Measure 49 Fixes Measure 37

Dave Hunnicutt of Oregonians In Action - Stop 49 Campaign Spokesperson

Dave Hunnicut is the author of Measure 37, and he led the campaign to pass Measure 37 in 2004.  Hunnicutt has recently helped craft similar measures for the Oklahoma, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Idaho, and Missouri legislatures.

Hunicutt is an attorney, lobbyist, political candidate, and the President of Oregonians In Action: "an association of property owners working together to protect property rights."  Oregonians in Action ran the "Yes on 37" campaign in 2004 and is running the "Stop 49" campaign in 2007.

After Oregonians in Action ran the "Yes on 37" campaign and the Measure passed in 2004, Oregonians In Action board members filed nearly $5 million in Measure 37 claims. Contributors to Oregonians in Action and the Measure 37 Campaign in 2004 have filed over $700 million in Measure 37 development claims to build developments where they were not allowed before the measure was passed.

More than 7,500 development claims were filed on over 750,000 acres as a result of Measure 37. The total compensation demanded by these developers has exceeded $20 billion from Oregon taxpayers.

Timber companies alone have demanded hundreds of millions of dollars or the right to build huge subdivisions on hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land that was protected before Measure 37 passed. Timber companies provided the majority of funding for "Yes on 37" and they are once again doing so for the "Stop 49" campaign.  Stimson Lumber has contributed $375,000 to the "Stop 49" campaign, while the company has claims to build thousands of homes on over 100,000 acres of protected forest land.

Oregonians in Action is running the campaign against Measure 49, on the ballot November 6th 2007 in Oregon.  Measure 49 fixes the serious flaws in Measure 37. Measure 49 would limit huge developments and commercial developments on farm and forest land, while automatically allowing individual property owners to build up to 3 homes on their property.

For his part, Dave Hunnicutt of Oregonians In Action, the property rights group that authored Measure 37, is urging property owners who've had a claim approved to get moving on it. Drill wells, grade roads and install septic tanks, he is urging, as actual work on the ground will give them a vested right to continue their development as envisioned.