Oregon Supreme Court orders rewrite of term-limits ballot title

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Supreme Court has ordered the state attorney general to rewrite the ballot title for an initiative petition that seeks to enact term limits.
 
Ballot titles are intended to provide a brief, neutral description of a measure. The attorney general certified one that says legislators would be allowed to serve no more than eight years in any 12-year period.
 
While that’s accurate, Oregon’s high court said in a ruling Thursday it leaves out a piece of key information – that it would apply retroactively, quickly changing the composition of the Legislature.
 
The term-limits proposal is intended for the 2018 election and would need nearly 90,000 valid signatures to quality.
 
The rewrite was sought by Matt Swanson of the Service Employees International Union.