Legislative Principles

ENVIRONMENT - Democrats believe Oregon needs to:

1. Reduce human contributions to global warming-induced climate change and prepare for its destructive consequences.
2. Ensure an adequate supply of healthful water, food, soil, and air for all citizens.
3. Preserve natural resources, critical habitat, and healthy wildlife populations.
4. Involve diverse people in all stages of decision-making that affects the environment.
5. Oppose efforts to weaken existing laws that protect the environment and natural resources.

ENERGY - Democrats believe Oregon needs to:

1. Maximize energy conservation.
2. Maximize sustainable energy production, grow the economy and preserve our national security through investment in renewable energy and encourage "energy entrepreneurship."

TRANSPORTATION - Democrats believe Oregon needs to:

1. Plan and implement an accelerated program for the production of mass transit systems.
2. Encourage the development and use of other energy-efficient transportation technologies.

Action Items

ENVIRONMENT - Democrats believe Oregon needs to:

1. Reduce human contributions to global warming-induced climate change and prepare for its destructive consequences.
   
   1. Engage in an immediate program to minimize the production of greenhouse gases in Oregon (see Transportation and Energy topic areas).
   2. Encourage all urban areas to meet the requirements of the Kyoto Accord to reduce their output of greenhouse gases, and follow the examples of Portland and Multnomah counties.
   3. Provide financial, regulatory, and other incentives for the use of sustainable building practices and energy conservation, including a method for making exogenous costs endogenous.
   4. Encourage biological carbon sequestration – an increase in the mass of appropriate vegetation and trees that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide beneficial habitat.
   5. Direct the appropriate public institutions to prepare for increased frequency of forest fires, floods, droughts, and heat waves due to the consequences of global warming.
   6. Direct coastal cities and towns to prepare more severe windstorms, rises in coastal destruction and changing coastlines due to more frequent and higher-energy waves during windstorms.
   7. Support the recommendations of the 2004 Governor’s Advisory Group on Global Warming.
2. Ensure an adequate supply of healthful water, food, soil, and air for all citizens.
   
   1. Strengthen regulatory protections for healthy watersheds and clean water.
   2. Clean up toxic waste storage and working industrial sites where toxic chemicals contaminate the air, water, or food. Ensure that the most vulnerable or disadvantaged populations, which typically live nearby, are protected.
   3. Stop the use of field burning that harms children and adults with respiratory problems.
   4. Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for production and distribution of food, and on petroleumbased fertilizers by:
      
      1. maintaining and increasing the numbers of local organic farms and vegetable gardens, and those that use integrated pest management practices,
      2. managing urban growth to protect current and potential farmland, and
      3. developing a plan for prioritizing and directing needed water to farms and vegetable gardens during droughts and heat waves, while maintaining anadramous fish habitat.
   5. Regulate fuel oil content to be lead-free, and maintain regulations on lead-based paint.
   6. Carefully regulate genetically modified organisms (GMOs) produced in Oregon to prevent contamination of non-modified crops and foods in Oregon and elsewhere, and enact clear labeling requirements for all foods containing GMO substances and for irradiated foods.
3. Preserve natural resources, critical habitat, and healthy wildlife populations.
   
   1. Maintain intact wilderness and critical animal and plant habitats.
   2. Preserve old growth and National Heritage forests and National Monuments.
   3. Restrict "salvage logging" on public lands.
   4. Protect and carefully implement the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
   5. Preserve wetlands and watersheds.
   6. Preserve and restore natural salmon, steelhead and other anadromous fish populations.
   7. Establish and preserve a system of marine reserves in the Oregon Territorial Sea to maintain rockfish fisheries.
   8. Strengthen regulations to reduce or prevent the introduction of invasive species, and fund effective management of invasive species already in Oregon waters and on land.
   9. Protect parks and natural areas within and near cities and towns to enrich residents’ environments, and provide natural habitats for animals and plants.
   10. Increase funding for state and local park systems.
   11. Provide adequate and stable funding for natural resource agencies.
   12. Require diverse representation on state natural resource boards.
   13. Expand the bottle bill and raise the amount of the deposits required for all beverage containers.
   14. Require the uses of all public lands to be sustainable.
   15. Work to repeal the federal Mining Act of 1872, which allows heavily subsidized destruction of our natural resources.
   16. Institute state legislation that establishes usage and extraction fees, based on the current market value of the mineral resource.
   17. Promote the reduction, reuse, and recycling of resources.
4. Involve diverse people in all stages of decision-making that affects the environment.
   
   1. Involve stakeholders and other citizens in land use decisions.
   2. Inform stakeholders and other citizens of all toxic chemicals currently existing in their environments, and whenever the use of toxic chemicals is being considered.
   3. Protect citizens' right to legally engage in environmental activism.
   4. Ensure that all decisions made by public agencies are transparent and a matter of public record.
5. Oppose efforts to weaken existing laws that protect the environment and natural resources.

ENERGY - Democrats believe Oregon needs to:

1. Maximize energy conservation.
   
   1. Provide financial incentives for the development and use of mass transit systems, energy efficient vehicles, and for rail transport systems to transport goods. (see Transportation)
   2. Provide financial or other incentives for citizens, businesses, and public institutions to weatherize and update heating systems and appliances to the most efficient models.
   3. Provide financial, regulatory, and other incentives for the use of “green building” practices to maximize energy conservation in new construction.
   4. Modify the uniform building code to require “green building” practices to minimize energy usage in new construction.
   5. Provide incentives for retail and industrial customers to operate mainly during off-peak hours, when the overall rate of energy use is lowest.
   6. Provide incentives to stimulate growth in local businesses and industries, to enhance transportation and energy efficiency.
   7. Reanalyze and re-prioritize financial incentives away from new auto and road transportation systems in order to promote mass transit, the purchase of energy efficient vehicles, and for rail transport systems to transport goods.
2. Maximize sustainable energy production, grow the economy, and preserve our national security through investment in renewable energy and encouraging "energy entrepreneurship."
   
   1. Direct all applicable governmental agencies to collaborate with and provide incentives to private businesses for research and development of state-of-the-art renewable energy technologies, including biofuels, high energy yield windmills, geothermal technology, low-impact hydro, and solar technology.
   2. Encourage public support for renewable energy production and use through:
      
      1. construction of wind farms on all publicly owned lands where this is suitable and possible with minimal environmental impact.
      2. facilitation of industrial and individual co-generation of electricity.
      3. Allowing tax incentives to businesses and homeowners for the installation of solar technology on buildings.
      4. Providing incentives to develop electrical power transmission infrastructure for delivery of energy from renewable resources.
   3. Create low-interest bonds and tax credits for:
      
      1. Construction of high energy yield windmills on farm land, thereby providing farmers with the opportunity to become energy entrepreneurs by selling electricity to their local utilities, and
      2. Purchase and installation of high energy yield solar technology on private buildings and dwellings, thereby providing all property owners with the opportunity to become energy entrepreneurs.

   TRANSPORTATION - Democrats believe Oregon needs to:

   1. Plan and implement an accelerated program for the production of mass transit systems.
      
      1. Create financial and other incentives for the development, production, and use of non-fossil-fuelbased mass transportation systems.
      2. Adopt mass transit systems that are proven to be low-cost and effective, and appropriate for the size and layout of each city, by researching those already in use in the U.S. and other nations.
      3. Create incentives for retail and other businesses to help support mass transit systems for their customers and employees, such as validation of bus tickets similar to parking systems.
      4. Develop and implement planning strategies that decrease reliance on automobiles.
      5. Develop a mass transit or railroad system between cities in the Willamette Valley.
      6. Increase motor vehicle registration fees based on vehicle characteristics, such as weight, mpg, and horsepower.
   2. Encourage the development and use of other energy-efficient transportation technologies.
      
      1. Convert government vehicle fleets to high efficiency hybrids or alternative energy vehicles until 100% conversion is achieved.
      2. Adopt the California Clean Cars program, creating strong emission standards for cars, and requiring that a percentage of vehicles sold in Oregon be advanced technology low- or zero-emissions vehicles.
      3. Make highway safety a priority in all transportation systems.
      4. Regulate fuel oil to be sulfur-free, #1 fuel oil.
      5. Remove import restrictions on fuel-efficient cars from other nations.
      6. Remove the tax on hybrid vehicles and #1 fuel oil to encourage the use of the most efficient vehicles.
      7. Encourage development of alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.
   ‹ 8. Foreign Policyup