Secretary of State Dennis Richardson Responds to Suspension of 2018 Campaigns for IP 28, 43, and 44

Oregon Secretary of State sent this bulletin at 06/28/2018 11:41 AM PDT

P R E S S R E L E A S E

Secretary of State

DENNIS RICHARDSON

The State of Oregon

CONTACT: Debra Royal / Chief of Staff / 503-986-2361 / debra.royal@oregon.gov

DATE: June 28, 2018

Secretary of State Dennis Richardson Responds to

Suspension of 2018 Campaigns for IP 28, 43, and 44

SALEM, OR — Today, the petitioners for Initiative Petition 43 (IP 43) suspended efforts to qualify for the November 2018 ballot. This follows the similar decisions of petitioners for Initiative Petition 44 (IP 44) last week and Initiative Petition 28 (IP 28) several months ago.

“Whether I agree or not with a particular cause, I strongly believe Oregonians should have the right to petition their government without the deck stacked against them,” said Secretary of State Dennis Richardson. “I urge the Legislature to adopt the grassroots petition protections that I have consistently advocated.”

Earlier this year, the Legislature rejected Secretary Richardson’s recommendation to empower grassroots petitioners. His solution would have allowed petitioners to circulate their petitions that had already received a certified ballot title from the Attorney General while any legal challenges are pending with the Supreme Court.

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