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SOME FACTS ABOUT EUGENE'S TOXICS RIGHT-TO-KNOW LAW AND CURRENT ATTEMPTS TO KILL IT What are the two.basic elements of Eugene's Right-to-Know law that Eugene voted to place in the City's constitution ("Charter") in 19967 1. Hazardous substance-using businesses must report their toxics releases. They must tell Eugene's citizens how many pounds of which hazardous substances they use and produce AND where these hazardous substances go (e.g., air, water, products). 2. Hazardous substance-using businesses must cover the costs of reporting their toxics releases. They, and not citizens exposed to these released toxics, must cover the costs of reporting their hazardous substance use, production, and release. Has the law changed so much that it's time to put it out to the voters? NO. The entire toxics reporting system (with one insignificant change) has remained almost entirely unchanged for its entire six-year history, despite attacks on it by some businesses in court and two Legislatures. The fee structure has been altered, at the behest of the businesses themselves. In a bizarre 1999 court opinion,x the businesses succeeded in prohibiting Eugene from collecting fees only from those businesses who actually report hazardous substance use. As a result, businesses that use fewer or even no hazardous substances and therefore don't fill out annual reports to the public must also pay fees. The businesses then got the Oregon Legislature to cap Eugene's toxics reporting fees at $2,000 per company, which cap goes into effect this year. This shiRs fees from the large businesses to the smaller businesses: ~ The Court ruled that Eugene's RTK program is like the State Fire Marshal's what-mixtures-are-stored-on- site-in-barrels-for-when-firefighters-come prognun. In the 1980s, the State Fire Marshal, in an attempt to keep all fire marshal stored-on-site data in Salem, got the Legislature to prevent "quantity-based" fees on local hazardous substance programs that are like the State Fire Marshal's program (i.e., local fire marshals' programs). The State Fire Marshal's program is completely different than Eugene's RTK program: It does not require any reporting of chemicals released to air, water, or soil; requires no inpnt-output balancing; requires no repotting of ba?ardous substances produced on site; allows reporting of mixtures rather than chemicals; allows reporting of ranges rather than precise amounts, etc. City Council Agenda page 649