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e Mr. Green moved, seconded by Ms. Ehrman, to approve the items on the City Council Consent Calendar. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 7:0. III. PUBLIC HEARING: CODE CHANGES REGARDING INITIATIVES AND ELECTIONS Acting Assistant City Manager Linda Norris introduced the item. David Biedermann, Administrative Services Department (ASD) , presented the staff report. The draft ordinance includes proposed changes to the initiative! referendum process, some of which are mandated by State law, and some that have been made at the request of the City Council to make the process more effective and efficient for citizens. Mr. Biedermann reviewed additional changes that have been made to the proposed ordinance since it was reviewed by the Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC) in early 1991. First, some changes were made to make references to positions gender-neutral. Second, all references to any change in the number of signatures required were deleted. Third, some titles were corrected to clarify meaning in the paragraphs in which they were found. Fourth, the reference to the number of words to be used in the ballot caption, question, and impartial statement was deleted and replaced with a clause stating that whatever State law in effect at the time of a petition filing would cover the reference. Fifth, language regarding the use of statistical sampling was included as it was passed by the 1991 Legislature. Last, the city election option for the City Council was added. e Responding to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Biedermann said the City Attorney's Office (CAD) is empowered to write the ballot title, given that the proposed ballot title for the petition in question is submitted by petition sponsors. He said the CAO currently does not have the ability to recommend changes which may be accepted or rejected by petitioners. Ms. Ehrman recalled an instance in which the CAD met with petitioners to assist in drafting an initiative. Bill Gary, CAD, explained that such assistance was provided by the CAD in one instance after a measure was already approved by the voters. He said that attempts were made to suggest revisions to some language con- tained in the measure that would be acceptable to proponents of the measure. Responding to questions from Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Biedermann said legislation passed with an emergency clause attached to it would be subject to the initiative process, not the referendum process. The initiative process allows 100 days to collect signatures, instead of 30 days allowed by the referendum process, and the number of required signatures for an initiative is 7,654 while 5,123 are required for a referendum. He said at present, a referendum cannot be filed for legislation that has already been enacted. Mr. Nicholson noted a CIC policy that requires a second review of a proposal if any changes are made after its initial review. Mr. Boles said the CIC's recommendation is in reference to substantive changes. Mr. Biedermann said he was not aware of this recommendation. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 14, 1992 Page 2 7:30 p.m.