PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Former state legislator Kevin Mannix wants repeat sex offenders and drunken drivers to face stiffer sentences as part of his push to increase mandatory minimums in Oregon.
But Mannix faces significant opposition from labor unions, civil-rights groups and sex-abuse victims advocates who say the money would be better spent on support for victims of domestic and sexual abuse.
Mannix’s ballot initiative, called Measure 73, would make a third drunken driving conviction a felony. It would also force anyone convicted of a “major felony sex crime” who was also convicted of a previous sex crime to be sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The Oregon Republican Party supports the measure, which would cost between $43.4 million and $63.6 million in its first four years.
