ENOUGH CHANGES MADE TO MAKE HB 4024 ACCEPTABLE


T​he Oregon Legislature in its short 2024 session enacted HB 4024, a law that:
  • limits campaign contributions to candidates and political committees
  • requires some disclosure of the original sources of funds to pay for political advertising
  • requires some taglines on political ads of their original sources of funds

This new law is a start, not the destination, of campaign finance reform in Oregon.

It resulted from two weeks of continuous negotiations between the Honest Elections Oregon Coalition on one side and the combined largest business and labor union lobbying organizations on the other.  These businesses and unions are overwhelmingly the largest funders of candidates in Oregon.  They wanted a bill filled with loopholes that would make meaningless the contribution limits, disclosure requirements, and tagline requirements of a real campaign finance reform law.

The Honest Elections Oregon negotiated over 2 dozen changes to close as many of those loopholes as posssible.  One reason we were taken seriously was the appearance of this highly informative op-ed in The Oregonian on March 3, 2024.

The resulting bill passed the Oregon House of Representatives by a vote or 52-5 and the Oregon Senate by a vote of 22-6.

List of Changes in HB 4024 Negotiated by the Honest Elections Oregon Coalition

Table of HB 4024 Contribution Limits

Press Release by the Honest Elections Oregon Coalition
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​HB 4024:
PHONY REFORM, TO DERAIL OUR PETITION 9​

BULLETIN:  The House Rules Committee posted a slightly changed version of the bill, labeled HB 4024-5, at 4:55 p.m. on Friday, March 1.  It then scheduled a public hearing for Monday, March 4, at 8 a.m.  Thus, the public hearing was called with 5 business minutes of notice to the public.

The HB 4024-5 version remains phony, with high limits and huge loopholes.  The lobbyist authors of it even added a large new loophole.

Please come to the public hearing at the State Capitol on March 4 (8 a.m.) or CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT TESTIMONY ONLINE.

You can read the Testimony Against the Previous Version.
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​The Oregon Legislature is suddenly considering a bill (HB 4024-3), written and pushed by the biggest corporation and union lobbyists, to adopt their fake version of "campaign finance reform" and derail our Initiative Petition 9.

The House Rules Committee of the Oregon Legislature first posted its text on February 22, 2024.  Then it suddenly convened a hearing on it the next day.

The bill is opposed by every good government group that has weighed in:  Honest Elections Oregon, Common Cause, League of Women Voters of Oregon, Consolidated Oregon Indivisibles Network, Alliance for Democracy, and the Independent, Progressive, and Pacific Green parties.  As word spreads, more are joining in opposition.

The written testimony submitted by Oregonians
(with only one day's notice)
is overwhelmingly opposed to HB 4024-3.

HB 4024-3 has massive loopholes in its contribution limits and disclosure and disclaimer requirements that are easily evaded by sophisticated providers and users of money in Oregon politics.  This is documented in:
A good overview of the situation is in the Testimony of Nathalie Paravicini.

If more amendments are proposed, their might be another public hearing and opportunity to submit testimony.  Or that might not happen.

Please contact your Representative and Senator in the Oregon Legislature and express your opposition to HB 4024-3.

You can find who represents you on this Map.  Put your address in the search bar in the upper left corner.  The result will have email links to your Representative and Senator.

​Also worthy of immediately receiving your views are the members of the House Rules Committee:
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[email protected]

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Rep.AndreaValderrama​@oregonlegislature.gov

[email protected]