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Senate clears plan to pay for patrols By PETER WONG SALEM -- Sen. Lenn Hannon demonstrated again Thursday that patience is a virtue in the Oregon Legislature. By a 25-4 vote, the Senate cleared a proposed ballot measure that the Ashland Republican sponsored to allow use of gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees for increased police patrols of state highways, county roads and city streets. Senate Joint Resolution 11, which went to the House, would go to voters next year. It would change the Oregon Constitution, which now reserves that money for road work. Hannon was a senator when the 1979 Legislature referred, and voters in 1980 approved, the constitutional amendment that removed state parks and state police from the road fund. "Oregonians were assured then that we had adequate funding from the general fund to take care of both parks and state police," he said. "Along came Measure 5 (in 1990), which increased our responsibilities to fund public schools at the expense of these and other state general-fund programs." Hannon's proposal, similar to a ballot measure that voters rejected in 1992, had been given up for dead this session. But when a similar measure bogged down in the House, the Legislature's joint budget committee took Hannon's proposal off the shelf. "People know speed kills, that speed causes accidents," he said. "This is an attempt to say to the people that we will be able to put more law enforcement officers on the road." Hannon said the measure would allow the state Legislature, county boards of commissioners and city councils to use gasoline taxes only for increased patrols by uniformed officers. Sen. Bill Fisher, R-Roseburg, said he voted for the measure only because it could help county sheriffs and city police. Earlier this session, he was one of the few votes against a budget that adds 100 troopers to the Oregon State Police by mid-2001. "Fewer police officers have not proven to make highways less safe," said Fisher, whose district includes northwest Jackson County and northern Josephine County. "I do not believe speed kills. Lack of judgment kills." Sen. Joan Dukes, D-Astoria, said the measure could fall victim to a potential public backlash against the Legislature. After voters approved a ballot measure last fall to set aside 15 percent of lottery proceeds for parks and salmon recovery, the Legislature this session used much of the money to replace spending from the tax-supported general fund. Though Hannon's measure specifies that money be used for increased patrols, Dukes said, "I think we are offering the public a lot of hope without the substance to back it up." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA