Beyer v. Rosenblum

Under ORS 250.035, ballot titles for Initiative Petitions from the Attorney General must comply with a handful of requirements about length, clarity, and neutrality.

Petitioners sought review of the Attorney General's (AG) certified ballot title for Initiative Petition (IP) 43 (2018).  Petitioners assigned error to the AG's phrasing in the caption, "yes" and "no" result statements, and summary.  Petitioners argued that (1) the quoted phrase in the caption was misleading in how it implied registration exceptions, (2) that the terms "assault weapons" and "large capacity magazines" did not reasonably identify the subject matter of IP 43, (3) that the "yes" result statement inaccurately described the registration exception, (4) that the "no" result statement improperly described the law as barring purchase rather than possession, (5) that the summary included inaccuracies from the caption and result statements, (6) that the summary did not properly illustrate the criminal penalties created by IP 43, and (7) that the registration condition in section 5(4)(b) was a ban rather than a limitation on use.  The AG argued in response to (2) that the use of quotation marks around "assault weapon" sufficiently signaled the broad application of the term and that the 15 word limit made a more accurate caption difficult to create, (6) that the summary's reference to "criminal penalties" was accurate enough, and (7) that the summary accurately explained IP 43's restrictions on use of firearms.  Under ORS 250.035, ballot titles for Initiative Petitions from the AG must comply with a handful of requirements about length, clarity, and neutrality of the writing in the ballot. The Court held that (1) the caption inaccurately described the registration exception, (2) the use of an unusual definition for the quoted term was impermissible, (3) the "yes" result statement inaccurately described the scope of the measure, (4) the "no" result statement inaccurately described the bans on purchases rather than possession, (5) the summary must more accurately describe the registration exception, (6) the more significant penalties of the new Class B felony must be mentioned in the summary, and (7) the statement that IP 43 "may limit uses of covered items" is inaccurate.  Ballot title referred for modification.