Oregonians for Community Rights filed the Right of Local Self Government Amendment with the Secretary of State and submitted the 1000 sponsorship signatures required for them to review the amendment. As expected, they rejected the amendment as unconstitutional. They say it would need to be run as multiple amendments and that it is a “revision” to the constitution and not an amendment. We disagree and have challenged the Secretary of State’s decision.
Because electoral issues are supposed to be timely we tried filing with the Oregon Supreme Court directly. They declined to hear it. So we have filed with the Marion county circuit court. And now the state is filing a motion of mootness because the signature deadline for 2016 is already passed. A hearing in November may resolve all of this. We think we will prevail against the mootness claim and the Secretary of State’s decision. But then there could still be appeals that could lead all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court. So it’s a long and slow battle but we push onward!