Opinion ID: 1258811
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: timeliness of plaintiff's action

Text: Defendants Choban and Dennehy moved for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiff's action is not timely. This case was filed on July 13, 1990, 25 days after the Secretary of State announced that the initiative petition contained enough valid signatures to be on the November 1990 ballot. Defendants Choban and Dennehy assert that the case should have been filed within 5 days after the Secretary of State's decision to place the measure on the ballot. They rely on State ex rel. Bunn v. Roberts, 302 Or. 72, 726 P.2d 925 (1986). Bunn is distinguishable. In Bunn, the court considered what timeline applied to the Secretary of State's certification of a fiscal impact estimate for placement in the Voters' Pamphlet. ORS 250.125 requires that the fiscal impact estimate be certified by the appropriate officials no later than 90 days before the general election. The plaintiffs filed an action under ORS 246.910, 44 days after the officials certified the fiscal impact estimate and only 46 days before the election. The court expressed concern about adequate time for judicial review and, as in Ellis v. Roberts, 302 Or. 6, 725 P.2d 886 (1986), looked for an analogous statutory timeline. It concluded that the closest analogy to the process set forth in ORS 250.125 is the explanatory statement process, which had a 5-day limit for seeking review. State ex rel. Bunn v. Roberts, supra, 302 Or. at 81, 726 P.2d 925. Like fiscal impact estimates, explanatory statements must be filed with the Secretary of State at least 90 days before the election. ORS 251.235. Accordingly, the court imposed a 5-day timeline, which began to run on the 90th day before the election. 302 Or. at 82, 726 P.2d 925. In contrast, the action being challenged here  the Secretary of State's verification of signatures and certification of the initiative measure for the general election ballot  may occur at any time. Normally, the process raises less acute time pressures than the filing of a fiscal impact estimate or explanatory statement for placement in the Voters' Pamphlet. We do not believe that a 5-day limitation for timely challenge is necessary or appropriate. ORS 246.910(1) provides: A person adversely affected by any act or failure to act by the Secretary of State or a county clerk under any election law, or by any order, rule, directive or instruction made by the Secretary of State or a county clerk under any election law, may appeal therefrom to the circuit court for the county in which the act or failure to act occurred or in which the order, rule, directive or instruction was made. The statute does not state the time from which the appeal of the order, rule, directive or instruction must be taken. A challenge to the Secretary of State's action in this case is most appropriately governed by ORS 183.484(2). That statute requires that a petition for judicial review be filed in circuit court within 60 days of the order being challenged. Here, the plaintiff filed his petition in the Marion County Circuit Court 25 days after the Secretary of State verified the signatures, well within that 60-day limit. The action was timely filed. [5] The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.