Legislative Policies for the 2007 Oregon Legislative Session

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City of Eugene Legislative Policies for 2007 Oregon Legislative Session City of Eugene Legislative Policies for 2007 Orcr~orl Legislative Session currently has electronic original document legislation which serves as an acceptable model. E3. Basic Public Library Service The City supports legislation allowing local development of standards for electronic filing, Basic library service must remain available to all citizens and taxpayers free of additional charge. Basic public library service is defined as access to the building and collections, G. SMOKING BAN AND TOBACCO REGULATION checking out materials available for circulation and reference, or readers' advisory Overwhelming scientific evidence exists documenting the harmful health effects of assistance. smoking and of exposure to secondhand smoke. The Eugene City Council has adopted ordinances to restrict access byyouth to tobacco products and to protect workers and the F. PUBLIC RECORDS public from secondhand smoke in all places of employment and other public places. F1. Copyright Authority State law permits some agencies to copyright and market data, text compilations, and G1. Youth Access Restrictions indexes of public information. The City will seek copyright authority for software systems The provisions to restrict youth access to tobacco include a prohibition on the sale of and other electronic and data services and products that have a commercial value and tobacco products to minors, a license for retailers selling tobacco products, and a were developed using public funds. prohibition on self-service tobacco sales. All sales of tobacco products to be vendor- assisted, that is, tobacco products must be behind the counter or in a locked case to F2. Employee, Judge and Contractor Records ensure that a sales clerk assists in the.transaction and determines the age of the customer. The City supports legislation which protects privacy of employees, judges and contractors, as pertains to personnel records and personal information such as home addresses and G2. Clean Air in Public Places and Places of Employment phone numbers. The ordinance to promote clean air in public places prohibits smoking in any enclosed place of employment and public place, including, but not limited to, restaurants, bars, F3. Victim/WitnessJJurorfrivacy taverns, lobbies, elevators, meeting rooms, banks, education facilities, public The City will support amendments to State public records law to protect the privacy of transportation, retail businesses, movie or theater facilities, sports facilities, meeting rooms, reporting parties, crime victims, witnesses, and jurors. health care facilities. It also requires the posting of a "no smoking" sign in a conspicuous location in every affected building and at the primary entrance. Finally, it prohibits smoking F4. Payment for Public Safety Records within a reasonable distance of not less than 10 feet, of any entrance to any enclosed area The City supports legislation to require the State or criminal defendants to pay for records where smoking is prohibited. requested through discovery or by subpoena. The City charges fees authorized by the Public Records Law for records requested by criminal defendants or their attorneys. .Eugene's ordinances prohibiting smoking were nearly preempted in the 2001 Legislative Requesters have learned that the same records are available at no charge if the request is Session. HB 2828 preempted local authority to enact such ordinances, substituting a made through discovery or by subpoena. Frequently, these requests are voluminous and statewide workplace smoking ban (with exceptions, such as bars or taverns for example) seek records not directly related to the case at hand. While it is less expensive to honor prohibitive of stricter local ordinances. However, the City of Eugene's ordinances were the request than to use expensive attorney time to narrow the discovery request or quash grandfathered in along with the ordinances of nearly a dozen other communities enacted the subpoena, the City should not be required to provide this service free of charge. prior to July 1, 2001. The original bill would have preempted all local bans, or some, including Eugene's. The governor's veto threat for any bill which did not exempt Eugene F5. Expungements led to an agreement preserving Eugene's ban. The City is frequently ordered by the State District and Circuit Courts to expunge individual adult or juvenile criminal records which meet certain criteria. The State charges and Recommendations collects a fee to cover the processing costs for adult expungements, but local government ~ Oppose anylegislation to repeal provisions ofthe statewide policy which preserve also bears a work?oad burden in this process. Expungements are a complex and staff- more prohibitive locallyenacted ordinances regulating smoking in public places and intensive process. While the expungement process allows individuals to clear their places ofemployment records after certain periods of time, they also impede investigations of criminal activity ~ Supportanylegislation to enactrestrictions similarto Eugene's on a statewide basis. that has formed a pattern over the course of several years. The City will support legislation to stiffen expungement criteria, allow juvenile criminal records to be sealed H. USE OF INITIATIVE PROCESS. ELECTION REFORM rather than destroyed, and allow the City to recover its actual costs in complying with Oregon has two systems of lawmaking: one by the people themselves (the initiative expungement court orders. process) and one by their elected representatives (the State Legislature and local government bodies). This dual system serves the public interest best when the strengths F6. Electronic Signatures and Electronic Original Documents of each system offset the weaknesses of the other, The City supports legislation permitting electronic signatures and electronic original documents, such as warrants, to help information processing throughout local government, The number of statewide initiatives measures has steadily increased in recent elections. and to include certain public safety records exempt from public records law. Electronic As a result, some problems have arisen that affect both state and local government it original documents is a new concept that should be considered. The State of Utah Oregon. While state and legislative bodies are required to balance budgets, initiative 42 43