Measure 49 Q&A

October 11th, 2007

If you look at the top of the page, you will note that there is a form where you can ask a question about Measure 49. I’ve put this here because traffic to this site has quintupled over the past few weeks, especially with people searching for more information about Oregon’s Measure 49. I understand that Measure 49 is confusing, especially when opponents of Measure 49 try to muddy the water with disinformation.

That said, as you can probably tell from this site, I am very much pro Measure 49. At the same time, however, I will try to take the time to answer each question that is submitted. I want to help people understand Measure 49.

Here are answers to some recent questions:

Question: Mike writes

My wife and I are trying to decide which way to go on this. She said that she read that if this passes, if the government needed to use some land for let’s say widening a road or extending a road it could do so without compensation to the land owner. (this is just an example) I’m sorry to bother you with this but we are having a hard time figuring out the pro’s and con’s

Answer:

Hi Mike, and thanks for writing. First, I’m not an objective source of information about Measure 49 as I am in support of the Measure. But I will try to best answer your question. I suppose the first thing I would do is find out exactly WHAT your wife was reading. There’s a huge disinformation campaign going on by opponents of this measure, and they’re spreading rumors that are downright untrue. For instance, they have a commercial that even says that Measure 49 would let government “steal 95 percent of your property value without paying you a dime”. This is just not true. You can read more about this disinformation campaign, and also see a clip from a local news station, here.

If anything, Measure 49 grants more property rights in a lot of cases. For instance, under Measure 37 the issue of “transferability” was purposely excluded. This means that if someone receives a waiver to build a couple more homes on their land, they can’t “transfer” that waiver when they sell the property. For elderly folks who don’t want to build the homes themselves, this basically means that they can’t build (because they can’t sell the land to a developer with the waiver). On the other hand, big corporations who have their own development arms or lots of money to develop are just fine under Measure 37. Measure 49 GRANTS transferability of waivers. This is a huge win in terms of property rights, as it will let elderly or other folks who don’t want to take on the job of building homes themselves transfer or sell it to someone else.

At the same time, Measure 49 limits the number of houses from 2 to 10 homes. This way, we’re not going to see massive sprawling subdivisions like down in California.

In regards to the government taking your property for a road, you are referring to eminent domain. Measure 49 has NO IMPACT or association whatsoever with eminent domain.

Best regards,
Peter

Question:

Ok i’m not that knowledgable about this measure, but to me it sounds like they are trying to get out of what measure 37 says they have to do. My grandpa bought his land 50 years ago and when he went to build houses for my mom and her siblings they said it had been changed and he cant. I believe 37 said that they owed money to those who lost land value due to what the state had changed in their property. So it sounds like they dont want to bankrupt the state by paying all of these poor individuals that were done wrong, so they are going back and saying “ok ok we will do you a favor and let you build on your property” Which means “ok ok when we were taking your land it put money in our pockets” but now that we have to pay for it its taking it out so you can you do us a favor and take it back Is this what this is?

Answer:

Hi there:

Thanks for writing. Measure 37 rolls back the laws of the land to whenever your grandpa bought his property. This would kinda be like rolling back the laws to when a person was born… so if you were born in 1965, you might say that any law passed since 1965 wouldn’t apply to you. Well, that might be kinda cool in some cases, but for the rest of us it would probably not be so good! Shoot, back in the 50s and 60s they didn’t know that asbestos caused lung cancer, or that DDT screwed up our waterways.

When you roll back the law of the land to the 1950s, 1930s, or even earlier you get some really crazy proposals. Things like gravel mines in city limits, 100+ homes right next to prime farmland, and so on. It’s also unfair to current property owners… just imagine a farmer buying some land and starting farming. And then suddenly all these subdivisions sprout up right next to him! So he can’t really farm that well, but he can’t make the subdivisions either.

Measure 49 clarifies property rights. It makes it so that your grandpa can build 2-10 houses on his land — enough for your mother and aunts and uncles. But it limits development so that big companies can’t step in and turn their tract of timber into hundreds and hundreds of mansions like down in California.

Another thing to remember is that under Measure 37, your grandpa has to build the homes HIMSELF. That’s right. Measure 37 makes it so that any waiver he receives to build can’t be transferred to someone else. He has to build the homes himself. For a lot of folks, that’s just about impossible (unless they happen to be home builders, have lots of money, or be a big corporation). Measure 49 extends property rights and grants transferability of waivers. This means that your granddad can sell the right to build his 2-10 homes to someone else.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,
Peter