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.
If the House passes the bill, it will then go
to the Senate, where it may be amended
again, Dennis said.
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