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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1985)
Editor's note: Here are highlights of the Oregon Legislature last week. Sales Tax The Senate Revenue Commit tee has decided to apply the proposed state sales tax to materials local governments buy for construction projects. Lobbyists for local govern ments are up in arms over the decision, claiming that it will limit local governments' ability to engage in construction projects. Contractors’ groups, who for years have pushed for a law to require local governments to hire private contractors whenever possible, said the decision will allow private enterprise to compete more equitably for government con struction projects. The House-passed version of the sales tax package exempted local governments from paying the tax. ’ '* The committee spent most of the week deciding on additional exemptions to the House-passed sales tax package, and included exemptions for churches, private schools and non-profit service organizations. The panel agreed to' amend the House version to apply the sales tax to cigarettes. Gypsy Moths Lane County legislators have sent a letter to Sen. Mark Hat: field., chair of the U.S.- Senate Appropriations Committee, and David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget,, urging them to ex-, pedite'funds for the spraying of B.t., a biological, pesticide, on 227,000 acres of' Lane County infested by gypsy moths. The Oregon Department of Agriculture is requesting $7.66 million in federal assistance'for the- spraying program. The legislators said the spraying must begin in early May to be. effective. But environmentalists have charged that state officials have secretly decided to use chemical sprays in the moth eradication program and have deliberately downplayed the possible health risks of chemical use. Officials from the Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University deny the accusa tions, saying the information on which the environmentalists’ statements are based was being misconstrued. Lane County legislators will consider gypsy moth spraying at their biweekly “Brown Bag” meeting to be held in the Capitol at noon on Thursday. Miscellaneous A Senate-passed measure re quiring motorists to wear seat belts was narrowly killed in the House, even after it had been diluted so that it merely would have put the proposal on the ballot in 1986. The House Environment & Energy Committee approved a bill imposing a one-year delay on implementing measured-rate billing for local calls for. business customers of Pacific Northwest Bell; the bill npw goes to the full House. Gov. Vic Atiyeh signed into ; law' a.bill'allovving an-Alaska bank to buy the financially ail-' • ing Bank of Oregon and permit ting expanded interstate bank ing in Oregon after mid-1986. The House passed and sent to ' the Senates bill aimed at reduc- : ing .workers’.compensation in- ' •. surance .costs by, lowering the. ceiling on payments.to doctors. ' Legislation introduced' last week includes House Bill 2899 which would make possession of less than one ounce of mari-..' juana punishable by a max^ imiira 30-day jail term and a $500 fine. •Maximium penalty now for the offense is a $100 ' fine. HB.2940 would legalize pro stitution subject to regulation by cities and counties. Senate Bill 645 would nearly triple legislators salaries, increasing them from $8,400 a year to $24,178. ■' • This Week An Oregon House Judiciary subcommittee will begin hear ings Thursday on a gun control measure backed by Oregon Han dgun Alert, a pro-control organization. The measure would tighten 100 Years of Training Actors. 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The House Transportation Committee starts hearings Thursday on bills to reduce the fine for exceeding the 55 mph speed limit to $10 and to raise the speed limit under the state’s "basic rule” law to 65 mph. The House Human Resources Committee opens hearings Monday on a bill to establish a statewide clearinghouse for in formation on missing children. The .Senate Labor Committee continues hearings Monday on „ a comparable worth pay system for state employees, *• « C Round trip. Anywhere Greyhound goes. i i is spring break, if you and your friends are ‘ trig about heading to the slopes, the beach or ■ 'me for a visit, Greyhound can take y< »u there. nK $99 or less, round trip. Just show us vour college student I.D. card when y< >u purchase your Greyt* >und t icket. Ye »ur tick' i will then be gin id for travel for 15 days from the date of purchase. So this spring break, get a real break. Go any where Greyhound goestor $99 or less. 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Inc . and other participating carriers Certain restrictions apply Offer effective 3-1-85 Offer limited Not valid in Canada Report released on phone survey A report released Friday by an Oregon consumer group charges that the majority of telephone packages fail to pro vide the information consumers need when purchasing a telephone. “Many consumers are misled into buying phones that do not fit their needs,” said Ann Frenkel, a University student who compiled the report for Oregon State Public Research In terest Group. Frenkel said she surveyed the packages of 55 different types of phones at 24 Oregon stores. According to Frenkel, 80 percent of the phone packages failed to indicate possible imcompatibility with alternative long distance services, such as Sprint or MCI; 66 percent did not list an address for repair service; 80 percent failed to com ply with federal warranty laws requiring that written warran ties be available to customers before purchase. Frenkel said that OSPIRG supports legislation now before the Oregon House Committee for Consumer Affairs that would require display of pertinent information on the telephone package. Jeff Davis, a spokesperson from the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. regional office in Oakland, Calif., said he is not familiar with either the OSPIRG study or the proposed legislation, but said he believed AT&T was already doing a good job informing its potential customers. “AT&T’s position is that customers should be well ac quainted with what they’re buying,” Davis said. “It is our feeling that the information consumers really need is on the package.” Any information not on the package can be obtained from the company’s phone store salespersons, he said. But Frenkel said that salespersons in some department stores selling telephones were unable to answer her questions about the phones.