
of the issues on this ballot. On top of that, we have social policy issues
like the death penalty that people are really going to need to think about."

Eaton readily acknowledges that, as a chief sponsor for one of the ballot
measures, she's partly responsible for the work that's in store for voters.
Her measure would create a system of publicly financed campaigns. Like many
initiative activists, Eaton said she went the ballot route as a last resort.

"We would rather have gotten this through the Legislature. We tried, and we
couldn't get them to do anything," she said.

With tough new rules in place for validating signatures on initiative
petitions, six measures are in jeopardy of falling short of the number
required to appear on the ballot. These include measures touching on the
volatile issues of capital punishment, homosexuality, gun control and drug
legalization. The other two measures on the bubble would require government
compensation for property "takings" and expand the Legislature's power to
control administrative rule-making.

The more difficult signature standard was prompted by two new laws. One
prescribes how elections workers filter out invalid signatures, and the
other was interpreted to discount signatures from voters who are deemed
``inactive'' because they've moved or haven't voted in five years.

In addition, a proliferation of paid signature gatherers is being blamed
for a higher rate of improperly signed petitions.

Initiative petitions submitted earlier this year came back with nearly 27
percent invalid signatures, compared with about 17 percent during the 1990s.

If these preliminary validity rates hold true this year, measures that
would amend the Oregon Constitution will need about 123,000 signatures to
come out with the required 89,048 valid ones. For initiatives that change
state law, it would take about 92,000 raw signatures to end up with the
necessary 66,786 valid signatures.

Although the raw signature counts for six initiatives fell below those
thresholds, backers expressed confidence that their signatures sheets were
"clean" enough to pass muster.

"I think you'll see that our petitions are cleaner than most," said Lon
Mabon, head of the Oregon Citizens Alliance.

The OCA, with help from the Christian Coalition, was the only group to rely
solely on volunteer efforts as they collected 83,281 signatures for a
measure that would amend state law to ban schools from promoting homosexuality.

Mabon and Christian Coalition of Oregon leader Lou Beres led a group of
nine people, each carrying a cardboard carton full of the signature sheets
into the Capitol about a half-hour before the deadline.

A gathering of gay-rights advocates and other opponents listened intently
as reporters questioned Mabon. Although the scene was relatively subdued,
it was reminiscent of Oregon's culture wars of the early 1990s, when the
OCA pushed two unsuccessful initiatives to ban the use of all public
resources to promote homosexuality.

This time, Mabon said, his group is pushing a more streamlined proposal. He
said it would not target teachers and schools who teach about AIDS, HIV,
diversity and other issues "in a neutral way," but would "just stop the
promotion" of gay and bisexual lifestyles in schools.

Opponents disagreed and said they were ready to fight the OCA measure just
as passionately as they did in 1992 and 1994.

"Schools should be a safe place for everyone. If this measure passes, for
the first time we would be singling out a group of students and teachers
for unfair treatment," said Liz Kaufman, a Portland-based campaign
consultant who will work to defeat the OCA measure should it qualify for
the ballot.

Nationally, combatants in the emerging debate over the death penalty will
be keeping a close eye to see whether the proposal to replace capital
punishment for a life-without-parole sentence makes Oregon's ballot. That
would position Oregon to be the first state to repeal the death penalty
since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.

"We believe Oregon is going to spark a chain reaction, leading to the
repeal of the death penalty state by state," said Robert Jones, operations
manager for the New Orleans-based group Moratorium 2000, which was founded
by capital punishment foe and author Sister Helen Prejean.

If state Sen. Ginny Burdick's gun-control initiative qualifies for the
ballot, voters will have a chance to decide whether to extend background
checks to gun shows. Colorado, which like Oregon experienced a school
shooting, is the only other state where such an initiative is being
proposed, said Burdick, a Portland Democrat who fell one vote short of
passing such a measure in the 1999 Legislature.

Although Oregon is one of several states whose constitutions allow citizens
to put measures on the ballot through signature gathering, no other state
is approaching the 14 to 20 initiatives that could appear on the ballot
here. Seven measures are expected to qualify for the ballot in Washington,
and five will go to voters in California. Arizona voters will face eight
initiatives and seven legislative referrals.

"You'll be way out in front," said Rich Arnold, a national
initiative-system expert and publisher of the Direct Democracy Journal.
"Oregon continues to lead the nation in the use of the initiative process,
as they have for many years."

STATUS OF STATE BALLOT MEASURES

Here's a look at the status of measures for the Nov. 7 ballot. Only the
first eight have been assigned ballot-measure numbers; the rest will get
measure numbers once they've qualified for the ballot.

ALREADY CERTIFIED

1) Measure 83: Sets new standards for veterans' loans (legislative referral) C

2) Measure 84: Requires state to compensate local governments for
state-mandated programs (legislative referral) C

3) Measure 85: Modifies requirements for forming new counties (legislative
referral) C

4) Measure 86: Places "kicker" tax refund law in Oregon Constitution
(legislative referral) C

5) Measure 87: Allows zoning laws to restrict sexually oriented businesses
(legislative referral) C

6) Measure 88: Increases deductibility of federal taxes on state income
taxes from $3,000 to $5,000 (legislative referral) C

7) Measure 89: Places tobacco settlement money into a trust fund, with
interest going to health, housing and transportation (legislative referral) C

8) Measure 90: Authorizes utility rates to be used to cover costs of
closing the Trojan nuclear power plant. (referendum) S

WILL PROBABLY MAKE IT

9) No. 10: Full deductibility of federal taxes on state income taxes
(Oregon Taxpayers United) C

Reported signatures: 118,486

10) No. 24: Bans the use of public resources for political purposes, limits
payroll deductions (OTU) C

Reported signatures: 124,725

11) No. 25: Bans payroll deduction for political purposes without written
authorization (OTU) C

Reported signatures: 126,530

12) No. 29: Bans seniority-based pay and job security for teachers (OTU) C

Reported signatures: 134,425

13) No. 43: Repeals the Measure 11 mandatory minimum sentencing law (state
Rep. Jo Ann Bowman) S

Reported signatures: 109,058

14) No. 47: Requires supermajority voter approval for most taxes and fees
(OTU) C

Reported signatures: 130,293

15) No. 63: Legislature cannot restrict initiative process (OTU) C

Reported signatures: 136,247

16) No. 69: Allows for public funding of campaigns (League of Women Voters,
Common Cause) S

Reported signatures: 101,641

17) No. 81: Bans animal traps and poisons, restricts fur trade (former U.S.
Rep. Elizabeth Furse) S

Reported signatures: 102,815

18) No. 88: Restricts state spending to 15 percent of personal income
(conservative activist Don McIntire) C

Reported signatures: 138,000

19) No. 90: Requires Legislature to fund schools adequately to meet state
quality goals (Gov. John Kitzhaber) C

Reported signatures: 136,418

20) No. 104: Creates commission ensuring quality home care for elderly and
disabled people (Oregon Public Employees Union) C

Reported signatures: 125,123

21) No. 130: Property seized by police must be returned if owner not
convicted (Oregon ACLU) C

Reported signatures: 137,022

22) No. 133: Dedicates tobacco settlement money to the Oregon Health Plan
(Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems) S

Reported signatures: 106,334

TOO CLOSE TO CALL

23) No. 16: Bans schools from sanctioning homosexuality (Oregon Citizens
Alliance) S

Reported signatures: 83,281

24) No. 42: Permits adults to buy marijuana through liquor stores (Activist
Paul Loney) S

Reported signatures: 78,640

25) No. 46: Government reimbursement to landowners for regulatory "takings"
(Oregon Taxpayers United) C

Reported signatures: 114,732

26) No. 66: Replaces death penalty with life without parole (former U.S.
Sen. Mark Hatfield) C

Reported signatures: 112,142

27) No. 71: Authorizes Legislature to review administrative rules
(Oregonians In Action) C

Reported signatures: 115,475

28) No. 99: Requires background checks at gun shows (state Sen. Ginny
Burdick) S

Reported signatures: 92,160

DID NOT QUALIFY

No. 84: Allows prepayment of state real estate loans without penalty
(lobbyist Mark Nelson) C

Reported signatures: 99,761*

C Constitutional amendment (requires 89,048 valid signatures)

S Statutory proposal (requires 66,786 valid signatures)

* Because signatures were submitted early, Elections Division already has
determined it had too few valid signatures to qualify.

Source: State Elections Division