By James Ofsink, PCP

November’s Measure 107 received more YES votes than any other issue to ever grace an Oregon ballot. The measure updated our constitution to explicitly include the common-sense value that Oregonians can set reasonable limits on money in our political system.

Every single county in Oregon voted YES, in Multnomah County over 86% of voters did. Now is the time to leverage this huge statewide success into meaningful campaign contribution limits that will broaden and diversify who participates in our elections and how candidates engage with their constituents.

Representative Andrea Salinas’ House Bill 3343 is a solid framework for campaign contribution limits in every candidate election in Oregon and hits all the right core democratic values: minimizing the undue influence of big money, broadening and diversifying civic participation, and working to rebuild public trust in our democracy. The proposed limits of $1000 (statewide) and $500 (all other state and local offices) would be transformational to our political system, recentering power away from moneyed interests and on everyday community members.

The Oregon Legislature has the opportunity this session build on the enthusiasm from Measure 107 and lead the way towards a participatory and representative democracy; let’s make sure they do the right thing!