Board Members present: Sandra Bishop, Dorothy Anderson, Peter Bartel, Susie Smith, and Patrick Lanning.

Others present: Randy Berggren, JoAnn Andersen, Terry Bequette, Jay Bozievich, Cathy Bloom, Tom Buckhouse, Dean Ahlsten, Jim Bemis, Mat Northway, Libby Henry, Steve Hill, Kris Kendall, Brenda Sirois, Roseanna McArthur, Jim Origliosso, Jim Wiley, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Joe Sams, Minutes Recorder for the City of Eugene; Chris Aetneave and KVAL-TV.

President Bishop called the Work Session of the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) to order.

2001 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Libby Henry, Legislative Representative, provided a presentation on the 2001 Legislative session. She noted that there was a Republican majority but added that the margin was very close. She added that term limits were starting to have an effect on the legislature since there were no House members who had served prior to 1997.

In response to a question from Vice President Anderson regarding the impacts of Ballot Measure 7, Ms. Henry said that there could be impacts to the City's solar code regulations. She noted that a number of Portland law firms were holding seminars on how to handle the ballot measure. She added that she would monitor the situation and report on any new information.

Regarding PERS, Ms. Henry stressed the importance of being able to handle unfunded liability. She said that the State Treasurer's Office had introduced a bill to allow local governments to issue bonds. She commented that she did not yet know if the bill sufficiently addressed EWEB's main issues. She noted that the Treasurer had put language in the draft of the bill to the effect that PERS was a statewide concern and concluded that any bill drafted by EWEB would have to be workable in communities statewide.

Ms. Henry said that there was another bill drafted that would allow EWEB to pool its rates with other local governments. She said that pooling with community colleges had been discussed as well. She said that we would be supporting that bill.

In response to a question from Ms. Bishop regarding who got the most benefits from pooling, Ms. Henry said that everyone was supposed to but added that EWEB would in any event. President Bishop commented that smaller municipalities would not be in favor of pooling.

Regarding Telecommunications, Debra Wright reported that there was not a lot of new information. She said that there had been a variety of responses to EWEB's telecom proposal including intergovernmental agreements, franchising units, and prohibitions on cost subsidization.

Regarding Deregulation, Ms. Henry said that SB1149, from last session, was poorly drafted so it will come back to have the errors addressed. She noted that the PUC had made a directive that if there was a finding that the passage of deregulation had a negative effect on residential customers then the bill would be nullified.

Ms. Henry said that there was concern among the legislature about a low income provision of the bill, calling for $10 million dollars a year in low income energy assistance, that was worded incorrectly and was now becoming more complicated. She said that the intent of the bill was for $10 million yearly and the wording of the bill called for a $10 million one-time benefit October, 2001.

In response to a question from President Bishop regarding appointments for committees, Ms. Henry said that she had not heard about any appointments up to that time.

The meeting adjourned at 7 p.m.

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Assistant Secretary President