Since 1995, the Legislature has sponsored hundreds of bills to make it more difficult to exercise our constitutional right to the initiative and referendum process. In 1996, they brought us Measure 24, proposing to amend the Constitution, requiring an equal amount of the signatures be gathered from each of Oregon's congressional districts before an initiative could be placed on the ballot. In 2000, they brought us Measure 79, seeking to dramatically increase the number of signatures required to put constitutional amendments on the ballot. Both of these measures were defeated by an overwhelming vote of the people..

The initiative and referendum process is a vital check and balance to a Legislature controlled by vested interests. These same vested interests are behind the Legislature's repeated efforts to restrict the initiative process. Measure 96 puts a stop to this by preventing the Legislature from:

• Increasing the number of signatures to place a measure on the ballot;
• Requiring geographical distribution of signatures;
• Constraining amendments to the Constitution on any subject whatever; or
• Making the initiative or referendum more difficult or expensive to use.