Item 6 - Ratif.IGR Comm.Actions - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

believed Eugene would be alone in its opposition and that could impact its overall effectiveness in achieving its legislative goals. Mr. Heuser suggested that the City could take a neutral position and submit testimony offering recommendations for changes to the legislation. Responding to a question from Mr. Pap~, Mr. Heuser said he did not know the Lane County delegation's position in regard to the bill. He noted that no public hearing on the bill had been scheduled. Ms. Bettman indicated she would be willing to take a neutral position on HB 2164 but continued to oppose HB 2165. The motion passed, 2:1; Mr. Pap~ voting no. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to change the City's position on HB 2164 from Support to Neutral. The motion passed unanimously. The committee discussed SB 0071, which proposed to authorize the issuance of lottery funds for transporta- tion projects. Mr. Pap6 determined from Mr. Heuser that the bill was intended to fund Governor Ted Kulongoski's ;;Connect Oregon" Initiative using revenues from line games. Ms. Bettman objected to the bill, suggesting that such funds were better directed toward education than toward transportation. She said it was difficult to project what Eugene would realize from the bill. She had originally favored the bill, seeing it as a possible source of funds for a downtown trolley, but thought that an unlikely possibility. Ms. Bettman said the legislature had prioritized transportation over the last three sessions, and it was time to prioritize education. She noted that the governor was proposing a reduction in the school year that would equate to several hundred teaching positions. She did not support directing any more money toward the airport or roads. Mr. Heuser suggested it would be better to attempt to improve the bill rather than to oppose it given its momentum. For example, the City could propose to increase passenger rail funding to 25 percent. Ms. Taylor said she would prefer if all or 50 percent of the funding was directed toward passenger rail. Mr. Heuser believed it was unrealistic to expect 50 percent of the funding to go to passenger rail. Ms. Bettman said that supporting the bill would give Eugene no leverage. She opposed the bill unless the funding went to schools. Mr. Jones suggested that the committee could choose to support the bill with amendments. Mr. Hill pointed out that because of the specificity of the relating clause, the bill could not be amended to change the purpose for which the money was spent. He further noted that gas tax moneys could not be spent on multi-modal transportation projects. Ms. Taylor was reluctant to make education further dependent on gambling, but did not object to the use of lottery dollars for transportation projects. Ms. Bettman proposed that the City ask the Lane County delegation to sponsor a bill funding education with the same source of revenue. MINUTES--Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations February 1, 2005 Page 3