PROCLAMATION CALLING SPECIAL SESSION

Community Corrections Partnership

	Oregon’s criminal justice system is at a crossroads; we can either
continue with a system fragmented between the state and local levels
which has failed in both preventing crime and preventing the creation of
victims, or we can honor the promise the 68th Legislative Assembly made
in passing Senate Bill 1145 to create a more effective and accountable
criminal justice system.

	The passage of Ballot Measure 11 ensured that Oregon would be tough on
criminals.  Ballot Measure 11 requires stiff sentences for both violent
adult and juvenile offenders that commit crimes which hurt people, and
state government is fully committed to build the prison facilities
necessary to implement it.  However, Ballot Measure 11 will do little to
prevent new crimes by new offenders.  Between now and 1999, the state of
Oregon will spend $1 billion dollars on new prison construction, with no
guarantee that such construction will do any more to provide Oregonians
true security than did a similar burst of prison construction from 1987
to 1991.  Simply building prison beds does little to affect the rate of
crime in our communities, and it tacitly accepts the increased creation
of serious-crime victims.

	The only way to build true security is to make an equal investment in
crime prevention.  This is one of the central goals of Senate Bill 1145.
We must make investments to ensure that property and drug-related
criminal activity receives certain and swift punishment at the local
level.  Senate Bill 1145 was designed by local law enforcement and
public officials to provide the means to ensure treatment and a jail bed
for every offender that this law covers, and it does so without changing
criminal sentences under state law.  It responded to local law
enforcement officials’ criticism that the current system works more like
a transportation system than a meaningful public safety policy which
provides the needed accountability to ensure these offenders serve
meaningful sentences before returning to the community.

	The request for construction funding associated with Senate Bill 1145
will ensure that a jail bed is available for every one of these
offenders; this is why it is imperative that the Assembly provide the
authorization for the funding of local facilities.  The state’s local
government and local law enforcement partners have done an excellent job
in the design of facilities and programs, giving Oregon the opportunity
to actually prevent some Senate Bill 1145 offenders from becoming
incarcerated in state prison at great expense to Oregon taxpayers.

	We must make investments at the local level not only in correctional
facilities, but in resources and flexibility which will allow counties
to establish programs designed to impact crime in the very communities
where offenders live.  Basing this plan on the local level not only
allows for more pro-active intervention in offenders lives, it also
means that the community values which make Oregon so strong will be
brought to bear on offenders in a much more direct manner.

	One of the most important activities SB 1145 directs is the creation of
juvenile crime prevention plans for those juveniles age 15, 16, and 17.
This local planning, in combination with the direction for juvenile
crime prevention under Senate Bill 1, will be the subject of the
Governor’s Task Force on Juvenile Crime Prevention.  The Legislative
direction provided to the state, the local planning surrounding
effective prevention programs, and the work of the Juvenile Crime
Prevention Task Force will put Oregon in the position to finance the
first steps of a statewide juvenile crime-prevention strategy during the
regular legislative session beginning in January of 1997.

	Senate Bill 1145 is not a panacea for all of Oregon’s public safety
problems.  The public safety partnership the Assembly passed into law is
a critical step toward safer Oregon communities and it clearly should be
viewed as a beginning, not an end.  The 68th Legislative Assembly
directed that this plan for the local construction of jails be approved
by the full Assembly; this is the primary reason for calling a special
session of the Assembly.  The construction plan is complete and ready
for legislative approval.

	My original intent in calling the legislature into special session was
solely to fund construction of the local jail facilities needed to
implement Senate Bill 1145.  However, two other urgent matters now
require the immediate action of the Legislative Assembly.

Lottery Shortfall in Education Funding

	Oregon’s decision to dedicate a portion of lottery revenues for our
schools, colleges, and universities was a commitment to one of the most
important investments we make in Oregon’s future:  our children and our
high-quality workforce.  Now, as a result of a projected shortfall in
lottery revenues, it is necessary to appropriate General Fund dollars to
the Emergency Board to maintain education programs approved by the
legislature for the 1995-1997 biennium.  This is a necessary step in
ensuring that our education system does indeed become a continuum
dedicated to providing Oregon a high- quality workforce for the 21st
century.

Light-Rail/Rural Transportation

	Recently the Oregon Supreme Court invalidated those portions of Senate
Bill 1156, passed during the July special session, which provided
funding for the South-North light rail project and the Rural
Transportation Fund.  Pending court challenges may promise a similar
result with regard to the other portions of that legislation.
Consequently, it is imperative that the legislature once more enact
legislation funding the South-North light-rail project and the Rural
Transportation Fund.

	Nothing has changed in the six months since the passage of Senate Bill
1156 to alter the fact that the light-rail project and the Rural
Transportation Fund are in the tradition of innovations in
transportation policy which has made Oregon a national model for
pursuing a balanced, sensible, and workable metropolitan and rural
transportation system.  The Assembly recognized this in passing Senate
Bill 1156 by a combined two- thirds margin.  Now, as then, completion of
the light-rail system is necessary to cope with growth while preserving
livability and economic vitality throughout Oregon.  Now, as then, our
rural transportation-system needs continue to grow.  The potential loss
of the federal government’s financial commitment to the light rail
project renders the immediate re-enactment of this legislation even more
critical.

	In order to comply with the single-subject clause of the Oregon
constitution, any such re-enacting legislation must encompass a global,
unifying principle.  This interpretation mandates the passage of the
light-rail and Rural Transportation Fund provisions of Senate Bill 1156
as single and separate legislation.  I urge the Assembly to comply with
that mandate and send me a bill free of provisions having no connection
nor relation with transportation issues.

	 	THEREFORE, I, John A. Kitzhaber, Governor of Oregon, find an
extraordinary occasion exists and I do by this proclamation, pursuant to
section 12, Article V, Oregon Constitution, call the 68th Legislative
Assembly of the State of Oregon to convene in special session on
February 1, 1996, at 8:30 A.M.  The Constitution does not empower me to
limit the time of the special session or specify matters which may be
considered, but it is my earnest hope that the members of the Assembly
may act most expeditiously in enacting the legislation referenced above,
addressing no other subjects.

			IN WITNESS THEREOF, I hereunto set my hand and 	
			cause the Great Seal of the State of Oregon to be affixed in 	
			the city of Salem and the State of Oregon, on this day,
			January 30, 1996.

			__________________________
			John A. Kitzhaber, M.D.
			Governor

			ATTEST:

			___________________________
			Michael Greenfield
			Deputy Secretary of State