Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, said he doesn’t pretend to have all the answers.
Barnhart won the District 40 seat, which includes the University residence halls, with 70.3 percent of the popular vote. He said there are no simple problems or solutions, but he hopes to address some key issues during his legislative session.
“When dealing with the legislative body, you only get to pick some things you want to do,” Barnhart said.
With the defeat of several tax-cutting measures, including Measure 91 and Measure 8, Barnhart said education funding won’t be further damaged. But the lack of education funding is still a major issue for the legislative body, and Barnhart said he has an idea how to deal with the problem.
“If there was a small tax increase for the wealthy and corporations, it could possibly make up for the $500 million the state is short on education funding,” Barnhart said.
He said he knows tax increases are hard to sell, so legislators need to talk realistically about what’s needed.
“We have very little money available,” Barnhart said. “If the people want programs, we need to figure out how to pay for them.”
Barnhart said the Nov. 7 tax-cutting measures failed because people understood exactly how the measures would be hurtful. He also said this same faith should be granted to the people when deciding how to further education funding.
“People realized the connection between taxes and program funding,” Barnhart said. “I believe when people are faced with real choices about their lives, they are good about making responsible decisions.”
Jed McGuire, co-chair of College Democrats, has had a lot of contact with Barnhart. The representative actually paid the group’s debt, which the group ­­ ASUO-recognized but not ASUO-funded ­­ had acquired from last year.
McGuire said he has a lot of faith in Barnhart and what he’ll do for the University.
“We believe Barnhart will continue to fight for schools and the environment,” McGuire said.
The environment is under attack, thanks to the recently passed Measure 7, Barnhart said.
“Measure 7 could cost the state an obscene amount of money,” Barnhart said.
The measure requires state and local governments to pay property owners if law or regulation reduces property value. The estimated cost of the measure is $5.4 billion. To fix the potential problems Measure 7 presents, Barnhart said the legislature should work on writing laws to better interpret the measure. Barnhart said he also hopes to deal with protecting people’s rights to privacy.
“A major theme I wish to address is the relationship between corporations and individuals,” Barnhart said. “The U.S. currently has little or no laws concerning an individual’s privacy.”
Barnhart said there needs to be a set of rules for corporations regarding when they can share their customers’ information.
“Corporations can sell your name to another company,” Barnhart said. “The question that is just being dealt with is could personal information be considered an asset to the corporation. I feel we need to protect the individual over the corporation’s assets.
“The government needs to act as a mediator between businesses and individuals,” Barnhart said.
ASUO Legislative Organizer Melissa Unger said Barnhart will represent the University, a place where more funding is needed, well in the legislature.
“Phil said he supports the ASUO and the University,” Unger said. “He said he will also be supporting higher education, which will be determined when the budget comes up for discussion.”