Two proposals to constitutionally protect Oregon hunting and fishing are moving forward, and one of them just cleared an initial hurdle.
If it advances to the November 2028 election, Initiative Petition 25 would amend the Oregon Constitution to guarantee all Oregonians the right “to hunt, fish, trap, farm, ranch, raise livestock, cultivate crops” and carry out related activities.
These activities are already legal in Oregon. But the petitioners launched the campaign to enshrine them in the state constitution in response to a different proposed measure that would have banned or restricted these same practices. Backers of that proposal, Initiative Petition 28, ultimately did not collect or submit enough signatures to land it on this November’s ballot.
On Wednesday, the Secretary of State’s Office verified that the IP 25 campaign had submitted enough signatures to obtain a ballot title for the proposed measure. After the attorney general’s office drafts a ballot title, petitioners plan to begin collecting signatures leading up to summer of 2028.
“I’m pretty excited,” Kari Goodheart, an Irrigon resident and chief petitioner of the proposal, said in an interview Thursday. “This initiative petition is for the people. It’s to protect our rights, and I really think that Oregon needs this.”
Two dozen other states guarantee the right to hunt and fish in their constitutions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The development comes about two weeks after Sen. Christine Drazan, this year’s Republican nominee for Oregon governor, rolled out a similar proposal to enshrine most of these same activities in the state Constitution. That proposed amendment, however, would only land before voters in 2028 if state lawmakers introduce and approve a referral next year.
A spokesperson for Drazan declined to say Thursday if the candidate is supportive of IP 25.
A campaign spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat seeking reelection, did not say if she would support such a proposal, saying it would require a “thoughtful approach and conversations with Oregonians across the state.”
Goodheart said learning of Drazan’s proposal has not changed her plans to get her own measure on the ballot. She said she has already found volunteers in all but two Oregon counties to collect signatures for the initiative.
Per state law, the campaign will have to submit valid signatures totaling at least 8% of the votes cast for governor this fall. That figure will likely land somewhere around 150,000, based on turnout for the two most recent gubernatorial elections.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
