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House members warn against moving referendum to May as petition authors say signatures specified November
Summary
Several House members raised alarms after a floor letter and committee appointments referenced Petition 2026-03/2002 and Senate Bill 1599, saying 250,000 signatures asked for a November vote and that a May move would curtail time for citizen arguments in the voter pamphlet.
A series of floor remarks during the House opening session focused on a petition to refer parts of House Bill 3991 and a related Senate bill that would change the referendum calendar. An unnamed representative placed a floor letter on members’ desks and said 250,000 Oregonians had signed sheets that specify the referral be placed on the November ballot, not the May primary. The representative urged colleagues to "listen to Oregon voters."
Representative Diehl later warned that Senate Bill 1599 seeks to move the referendum from November to May and called the timeline "purely a political move," raising two constitutional and procedural concerns: (1) a special committee could accelerate consideration across chambers, and (2) the Secretary of State's calendar leaves little time for citizens to file argument materials in the voter pamphlet. "If you go through the Secretary of State's time frame, things are really tight for this to happen," Diehl said, adding that he is "waiting on confirmation from the secretary of state."
Representative Diehl and others noted the Speaker appointed a three-member joint special committee on Referendum Petition 2026-03/2002 earlier in the session; the Speaker listed Representative Gomberg as co-chair with Representatives Chotzin and Elmer also appointed. Several members said using a special committee to change an election date would effectively alter the expressed timeframe on the petition sheets and shorten opportunities for public participation.
Representative Juncker framed the issue more broadly as part of a pattern of decisions he said undermine certainty for businesses and citizens, saying "Prosperity does not come from speeches" and criticizing closed-door processes that, in his view, produce regulatory or procedural outcomes at odds with public expectations.
No formal vote on Senate Bill 1599 was held during the session. The principal developments recorded in the transcript were the floor letter announcing the signatures, the Speaker's committee appointments, and multiple members' public objections to moving the referendum to May. The House adjourned without taking further action on the petition; members indicated they expect follow-up through the special committee and committee processes.
