Josephine Co. voters will get a chance to repeal recently passed illegal pot law

JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. —Josephine County voters, will decide whether to keep a law in place, that commissioners created to target illegal marijuana operations.

According to the county clerk’s office, Holli Morton, the chair of the Josephine County Republican Party, filed a referendum to repeal the ordinance in November. It got enough verified signatures to qualify for the May ballot.

The law commissioners passed last fall, gives more power to county code enforcement, allowing them to write citations, and impose fines at illegal grows. Those violations could be for a variety of reasons, including building permit violations.

“Since there were so many people objecting it became obvious that this probably needs to go to the ballot and a group of citizens have taken it there, they have their signatures and it will go to the ballot,” said Commissioner Herman Baertschiger.

Commissioner Baertschiger says Jackson county has already enacted the enforcement tool. He was the only disagreeing vote when the board of commissioners passed the law in October.

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Jenna King is the 6pm and 11pm anchor for NBC5 News. Jenna is a Burbank, CA native. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Sports Business. During her time at Oregon she was part of the student-run television station, Duck TV. She also grew her passion for sports through her internship with the PAC 12 Network. When Jenna is not in the newsroom you can find her rooting for her hometown Dodgers, exploring the outdoors or binging on the latest Netflix release.
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