Oregon Advisory Opinions April 14, 1976: OAG 76-35 (April 14, 1976)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 76-35
Date: April 14, 1976
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 76-35.
May a county governing body place on the ballot a question which merely seeks the opinion of voters on a matter of community interest?
ANSWER GIVEN
Yes, if first the county has enacted an ordinance providing for submitting such a question to the voters.
At issue here is not the use of the familar referendum procedure provided for in Art. IV, §1, Oregon Constitution, which deals with referring "legislation" to the voters. The question is whether the county governing body has the legislative power to establish a procedure for taking a "straw vote" of the voters via an election ballot. This distinction is discussed in 33 Op Atty Gen 428 (1967).
This must be a two-step procedure. There is no existing procedure whereby a county governing body may submit an advisory question to the voters. First of all, the governing body must establish such a procedure. Then, the procedure having become law, the governing body may utilize it and submit the question to the electorate.
We have no doubt that a county governing body has the authority to establish such procedure by enactment of an ordinance under the authority of ORS 203.030 et seq , granting what has been called "statutory home rule" to all counties and originally enacted as Oregon Laws 1973, ch 282. ORS 203.035 provides:
"(1) The governing body or the voters of a county may by ordinance exercise authority within the county over matters of county concern, to the fullest extent allowed by Constitutions and laws of the United States and of this state, as fully as if each particular power comprised in that general authority were specifically listed in ORS 203.030 to 203.065.
"(2) The power granted by this section is in addition to other grants of power to counties, shall not be construed to limit or qualify any such grant and shall be liberally construed, to the end that counties have all powers over matters of county concern that it is possible for them to have under the Constitutions and laws of the United States and of this state."
Clearly this includes the authority of a county governing body to enact an ordinance establishing a procedure whereby questions may be placed on the ballot to determine voter attitudes regarding matters of local concern.
Further, we find no basis for limiting such questions to matters over which the county has jurisdiction. In seeking to influence the actions of a city, the state, or even the federal government which may affect the local citizenry, a county governing body may wish to determine voter attitude, and such an objective would fall within the sope of ORS 203.035.