A normal initiative crop.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Two years ago, it seemed as though Oregon's initiative process had been appropriated by special interests. In 2000 the voters faced a modern-day record of 18 initiative measures, many of them furthering the agendas of well-financed groups that used paid signature-gatherers to gain access to the ballot. That tide appears to have crested.

The November ballot will include 11 initiative measures, if all of those for which petitions were submitted by the July 5 deadline turn out to have sufficient numbers of valid signatures. A few appear to be in danger of being disqualified if the petitions list the usual numbers of invalid signatures. If any disqualifications occur, this year's ballot would include fewer initiatives than the 20-year average of 10.4.

One factor working to shorten this year's ballot is the diminished political role of anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore. In 2000, he and his organization, Oregon Taxpayers United, placed six initiatives on the ballot and did much of the spadework for a seventh. This year Sizemore has only two: a proposal to restrict the use of union dues for political purposes, and a proposal to limit the growth of state spending. The latter has only 16 percent more signatures than the number required - a thin margin of safety, considering that about one in five signatures collected by paid petitioners like those employed by Sizemore turns out to be invalid.

Sizemore blames the economy for having dried up his usual sources of financial support. If that's the case, Oregon's recessionary clouds have a silver lining. Sizemore's track record at the polls may also be having an effect. Of his seven measures in 2002, only one passed - Measure 7, an anti-planning initiative that Sizemore had handed off to another organization and which was subsequently invalidated by the courts. Among the losers two years ago was an initiative similar to this year's proposal to limit the use of union dues.

Sizemore and other professional users of the initiative system may also have cooled the public climate for signature gatherers. A union campaign against initiative fraud attempted to educate voters - or, in petitioners' view, harass signature gatherers. A court ruling allowed shopping centers to bar petitioners from their property. Volunteer signature gatherers reported that some people were suspicious, even hostile, until they were assured that the petitioners were unpaid.

Still, enough measures made the ballot to guarantee some lively campaigns this fall. Among the most hotly debated will be a measure to create a universal health-care system in Oregon, financed by income and payroll taxes. If the insurance companies' polling shows that the measure has a chance, they'll spend millions to fight it. The health-care measure has 46 percent more signatures than are required, which ought to provide an adequate margin of safety.

A new issue to come before voters will be a proposal to require labeling of foods made with genetically modified ingredients. Grocers and restaurateurs will oppose the measure on grounds that labeling can't be efficiently mandated on a state-by-state basis. Opponents will have to overcome people's natural desire to know what's in their food.

Two proposals deal with how judges are elected. One would require that judicial vacancies be filled by election rather than by gubernatorial appointment, and would give voters in judicial elections the option of marking their ballots for "none of the above." A second would require that members of the Oregon Supreme Court and Court of Appeals be elected from geographic districts rather than statewide.

There are also likely to be some retreads on the ballot: Sizemore's union-dues proposal, and a measure reimposing legislative term limits. Oregonians passed a term-limits initiative in 1992, but the courts tossed it out last year on the basis that the measure dealt with both legislative and congressional offices. The new measure, addressing solely legislative positions, will test whether Oregonians' opinion on the subject has changed after a decade of experience with term limits.

There's even likely to be an initiative dealing with initiatives: one proposal would outlaw paying petition circulators by the signature. It's a varied list, and voters will be relieved to find that it's of normal length.