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Councilor Pap6 suggested contacting the Mayor of Coburg. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding whether anyone was sponsoring bills related to Measure 37, Mr. Heuser said he had heard the Senate Land Use Committee would draft any proposed changes for Measure 37. He said he had sat through six hours of testimony on the matter when the Senate was taking testimony from citizens on the matter and added that there had been a series of stake holder forums regarding the measure. He said the matter was a personal one for Senator Ringo since he came from a high growth area of Oregon and said that committee was charged with tracking the original legislative proposal. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman regarding who had spoken for Eugene at the forums, Mr. Heuser said the League of Oregon Cities had testified for all Oregon cities and added that the testimony had been by invitation only. II. REVIEW PENDING LEGISLATION Councilor Pap~ said he wished to see priority 1 bills listed first on the agenda. Mr. Heuser said there had been no priority one bills yet as the legislature was still getting started in its session. He noted that there was a bill coming out the following day that was sponsored by the Oregon Restaurant Association that would preempt industry specific sales taxes. He said the bill might have implications that were far reaching for telecommunications franchise fees and excise taxes. Councilor Pap~ said he had heard that an ~alcohol fee" was being proposed. Mr. Heuser said Oregon had the lowest alcohol tax in the lower 48 states. He said with the proposed ~nickel per drink' fee Oregon would be 43rd in ranking. Mr. Heuser said Senator Morrisette was writing a bill that would lower the commission rate for video poker retailers. He said there had been no discussion to date on where the extra funding would be used but surmised that it would be used for education or social services. He said retailers could still make a profit with a commission rate of 15 percent and said Oregon's commission rate would still be making approximately 29 percent. III. SALEM REPORT Mr. Heuser said there had been discussions of gaining new revenue. He cited video poker and alcohol fees as examples of new revenue options. He said the governor's office was in favor of passing a budget with existing revenues and resources. He said this did not mean that the Senate could not find new revenues but stressed that Senator Courtney seemed to prefer a short session that echoed the governor's message about using existing resources. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 25, 2005 Page 2 Committee on Intergovernmental Relations