Conkling v. Keisling
Decision Date | 27 May 1993 |
Citation | 852 P.2d 183,316 Or. 390 |
Parties | Gary L. CONKLING, Petitioner, v. Phil KEISLING, in his capacity as Secretary of State of the State of Oregon, and Shirley Gold, Cedric Hayden, Don McIntire, Gail Shibley and Barbara Seymour, in their capacities as members of the explanatory committee for Ballot Measure One, Respondents. SC S40199. |
Court | Oregon Supreme Court |
James N. Gardner, of Gardner, Cosgrove & Gardner, Portland, argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the petition was Lynda Nelson Gardner.
Richard D. Wasserman, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, waived appearance for respondents.
This is an original proceeding for judicial review of a Ballot Measure Explanatory Statement 1 for Ballot Measure No. 1, a proposed constitutional amendment. Petitioner is an elector of this state who is dissatisfied with that statement. Respondent Keisling, as Secretary of State, is responsible for placing the Explanatory Statement in the Voters' Pamphlet. The other respondents make up the committee that, pursuant to ORS 251.205, prepared the Explanatory Statement. The measure deals with urban renewal funding. By action of the 1993 Legislative Assembly, it is to be submitted to the people at a special election in June 1993. We conclude that the Explanatory Statement for the proposed measure is insufficient in some respects. We modify the Explanatory Statement accordingly and, as modified, certify it.
Article IX, section 1c, of the Oregon Constitution, which governs the use of taxes to fund urban renewal projects, presently provides:
In November 1990, Oregon voters passed an initiative measure (commonly referred to as "Measure 5") that limited the taxes that could be imposed on any property by setting limitations on tax rates. See generally Coalition for Equit. School Fund. v. State of Oregon, 311 Or. 300, 310, 811 P.2d 116 (1991) (discussing operation of Measure 5). In City of Portland v. Smith, 314 Or. 178, 192-93, 838 P.2d 568 (1992), this court determined that the tax rate limitations of Measure 5 applied to tax revenues that would be used by a municipality to pay bonded indebtedness incurred by the municipality to finance urban renewal projects. Proposed Ballot Measure No. 1 (1993) is the Legislative Assembly's response to that ruling.
Ballot Measure No. 1 would amend present Article IX, section 1c, by adjusting certain terminology within the existing provision and by adding a second paragraph to it. The measure provides (deletions in brackets and italics; additions in bold):
Respondent committee members prepared and submitted the following Explanatory Statement for Ballot Measure No. 1:
Petitioner charges that the Explanatory Statement is "insufficient and unclear"--the operative language in our judicial review statute, ORS 251.235 2--in a number of respects.
Petitioner first argues that the opening paragraph of the Explanatory Statement is insufficient and unclear. Petitioner complains that the first paragraph begins with a sentence that describes what essentially was a bookkeeping practice (the fact that urban renewal taxes were not separately denoted on individual tax assessment notices), but then goes on in the balance of the paragraph to explain that "now" taxes that finance urban renewal projects fall within Measure 5's limits. Petitioner asserts that "[i]t would be far clearer and less confusing to voters" instead to begin the Explanatory Statement with some explanation of the principal effect of the measure.
We agree with petitioner that the first sentence of the Explanatory Statement does not tell the voters anything that is pertinent to Ballot Measure No. 1. We also agree that the first sentence has no particular connection with the rest of the paragraph whose overall function, we believe, is to put the voter "in the picture" as to the circumstance that Ballot Measure No. 1 is intended to address. We think, however, that the problem is adequately remedied simply by striking the first sentence and by eliminating the word "now" in the last sentence. The first paragraph of the Explanatory Statement thus would read:
Next, petitioner complains that the Explanatory Statement contains what he describes as a "blatant error," viz., a sentence that states: "Some properties may be within one urban renewal district; other properties may be within more than one urban renewal district." Pejorative adjective aside, petitioner's point is well taken. ORS 457.420(3) expressly states: "Property may not be included in more than one urban renewal area." 3 The appropriate adjustment is to strike the incorrect sentence.
Petitioner next objects to the failure of the Explanatory Statement to define "urban renewal districts." We agree that a definition might be helpful. (It also could prove to be an abundant source of argument.) We do not agree that the Explanatory Statement is insufficient or unclear without one.
Petitioner attacks what he views as inappropriate highlighting, in the Explanatory Statement, of what he describes as "less common forms of urban renewal districts (i.e., those which do not involve capital construction) rather than the most common forms of urban renewal districts (i.e., those which do involve capital construction or improvements)." (Emphasis petitioner's.) We reject this argument, because it is an...
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