Senate bill to tighten petition process.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SALEM - The Oregon Senate approved tough new rules Sunday for ballot-measure petitioners, sparking a debate over whether the changes would ensure the integrity of the initiative process or thwart Oregon's system of direct democracy.

The vote was one of more than two dozen cast by the Senate as it wrapped up a weekend of work.

The Legislature is steaming toward adjournment, which is expected to happen as early as midweek. While lawmakers pushed forward bills on a range of topics, political reform dominated Sunday's workload.

The House did not meet Sunday as it did a day earlier. But one of its committees spent much of the day patching together an ethics reform bill intended to ensure the public that local and state officials aren't personally gaining from their public trust.

The initiative reform measure, House Bill 2082, passed along party lines, with Democrats supporting and Republicans opposing it.

It requires paid signature gatherers to register with the Secretary of State and undergo a training program. Circulators would have to witness the signing of petition sheets. Those convicted of forgery, fraud or identity theft within the past five years would be barred from gathering signatures. It also increases the number of signatures required to sponsor a prospective initiative petition and shortens the signature- gathering period.

Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, said these and other changes in the bill would assure Oregonians that initiative campaigns weren't relying on fraudulent signatures or other untoward tactics to put their proposals on the ballot.

"This makes sure that every signature counts and preserves the integrity of the initiative system," she said.

Critics, including Sen. Jason Atkinson, R-Central Point, said the real intent was to put up bureaucratic obstacles to make it harder for citizens to succeed in petitioning for changes to the law or the constitution or to recall elected officials. Atkinson blamed the Democrats' political allies on the left for pushing the changes.

"They believe that the initiative process just gets in the way of their influence in the Legislature," he said.

The bill goes back to the House for approval of Senate-made changes.

The Senate also approved a bill to increase staffing for the ethics-watchdog agency, provide more training for state and local officials on the ethics law and to increase fines for those who violate it.

The House Elections, Ethics and Rules Committee passed a bill that focuses on the relationship between elected officials and the pressure groups that try to sway them. The bill sets a $50 cap on the value of wining, dining and gifts from lobbyists to public officials. It also seeks to make the state ethics commission more autonomous from the legislators it sometimes investigates by creating an independent funding source. Currently, the Legislature sets its budget and in the past has balked at paying for cost overruns caused by investigations into alleged wrongdoing by legislators.