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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1997)
Senate bill could damage Eugene’s toxins law ■ CHEMICALS: The state bill would prevent all cities but Portland from collecting some fees from companies The Associated Press SALEM — A last-minute amendment to an Oregon Senate bill would undermine Eugene’s new law requiring companies to report toxic chemical use, city offi cials say. Under Eugene’s Toxic Right to Know Law, businesses must make detailed reports on how haz ardous substances are used in the manufacturing process. The pro gram is funded by charging some businesses a fee. Last week, the Senate Livability Committee attached an amend ment to SB938, a bill that would allow Portland to collect fees from companies to pay for a variety of programs aimed at reducing toxic chemicals. The new language al lows only communities with a population of at least 350,000 to assess the fees, meaning the law would affect Portland and no oth er Oregon cities. “They’re doing sort of a sneaky stealth attack,” said Randy Tuck er, a lobbyist for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group. “If this law goes through, Eugene can’t assess any hazardous sub stance fee, which means they can’t fund their program. ” Eugene City Councilman Bobby Lee, who is also a legislative aide to Sen. Susan Castillo, D-Eugene, is urging the full Senate to reject the measure when it comes up for a vote. The amendment was offered by Ted Hughes, a lobbyist for the Pa cific Northwest Paint Council. Paint manufacturers are among those who would be affected most by toxic reporting laws. Hughes said he would ask for the amendment to be removed if it would mean overturning the Eu gene law. But the chairman of the Livability Committee, Sen. Ted Ferrioli, likes the bill because it sets up a statewide reporting policy. “Eugene may be giving up something they feel is near and dear to their hearts,” the John Day Republican said. “But maybe the city of Eugene needs to grow up and look at the big picture.” Legislature limits scope of fee bill to political lobbying ■ FEES: The bill would ban the use of incidental fees for lobbying, which is currently against Oregon law By Laura Cadiz Higher Education Editor An amended version of House Bill 3644, which proposed to eliminate the incidental fee process, passed out of the Higher Educa tion Committee on Friday and will now only affect the incidental fees of student groups that contribute money to political campaigns. “It’s now a more reasonable bill,” Bobby Lee, chief legislative aide to Sen. Susan Castillo, said. “It gives students an opportunity to ex amine how incidental fees are handled with out pulling the plug on the whole process.” Ed Dennis of the Oregon Student Associa tion and Larry Harvey, chief of staff for House Majority Leader Lynn Snodgrass, worked together to create the amendment. The amendment states, “No amount from an incidental fee shall be used by any stu dent organization for the purpose of sup porting or opposing any political commit tee, candidate or ballot measure at the district, city, county, state or federal level." “It’s very carefully worded to give lati tude, but it draws the line,” Rep. Carolyn Oakley, a sponsor of the bill, said. “It still al lows incidental fees for most organizations, but if folks get into the political ring, that’s where the line is going to be drawn.” Oakley said the amendment is a positive step, as she said she feels student fees shouldn’t fund political views. “For groups that are going to get involved in politics, that’s fine, but they shouldn’t ex pect all students to fund it,” she said. “Not all students agree with their philosophies.” Though Dennis helped create the amend ment, he said OSA does not support the bill. “We don’t like it,” he said. “We think there should be no infringement on stu dents’ rights to organize. ” But Dennis said no student group will be affected under this bill because of an exist ing state statute that forbids any student or ganization from contributing money to po litical organizations. “[The bill] doesn’t single out any organi zations,” he said. “This is not going to im pact anything that any of our groups does right now; we just have to continue to do what we do right now. ” But the main difference between the ex isting law and this bill is that it has a punish ment clause, Lee said. According to the bill, any student organi zation in violation would be ineligible for student incidental fee funding for two years. But Lee agreed this bill wouldn’t create much change. “Essentially, it would make into a law what has already been the practice. A lot of core political organizations are not funded already,” he said. “But, the questions are in the gray areas.” One of those gray areas is student groups collecting signatures on a petition to send to Congress. That activity may or may not be in conflict with the bill, Oakley said. Another gray area is the definition of po litical activity, Lee said. “At this point, the difference between academic freedom and political activity needs to be defined,” he said. “That’s a pret ty fine line.” Under the bill, ASUO president-elect Bill Miner would have the power to decide that definition, Lee said. Dennis estimates the bill will go to the House floor next week. Both he and Lee ex pect the House to pass it. 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