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Your Measure 37 claim is under attack at the Oregon legislature.  We need your help to preserve your rights!

Your Measure 37 claim is under attack at the Oregon legislature.  We need your help to preserve your rights! {Press Release Jan.19, 2007}

In the two years since Measure 37 passed, we have survived many challenges – lawsuits seeking to overturn or twist the measure, endless attacks from urban media outlets who care nothing about rural Oregonians, and ballot measures that would tear apart any protection for Oregon property owners.

But today, the threat to Measure 37 is greater than ever – and as a Measure 37 claimant, the threat affects you!

Right now, the Oregon legislature is considering Senate Bill 505, a proposal by Measure 37 opponents that would suspend all Measure 37 claims, including those that have been filed and those that have been approved.

In exchange, the bill would give some Measure 37 claimants the right to build one house, but only if the claimant waived all of their rights under Measure 37!

Senate Bill 505 follows Governor Ted Kulongoski’s recent comments, in which he accused property owners with Measure 37 claims of being “developers, speculators, or corporations.”

If Senate Bill 505 passes, all of the time, money, and effort you have made to restore your property rights will be taken away at the stroke of the Governor’s pen.

And since most Measure 37 claimants are elderly, many Measure 37 claims will be lost forever while the suspension is in effect.

It is simply unconscionable for the legislature to take away your Measure 37 claim.  You have followed all the laws and jumped through the hoops set up by the state and local government.  And now the state wants to take it away again!

My point is simple – if you don’t fight to keep your property and your Measure 37 rights, the legislature will take them from you – again.

There is hope, however.  There is significant support for Measure 37 in the legislature, and nearly every legislator understands that most Oregon voters want to change Oregon’s overly restrictive and unfair land use laws – laws that have stripped many Oregonians of their most basic property rights.

In fact, with your help, we should be able to defeat any proposal to suspend Measure 37 claims.  But we can’t win without your help!  Here’s what you should do:

1.          Contact your state senator and state representative, and demand that they reject Senate Bill 505, and not interfere with your Measure 37 claim.  Let them know that you have spent time, money, and energy to get your property rights back, and you don’t want the legislature to take your rights away again.  If you don’t know who your state senator or state representative are, you can find this information by accessing the state’s website, at http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/.

2.          If there are changes you would like the legislature to make to Measure 37, tell your legislators.  For example, if you would like the legislature to make sure that Measure 37 rights are transferable, or if you would like Measure 37 rights to pass on to family members, family companies etc., let your legislators know this.  No law is perfect – if there are changes you would like to see to Measure 37, tell your legislator.

3.         Write a letter to your local newspaper, telling other readers that the legislature should reject Senate Bill 505 and not suspend Measure 37 or take away your rights.   If you need help with a letter, contact us, and we will be glad to help you. {Newspapers in Oregon}

4.         Contact the Governor’s office and tell them not to suspend Measure 37.  The Governor’s telephone number is (503) 378-3111.

5.         Come to the State Capitol and let legislators know how you feel.  The legislature will hold public hearings before they take action.  You must be prepared to travel to Salem and attend these hearings to make your position clear.  If you want to know when hearings are scheduled, please contact us.
Land Use Fairness Committee agenda's

If you are willing to join us in protecting your rights, please fill out the attached response card, and let us know how you can help.  We must all band together, or the rights we have fought so hard for will be lost.

Very Truly Yours,
David J. Hunnicutt
President