{"id":820290,"date":"2026-08-20T21:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820290\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:20:08","slug":"hunting-fishing-and-farming-rights-could-go-before-oregon-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820290\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting, fishing and farming rights could go before Oregon voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) \u2014 An initiative seeking to add constitutional protections for hunting, fishing, farming and other activities in Oregon has cleared an initial procedural hurdle in its effort to reach the November 2028 ballot.<\/p>\n

The proposed constitutional amendment would protect the rights of Oregonians to hunt, fish, farm, trap, ranch, grow food, practice what supporters call “diligent animal husbandry” and participate in wildlife management.<\/p>\n

The Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division has referred Initiative Petition 25, known by its backers as the “Oregon Freedom Amendment,” to the state attorney general to begin the process of drafting the measure’s official ballot title and summary, according to the initiative’s chief petitioner.<\/p>\n

The referral means supporters have met the initial sponsorship signature requirement under Oregon election law. The Secretary of State’s initiative records identify Petition 2028-025 as an “Amendment to protect rights to hunt, fish, farm, trap, ranch, grow food, and wildlife management.”<\/p>\n

It follows a different petition that sought to significantly expand Oregon’s animal cruelty laws, seeking to effectively ban hunting, fishing and pest control in the state. That proposal, IP-28, failed to gather enough valid signatures to qualify for the 2026 general election ballot.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO | Controversial proposed ban on hunting, fishing fails ballot bid<\/a><\/p>\n

“This is about protecting the people’s ability to continue the practices that have helped sustain Oregon communities for generations,” chief petitioner Kari Goodheart said in a statement. “Hunting, fishing, farming, ranching, trapping, growing food, caring for animals and managing wildlife are deeply connected to Oregon’s land, culture, food supply and way of life.”<\/p>\n

Goodheart said supporters believe the Oregon Constitution should safeguard those activities.<\/p>\n

The measure’s backers say the amendment is intended to recognize the role hunting, fishing, agriculture, ranching, trapping, food production, animal husbandry and wildlife management play in Oregon communities, the economy and the state’s natural-resource heritage.<\/p>\n

The referral does not mean IP-25 has qualified for the ballot. The attorney general’s ballot-title process is an early step in the initiative process, and supporters would still need to complete additional requirements, including gathering the required number of valid voter signatures, before the measure could appear before voters in 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) \u2014 An initiative seeking to add constitutional protections for hunting, fishing, farming and other activities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-820290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}