Oregon Advisory Opinions December 06, 1971: OAG 71-87 (December 6, 1971)

OAG 71-87.

Article VI, Section 10 of the Oregon Constitution provides in part:

"The Legislative Assembly shall provide by law a method whereby the legal voters of any county, by majority vote of such voters voting thereon at any legally called election, may adopt, amend, revise or repeal a county charter. . . . The initiative and referendum powers reserved to the people by this Constitution hereby are further reserved to the legal voters of every county relative to the adoption , amendment, revision or repeal of a county charter and to legislation passed by counties which have adopted such a charter." (emphasis supplied)

This section was added to the Oregon Constitution by vote of the people at the general election of November 4, 1958. In the explanation of the measure contained in the Official Voters' Pamphlet

for that election it was said that the measure:

" . . . merely makes the adoption of a county charter constitutional. Subsequently, the legislature must pass enabling legislation . . . . "

The Oregon Legislature subsequently enacted ORS 203.780, which provides in part:

"(1) This section, pursuant to section 10, Article VI, Oregon Constitution, describes the manner by which the initiative and referendum powers reserved to the legal voters of every county relative to the adoption , amendment, revision or repeal of a county charter and to legislation passed by counties which have adopted such a charter may be exercised. For the purposes of this section 'county legislation' means the adoption , amendment, revision or repeal of a county charter and legislation passed by counties which have adopted such a charter.

"(2) In all counties which do not provide by county legislation for the manner of exercising the initiative and referendum powers reserved by the Oregon Constitution to the people, as to their county legislation, the duties required of the Secretary of State . . . as to state legislation, shall be performed as to such county legislation by the county clerk, or the county official whose functions and duties include the conduct of elections. The duties required of the Governor shall be performed by the county judge or chairman of the board of county commissioners as to such county legislation. The duties required . . . of the Attorney General shall be performed by the district attorney as to such county legislation. ORS 254.030 to 254.100, 254.110 to 254.170 and 255.410 to 255.450 shall apply in every county in all matters concerning the operation of the initiative and referendum in its county legislation, on which the county has not made or does not make conflicting provisions.

. . . .

"(5) It is intended to make the procedure in county legislation, as nearly as practicable, the same as the initiative and referendum procedure for measures relating to the people of the state at large; and, to this end, for the purpose of computing the required number of signatures on petitions to initiate or refer county legislation, the provisions of section 1,

Article IV, Oregon Constitution, as to percentages of the legal voters of the state, shall be the percentages as to the legal voters of a county, with the county charter being considered the same as the state Constitution." (emphasis supplied)

The legislature has thus established a complete procedure for the exercise of the initiative power by the people of the county as provided in Article VI, Section 10. The term "county legislation" is specifically defined in subsection (1) of the statute to include adoption of a county charter.

The legislature has also provided a method by which a county charter can be proposed by a special "committee" appointed and acting as provided in ORS 203.730 to ORS 203.760. This procedure is activated either by a resolution adopted by the county governing body or by a "petition requesting appointment of the committee" signed by a designated number of legal voters of the county. ORS 203.730. ORS 203.740 further provides that only one committee is to be in existence at any given period of time.

There is nothing in the sections relating to charter "committees" which indicates an intention on the part of the legislature to make this procedure the exclusive means of drafting and proposing a county charter, nor to bar use of the initiative to propose a charter even if a charter committee has been appointed. On the contrary, as noted, ORS 203.780 specifically provides for adoption of a county charter by initiative petition. This is fully in accordance with the statement in Article VI, Section 10

of the Oregon Constitution, that the initiative powers "reserved to the people by this Constitution" (i.e. by Article IV, former Sections 1 and 1a, now consolidated as Article IV, Section 1 relating to the right of the people to initiate constitutional amendments and laws) are "further reserved" to the voters of the county for adoption of a charter.

In accordance with the language of Article VI, Section 10 of the Oregon Constitution, as implemented by ORS 203.780, the voters of a county have authority to propose a county charter as a ballot measure by the initiative, without depending upon the activity of a charter committee as provided in ORS 203.730 to 203.760.