Tagged: Ballot measures

Two days after a proposed tax hike faltered in the Oregon House, a union-backed group has filed initiatives to raise taxes on corporations. The move by Our Oregon Friday could be a repeat of a bitter tax fight three years ago.

Our Oregon has successfully led two tax campaigns in the last few years. The group estimates the six initiatives it’s looking at for 2014 would raise corporate taxes anywhere from $75 million to more than $1 billion a year.

Lane County residents will vote this May on a property tax measure to fund jail beds. The Board of Commissioners Tuesday decided to put a five year public safety levy on the ballot. It was a 4 to 1 vote.

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon voters could decide next year whether to legally recognize same-sex marriages. Supporters of gay marriage submitted an initiative Monday aimed at putting such a question on the Oregon ballot in November of 2014.

Nine states including Washington issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But Oregon can't, since voters defined marriage as between one man and one woman nearly a decade ago. It would take a statewide vote to reverse that. So the gay rights group Basic Rights Oregon filed an initiative to overturn that Constitutional ban.

Washington initiative promoter Tim Eyman says he wants to make it easier to put an initiative on the ballot. Eyman submitted nearly 350,000 signatures Thursday for his latest ballot measure. But critics are suspicious.

Two years ago, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder opposed a California initiative to legalize marijuana. But this year, the Justice Department has been silent on similar measures before voters in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. Monday, a group of former federal drug officials urged the Obama administration to weigh in.