Michael Caruso v. Yamhill County, an Oregon Municipal Corporation, by and Through Its County Commissioner, and State of Oregon, Intervenor-Appellant

The State of Oregon appeals a district court order declaring Or.Rev.Stat. § 280.070(4)(a) unconstitutional and permanently limiting its enforcement. Section 280.070(4)(a) requires that ballots for initiatives proposing local option taxes include a statement: “This measure may cause property taxes to increase more than three percent.” The district court deemed this requirement constitutionally infirm, concluding that inclusion of the “three-percent warning” violated appellee Michael Caruso’s First Amendment rights as a petition circulator and his due process rights as a voter. We conclude that the requirement does not violate the U.S. Constitution, reverse the decision of the district court, and vacate the injunction limiting enforcement of section 280.070(4)(a).

I. BACKGROUND

The Oregon Constitution reserves to the people “the initiative power, which is to propose laws and amendments to the Constitution and enact or reject them at an election independently of the Legislative Assembly.” Or. Const. art. IV, § 1. Under Oregon law, the ballot titles for initiatives that propose the imposition of a local option tax must include an additional statement commonly referred to as the…