WW's
original list of 15 bad and good bills was published in
the March 31 issue ("Royal
Flush")
It's crunch time in the state capitol. Last week was
the deadline for bills to be passed out of the committees
where they had been assigned. Any legislation that didn't
win favor from a majority of committee members is, in
theory, dead. There will, of course, be exceptions made
for bills favored by the GOP leadership. But now is
a good time to take another look at some of the best
and worst of the bills of the '99 session.
Senate
Bill 617
PESTICIDES
RIGHT-TO-KNOW
GIST: This is a good bill going nowhere. It
would require reporting of all pesticides used on commercial
and government properties. It's backed by environmental
and health organizations.
SINCE WE LAST WROTE: The Oregon Environmental
Council is tired of waiting. SB 617 is withering in
the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
A companion bill in the House Agriculture and Forestry
Committee, House Bill 3602, is also dying.
But the OEC isn't giving up. Instead, it's going to
go over lawmakers' heads directly to the voters with
a ballot measure that is certain to raise the ire of
agriculture and pesticide interests. Like SB 617, the
initiative will require full reporting of all pesticides.
Unlike the Senate bill, however, it will put the regulatory
authority in the hands of the Department of Environmental
Quality, not the farmer-friendly Department of Agriculture.
So there.
Laura Weiss of the OEC says the pesticide industry
and others who bottled up SB 617 may be sorry to see
the bill become a ballot measure. "This is very popular
with voters," she says.
Critics of SB 617 are hoping they can sway public opinion
by throwing in an environmental bone. They're waiting
for Sen. Gary George, who chairs the Senate Agriculture
and Natural Resources Committee, to unveil his "alternative"
to pesticides reporting. Senate Bill 1028 will get its
first hearing this week.
No one knows what will be in the bill, but George has
promised that it will be comprehensive and expand its
coverage beyond pesticides to other toxins.
Weiss is skeptical. George, a Newberg Republican, isn't
sending drafts around to anyone prior to the hearing,
a move that usually means a sponsor knows his bill won't
make people happy. Also, Weiss says what little she's
heard indicates that there isn't much regulatory power
behind the bill or any means to pay for it.
CONTACT:
Sen. Gary George, chair of the Senate Agriculture
and Natural Resources Committee, (503) 986-1702; e-mail:
george.sen@state.or.us
Rep. Jim Hill, chair of the House Agriculture and Forestry
Committee, (503) 986-1403; e-mail: askjim@rephill.com
House
Bill 2633
PARENTAL
NOTIFICATION
GIST: This is a bad bill which is pointlessly
moving forward. It would require abortion providers
to gain consent from the parents of girls under 18 years
old before performing requested abortion services.
SINCE WE LAST WROTE: This bill is a top priority
for Speaker of the House Lynn Snodgrass, but even if
it were to pass through the legislative chambers, it
would be vetoed by Gov. John Kitzhaber. Given that,
the whole exercise seems like a cruel political ploy.
Two weeks ago, for example, emotions ran high during
the bill's committee hearing, when personal stories
on both sides of the issue were voiced.
The bill hasn't yet been scheduled for a second hearing.
Word is it's being held until the Judiciary Comittee's
decks are cleared.
CONTACT: Maura C. Roche, Planned Parenthood
lobbyist, (503) 221-7922; e-mail: mroche@mrss.com
Speaker of the House Lynn Snodgrass, (503) 986-1200;
e-mail:
snodgrass.rep@state.or.us
Senate
Bill 937
GENETIC
TESTING
GIST: This is a bad bill that's getting better.
It tweaks Oregon's Genetic Privacy Act to give researchers,
both corporate and academic, increased access to genetic
materials.
SINCE WE LAST WROTE: Earlier this session patient
advocates worried that pharmaceutical companies were
putting profits ahead of privacy. In its original form,
SB 937 seemed to take away the right of patients to
sue employers and insurers who use genetic testing to
discriminate against them. Sen. Neil Bryant expected
a row during last week's testimony on the bill. Instead,
he got a love-fest of sorts.
Representatives from the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, the Oregon Genetic Privacy
Advisory Board, Oregon Health Sciences University and
Kaiser are close to hammering out a consensus. The proposed
deal would free up more genetic samples for researchers
to use while maintaining the privacy and legal rights
of the patients, who may or may not know their lab tests
are being used.
But it's not a done deal yet. Dr. Brad Popovich, chairman
of the OGP Advisory Board, says there is still some
disagreement on how to define "anonymous" in connection
with genetic material. Popovich maintains that it should
mean there is no way to ever identify a patient. But
more common than truly anonymous samples are those which
have been encoded with some information but do not reveal
a patient's identity. Pharma and OHSU wants those samples
for their research, so they want the definition of "anonymous"
broadened to include the encoded material. Popovich
worries that such a definition could leave patients
vulnerable to having their identities revealed.
CONTACT:
Dr. Brad Popovich, Oregon Genetic Privacy Advisory
Board,
e-mail only: popovich@ohsu.edu
Jim Gardner, lobbyist for Pharma: (503) 224-3024
Senate
Bill 769
PRESCRIPTION
LABELING
GIST: This very bad bill that died. It would
have wiped out a provision aimed at helping pharmacists
and consumers make sure the medication ordered is the
medication received.
SINCE WE LAST WROTE: All's well that ends well
on this one. Chain pharmacies introduced this bill because
they didn't want to meet provisions passed by the Oregon
Board of Pharmacy in 1998. The provisions required that,
starting next January, labels on all prescriptions sold
in the state include a picture and description of the
medicine inside. SB 769 would have made such labeling
voluntary. Last week a compromise was reached that extends
the starting date six months. Now everyone's pleased
as Prozac. Tom Holt of the OBP says, "It shows [that]
the various stakeholders in this little pharmacy corner
of the world can work together."
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Willamette Week | originally
published May 5, 1999
