CRIME, MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVES QUALIFY FOR BALLOT

Both Receive Enough Signatures for Voters'consideration Nov. 2

Oregonians will vote Nov. 2 on mandatory prison time for repeat
felony sex offenders and drunken drivers, and state licensing of
dispensaries for purchases of medical marijuana.

Secretary of State Kate Brown announced Friday that both had obtained
more than the 82,769 signatures required to qualify them for the ballot.

They will be assigned measure numbers after the Aug. 1 deadline for
verification of ballot initiatives. Initiatives will start with
number 73; there are three legislative referrals already on the ballot.

The crime initiative would set a 25-year mandatory minimum prison
sentence for repeat offenders in any of four felony sex crimes. It
also would require a 90-day jail term for a third drunken-driving
conviction, which would be considered a Class C felony, if two
previous convictions were within the past 10 years.

Officials determined by sampling that 68.21 percent of the 136,674
signatures submitted were valid.

Sponsors are former Rep. Kevin Mannix of Salem - author of previous
initiatives, including mandatory sentences for violent crimes that
voters approved as Measure 11 in 1994 - and Rep. Jim Thompson of
Dallas and Glenn Pelikan of Portland.

The medical marijuana initiative would amend the law that voters
passed in 1998. The law allows patients with specified medical
conditions, or their designated caregivers, to grow marijuana - but
it does not allow its sale.

The initiative would enable the state Department of Human Services,
which administers the current program, to license dispensaries where
medical marijuana can be obtained.

Officials determined by sampling that 65.68 percent of the 130,702
signatures submitted were valid.

Sponsors are Anthony Johnson of Portland, Alice Ivany and Jim Klahr,
both of Milwaukie.

Signatures for four other ballot initiatives are undergoing review.

One would renew the current diversion of 15 percent of lottery
proceeds for parks, watersheds and salmon habitat. Voters approved
the original plan in 1998; it expires in 2014.

One would create a panel of retired judges to oversee redrawing of
state legislative district lines after each 10-year census. Under the
current system, lawmakers have until June 30 of the year after a
federal census to redraw lines; if they miss the deadline, the task
falls to the secretary of state.

Two would authorize a casino that would be the only one not
affiliated with the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon. Two
measures are required because there is a constitutional ban on
casinos; the tribal casinos are governed under federal law.