War of Words (and Signatures) Heats Up as Republicans Near Deadline to Repeal a Health Care Provider Tax

Temperatures are running hot over Referendum 301, a GOP attempt to repeal part of a health care provider tax passed by the Legislature in July.

Voter signatures for the referral are due Oct. 5—and could trigger a statewide special election. Proponents of the repeal, led by Reps. Julie Parrish (R-West Linn) and Cedric Hayden (R-Roseburg), complain their opponents, led by Our Oregon, are spying on their signature-gathering efforts and calling their supporters “bigots and extremists.”

Our Oregon says the real issue is the 350,000 recipients who would lose Medicaid coverage if the referral succeeds—and the billion-dollar hole it would blow in the state budget.

Here’s what you need to know as we wait for results.

Number of valid signatures required by Oct. 5: 58,789

Money spent to gather those signatures: $220,000

Date of special election if signatures are valid: Jan. 23, 2018:

Cost to the 2017-19 state budget if repeal succeeds: $840 million to $1.3 billion