LEGISLATORS CONSIDERING MEASURES TO BLOCK LOCAL AUTHORITY

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Oregonians could find it tougher to "think
globally, act locally" if the Legislature passes proposals limiting
voters' and elected officials' rights to govern their own communities
in areas such as smoking, annexation and "right-to-know" laws.

Some lawmakers want to ban cities and counties from passing tough
smoking laws like that approved by Corvallis voters.

They want to stop other localities from passing a toxics
"right-to-know-law" similar to the one Eugene voters enacted and to
halt the spread of anti-growth charter amendments approved in
Philomath and other cities, which require voter approval of new
annexations.

And lobbyists representing manufacturers, tobacco companies,
restaurants and developers are cheering them on.

Phil Fell, a lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities, says he's never
seen so many bills meant to shift power away from local governments.
He said that to lobbying groups, the Capitol is something of a
one-stop shopping center.

"It's a lot easier to send someone here than to 240 cities," Fell
said.

The tension is not new to politics. In fact, that's what the
Constitutional debates were largely about: How much power should the
U.S. Constitution grant to the federal government and how much should
remain with the states?

That theme runs through this session's debate on several bills. Should
Oregon have statewide policies, or let local voters and elected
officials make their own rules?

Dr. David Kliewer, an 82-year-old retired physician from Corvallis,
spearheaded the 1997 effort to restrict child access to cigarettes and
smoking in workplaces, including bars and taverns. Last fall, he
successfully defended that ordinance against a voter initiative aimed
at repealing the smoking ban in drinking establishments.

Kliewer says leaving such decisions at the community level "gives
people concrete evidence that they can do something about how their
community is governed."

Kliewer relied primarily on brochures and leaflets, newspaper ads,
local news coverage, and letters to the editor.

His crew fended off a campaign funded by large contributions by the
cigarette industry and the Oregon Restaurant Association. Kliewer also
had outside help, primarily from public health groups such as the
American Cancer Society.

Kliewer says he's not so confident that he'd want to take the
no-smoking fight statewide.

He said winning in communities such as Medford, Burns and Pendleton
would be a much tougher sell.

"Whether it's the tobacco industry or unions or whatever," said
Kliewer, "the special interests can have a lot more impact at the
statewide level than the local level."

A bill before the Legislature may force citizen activists to take
their anti-smoking activism to the statewide level. A bill filed by
Rep. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, wouldn't touch the Corvallis law, but
it would prohibit similar laws from enacting similar policies. Only
the state could regulate smoking in bars and taverns.

The bill is expected to be taken up this week by the House Commerce
Committee.

Deckert says he's merely trying to protect one of the few remaining
places where it's socially acceptable for adults to smoke.

He offers a few reasons the state should overrule communities:

Oregon already imposes statewide oversight on smoking through an
indoor clean air act, and the state regulates drinking establishments.
And Deckert contends that a patchwork of different smoking policies
will drive business across city limits and beyond county lines where
less stringent policies are in place.

But he acknowledges that proposals to pre-empt local authority are
usually more about political strategy than about local control vs.
consistent statewide policy.

He notes that many who criticize this session's proposals to pre-empt
local control supported the 1993 Legislature's decision to ban local
governments from enacting voter-passed anti-gay-rights laws.

Deckert's bill is HB2806.