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that Eugene citizens placed in the City's charter: 1) Hazardous substance using businesses must report their toxics releases; 2) These same businesses must cover the costs of the reporting program. She asserted that throughout the law's seven-year life nothing significant had changed in the first element. She stated that only the second element had been altered. She alleged it had been altered at the behest of a few Eugene businesses in the State Court and Legislature. She related that, in the 1980s, the State Fire Marshal had "gotten the Legislature to prevent quantity-based fees on local hazardous substance programs that duplicated the State Fire Marshal's program." She opined the court, using "bizarre logic," had applied this law to the Toxics Right-to-Know law. She averred the State Fire Marshal's law had no relationship to the local City Charter. She listed points in the State law, as outlined in a chart submitted to the council, for comparison purposes. She stressed the State program was intended to allow firefighters to know what substances a business stored in barrels on site. Ms. O'Brien related that the fee cap, which she asserted was the result of lobbying by Eugene area businesses, shifted the burden of fees from large businesses to small businesses. She explained that the resulting fee for Hynix Corporation was $1.66 per FTE while a small business would pay almost $32 per FTE. Jennifer Gleason, 2845 Kincaid Street, spoke as a member of the Toxics Board. She urged the council to accept the recommended fee schedule and adopt one of the measures Right-to-Know advocates were suggesting to rectify the situation. She stressed that the Charter clearly stated that the program must be self-supporting via fees paid by participating businesses. She regretted that the Toxics Board could not find a way to avoid a recommendation to increase fees. She said that, when originally drafted, the law created a system under which the burden to businesses would be minimal. She stated that a minority of businesses changed the way the law works so that the burden had been shifted to small businesses. She alleged this same minority came before the council "at every opportunity to complain about how unfair this law is." She shared her frustration at having to continually come before the council to defend citizens' right to know what was in their environment. She stressed that the Toxics Board was appointed by the City and had struggled to find a fair solution. She felt the proposal before the council represented the best solution possible given the newly-mandated constraints. Noting that no one was happy with the recommendation, she commented that this was the best indication that it was the result of serious compromise. She submitted further testimony in writing. Steve Johnson, 1825 Longview Drive, stated that he was a member of the Toxics Board. He urged adoption of the unanimously approved recommendation before the council. He commented that, when moving forward with the law, it was not thought that it would solve all problems with toxins in Eugene. He felt the time had come to make a proposal for a way to improve the law. He indicated, with a chart, that expanding the businesses required to report to those with less than ten employees would increase the support base for the program. He noted that businesses such as dry cleaning and auto body paint shops put toxic materials into the environment. He added that the program had reached a point where the facilitation of reporting had greatly improved. Bob O' Brien, 3525 Gilham Road, made the following points: 1) Many people worked a great deal to gather the signatures needed to put the Toxics Right-to- Know law on the ballot. He noted he had participated in the petition drive. The law was very im- portant to a lot of people. 2) He urged the council to keep the fees the way they are in the proposal. He commented that the board was a balanced body and had come forth with a good proposal. 3) He thanked the City Council for upholding the City Charter. He thanked Mayor Torrey for up- holding the law supported by the citizens of Eugene. He noted the City had sent its lobbyist to Page 12