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Wednesday, April 5, 2017

2017 SJR 40: Section 18, Article II, Recall

What SJR 40 Does

Senate Joint Resolution No. 40 was filed by Senator Roblan.  This resolution proposes to change the Oregon State Constitution, Article II, entitled Elections, section 18.  I have previously written about  section 18 here.  The purpose of this amendment is to correct the situation where an incumbent is re-elected to an office such as Governor.  Under one interpretation, officers are exempt from petitions to recall for the first six months of their tenure.  The point of the resolution is to eliminate that grace period when incumbents are re-elected.

My View

I don't see this as an issue.  I don't think that there is a possibility to get a recall petition organized within 6 months in any case.  I get the point if what is being asked, but alternately I think a judicial opinion where the current text is interpreted in a way that the text of subsection (6) can correctly consider consecutive terms in the way that the resolution suggests would be an adequate solution.

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