PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregonians could be voting on 10 ballot measures in November, and a handful of legislative referrals, on topics from federal taxation and bilingual education.

Thursday was the deadline for initiative petition sponsors to turn in what they hope will be enough signatures to qualify their measures for the ballot. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury's office has until Aug. 2 to verify the signatures.

Most of the proposed measures come from a small circle of conservative activists who are old hands at the initiative game, including anti-tax activists Bill Sizemore and Russ Walker, and former Oregon GOP chairman Kevin Mannix.

Much of the money to support their efforts came from a single donor: Aloha medical supply equipment company owner Loren Parks, now in his 80s and known as a munificent donor to conservative causes.

According to Democracy Reform Oregon, a nonprofit that tracks campaign contributions, Parks gave more than $1.1 million for eight separate initiatives proposed for 2008, about 50 percent of the entire amount raised for all 10 measures.

Additionally, the group found, Parks forked over another $224,000 to signature-gathering efforts for initiatives that failed to make the ballot.

In the process, Parks smashed his own record as the biggest donor to Oregon initiative campaigns, set in 2002 when he gave more than $300,000 to three initiatives, according to Democracy Reform's research.

Several of the conservative-backed initiatives have already qualified for the ballot, including four Sizemore measures, which would:

• Restrict the teaching of bilingual education to only two years.
  
• Allow for unlimited deductibility of federal taxes, which could cost the state budget up to $1.3 billion this biennium and from $2.4 million to $2.5 million for the 2011-2013 biennium, according to Oregon Department of Revenue estimates. The topic has been considered before on the ballot, and rejected by voters.
  
• Eliminate building permits for construction projects that cost less than $35,000.
  
• Prohibit spending money for political means if it was collected with a public resource — that is, union dues which can be paid during the work time of public employees, another measure that has previously been considered and rejected by Oregon voters.

Sizemore turned in additional signatures this week in hopes of qualifying a measure to tie teacher salaries and raises to "classroom performance," and not seniority or experience levels.

Those final two measures are both aimed squarely at public employee unions that have been Sizemore's consistent foes and are gearing up to oppose him again this election cycle.

In order to qualify for the November ballot, a statutory initiative needs 82,769 valid signatures. An initiative that would make a change to the state's constitution needs 110,358 valid signatures.

In addition to the Sizemore measures, there are two proposals from Walker, both focused on trial lawyers, traditionally deep-pocketed donors to Democratic causes.

The first would limit the contingency fees lawyers can charge their clients to 10 percent of any court awards above $25,000. The second would allow for lawyers who file frivolous pleadings or motions to be sanctioned.

Mannix's two initiatives are crime-centric. One of them — which he said Wednesday he'll bill as "CSI: Oregon" should it qualify — would dedicate 15 percent of lottery profits for crime prevention, investigations and prosecutions. That idea could face some pushback from schools advocates, who currently benefit from lottery funding, along with the state parks system and economic development initiatives.

The other Mannix plan, which has already qualified for the ballot, faces competition from a legislative referral. Mannix has proposed tougher mandatory sentences for identity theft, forgery, drug and residential burglary crimes.

Legislators, fearing that the cost of the Mannix proposal could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars have proposed an alternative version, with somewhat less stringent sentencing guidelines and more money for treatment of offenders.

Whichever version gets the most votes will prevail.

Other legislative referrals would:

• Exempt tax measures voted on in May or November elections of any year from the "double majority" requirement of the Oregon Constitution.
  
• Remove out-of-date standards in the constitution that govern who can vote in a school board election from the state constitution.
  
• Allow legislators to serve out their full terms after redistricting takes place.

The final measure hoping to qualify for the ballot — and the only one not to come from a conservative-leaning activist — would bring an "open primary" system to Oregon.

That would allow candidates from all parties to appear on the same primary ballot, sent to all voters: The top two finishers, regardless of party would go on to compete in the November general election.

The measure, sponsored by former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling, is likely to face opposition from Democratic and Republican party operatives alike, who have said the measure violates freedom of association rights.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.