Editors note: This is the first in a three-part series on legislative referendums scheduled for the November 2024 election

Three Legislative measures will be referred to the people of the State of Oregon in the November 2024 Election -- in addition to whatever the citizens' initiative process will produce. SJR 34 amends the Oregon Constitution to establish an Independent Public Service Compensation Commission; HJR 16 adds an impeachment process to the Oregon Constitution; and HB 2004 establishes ranked choice voting as the statewide voting method for selecting winner of federal, state and local elections.

The statutory ballot title process was supplanted by the 2023 Legislature by passing SB 28, which creates a joint legislative committee to prepare the ballot titles and explanatory statements for referendums referred to the ballot during 2023 regular session. Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) is to appoint three legislative members and Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) three. The committee has until March 12, 2024 to complete the process giving the electors time to petition the Supreme Court with any objects on how the title or explanation is written. Deadlines associated with the ballot title and explanatory statement will be drafted in Administrative Rule. In the meantime, there are no official titles for these three Referendums.

This article is the first in a three-part series that examines SJR 34, Referendum 402, which proposes amending the Oregon Constitution to create the Independent Public Service Compensation Commission giving it authority to decide salaries for the listed public officials paid from the General Fund.

The commission would establish salaries for the following officials:

1. Governor
2. Secretary of State
3. State Treasurer
4. Attorney General
5. Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries or any successor agency
6. Judges of the Supreme Court
7. Judges of other courts under the administration of the judicial branch of state government
8. State Senator
9. State Representative
10. District attorneys

Upon the commission’s adoption of its determinations, the state is then obligated to budget moneys from the General Fund sufficient to pay the salaries determined by the commission as they deemed to be appropriate.

Prior to 1956, salaries for the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and Supreme Court Judges were stated in Article XIII of the Oregon Constitution and it took a vote of the people to change their salaries prior to its repeal.

This isn’t the first time a commission has been proposed to determine state salaries. It was used twice before to review and make recommendations to the Legislature on salaries for certain state public officials. The ideology is a separation of compensation from political pressures will produce a fair approach.

Oregon's previous version of a Public Officials Compensation Commission was first established by legislation in 1983, but all positions became vacant in 2000. Legislation was again enacted in 2007 to revitalize the Commission with new membership and a revised scope of work. The Commission’s 2008 recommendations were introduced amidst the Great Recession, and the Legislature ultimately declined to increase compensation for public officials. The Commission went unfunded after 2008 and was eliminated in 2017 along with other state boards and commissions identified as inactive or obsolete.

By making the commission a constitutional mandate, it removes the latitude of the legislature to respond to economic abnormalities. To avoid the delay or final approval by the legislature, the commission is given full authority to implement salaries they deem appropriate. That puts a lot of weight on selecting nonpartisan members that have an understanding of the salaries they implement has on the economy and state budget.

Unfortunately, SJR 34 and Referendum 402 does not define how the committee is selected. It only prohibits state employees or officers or family members, and lobbyists or family members from serving, and allows the legislature to add other classes of individuals.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, Meagan Flynn, claims it “will help ensure that we can attract and retain highly qualified people to those offices of public service.”

The National Conference on State Legislatures (NCSL) found that 21 states set compensation for lawmakers with input from an independent commission, as Oregon has done in the past. Certain states also rely on independent commissions in setting compensation or benefits for selected other statewide officials, which may include members of the executive or judicial branches.

However, what is appropriate compensation may have the consequence of reducing other services or raising taxes when fixed outside of the budget process. We see a form of this when teacher salaries are lobbied by unions and set prior to school districts knowing what the legislative budget will give them. That sometimes means cutting staff. Voters are given the task to decide if they want to give up their voice when it comes to salaries for the highest officers in the state.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-09-14 10:19:16

Last Update: 2023-09-14 16:22:55