A quick update on the primary elections (these are unofficial per the Secretary of State’s website – http://results.oregonvotes.gov/). Voter turnout this year was low, with 33.18% of eligible voters casting a ballot. In Yamhill County, 1/3 of ballots sent to eligible voters were received, and of those, 662 are under review, all others were accepted.

For the Governor’s race, Knute Buehler (beating out two other Republicans running for the nomination – Sam Carpenter and Greg Wooldridge) will face off against incumbent Governor Kate Brown in the November election.

The Commissioner of Business and Industry race was won by former Representative Val Hoyle, defeating Tualatin Mayor and Oregon State Chamber of Commerce endorsed candidate Lou Ogden.

County Commissioner Stan Primozich has a narrow margin over opponent Casey Kulla (less than 200 vote difference as of 5/16/18) and will face a runoff in November. Commissioner Mary Starrett retains her position on the commission with 61.1% of the votes cast in her favor. A candidate receiving more than 50% of the votes cast wins the race. If there is no clear winner, then the top two candidates face a runoff in the November election.

In the US House District 1 race, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici received 55,909 votes to secure the Democratic primary and  John Verbeek won the Republican nomination with 17,132 votes.

Representative Ron Noble (R) 24th District ran unopposed.

In other news, legislators will gather at the Capitol on May 22nd for a one day session to discuss, and possibly amend, SB1528, recently signed by Governor Brown. The legislation disconnects from the new Federal tax law the ability for some small businesses to use a 20% tax exemption on pass-through income. The legislation, if left unchanged, will likely bring $1.05B into the Oregon coffers from the small business tax over the next five years. The Governor’s intention for the meeting is to extend a tax break to sole proprietorships, giving them a lower tax rate similar to what was given to other businesses in 2013. The law makes Oregon the only state in the nation that is disconnected from the Federal tax code.

Initiative Petition 43 is a proposal to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines in Oregon. The petition has been submitted as a ballot measure intended to prevent mass shootings. IP43 was a joint effort of interfaith religious groups in Portland. If passed, it would require legal gun owners to surrender or register their assault weapons or face Class B felony charges. Currently, the petition is going through the ballot naming process and once that is completed, it would require over 80,000 signatures to be on the November ballot. According to our sources, it is unlikely they will be able to gain the signatures needed for it to be on the ballot, but it opens the door for legislators to craft a bill instead. Representative Bill Post has publicly stated he plans to introduce “common sense” legislation. We will keep you posted on this and any other legislative issues as they arise.

If you have any questions, or would like to talk about concerns you have regarding legislative issues, please do contact me at president@mcminnville.org or 503-472-6196.