Side Bars – R.L. Dabney on Secular Conservatives – Rethinking Public Schools – The Bible and Private Property – The Bible and Possession Laws – Deuteronomy 4:5-9 – Lord Acton Quote – The Bible and Gambling – Closing Exhortation – Our Obligations – The Purpose of Civil Government

Ballot Recommendations Summary Measure 54 Measure 55 Measure 56 Measure 57 Measure 58 Measure 59 Measure 60 Measure 61 Measure 62 Measure 63 Measure 64 Measure 65 Measure 66 Measure 67

PEAPAC Information Help Us Expand Get a Political Tax Credit

Measure #65
Amends Constitution: Creates Process For Requiring Legislature To Review Administrative Rules

Result of “Yes” vote:
"Yes" vote creates process for petitioning legislature to require its review of administrative rules.

Result of “No” vote:
"No" vote keeps system not requiring legislative approval for administrative rules to remain in effect.

PEAPAC Explanation:
This Measure would force the Legislature to review and then approve or disapprove of an administrative rule if enough people are upset by that rule. (The Legislature, elected by the electorate, pass laws. The bureaucracy passes rules to administer the laws.) We strongly endorse this Measure and urge a Yes vote.

PEAPAC Commentary and Recommendation

One of the great dangers to the biblical liberty that representative government affords us is the growth of the power of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. Each year, thousands of new rules are adopted by the state bureaucracy, all of which have the force of law.

For example, in 1990, the Oregon State Board of Education came close to virtually outlawing home schooling in Oregon. They didn’t do it by trying to pass a bill. No, they tried it through their rule-making authority, by writing proposed new standards that would have virtually made it illegal to home school in Oregon.

Another example are the administrative rules adopted by the bureaucrats in charge of the Oregon Health Plan. As a result of these rules, your tax dollars have been used to pay for abortions, and even sex-change operations! Such uses of tax dollars would never have made it through the sort of legislative review that this Measure would implement.

The examples abound. Land use decisions, fees and various unnecessarily restrictive regulations of small businesses, and much, much more. Many areas of our lives are controlled more and more by these bureaucrats and their rules. Because of this, of all the Measures that have been voted on in the Nineties, this one could arguably be seen as one of, if not THE, most important.

The right to be governed by elected representatives of the people is a fundamental biblical political truth that we take for granted. (See Acts 6:3, Numbers 11:16 and Deut. 1:13) But that liberty has been increasingly eroded through bureaucracies. Its time to reign in the bureaucrats, and a Yes vote on Measure 65 will go a long way to doing just that.

This voters' guide produced by Parents Education Association, PAC.