New Year brings new laws

The new year of 2009 is set to bring numerous changes for Oregonians, with multiple pieces of legislation that have become new laws effective January 1, 2009. Here are a few:

Since 2002, the Oregon Smokefree Workplace Law has made many places smokefree. But on January 1, one of many laws taking effect in Oregon will increase the number of places that must be smoke free.

Smoking will be prohibited in bars and taverns, including bar areas of restaurants, bingo halls, break rooms, restaurants, retail and wholesale stores, truck stops and day care facilities, to name just a few.

The new legislation will also prohibit smoking within 10 feet of entrances, exits, windows that open, and ventilation intakes of workplaces and public places. However, smokers may continue smoking in certified smoke shops, cigar bars, and hotel/motel rooms designated for smoking. Businesses in violation of the new law may be fined up to $500 per day.

Three of Sisters' major establishments jumped the gun on the legislation. The Gallery Restaurant, Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill & Saloon and Coyote Creek Café voluntarily went smoke free last May, in time for Mother's Day.

Also effective January 1, Oregon's minimum wage will increase to $8.40 an hour from the current $7.95. For a full-time minimum wage worker, this wage increase will mean an extra $936 per year. The wage adjustment is required by a ballot measure voters passed in 2002, and reflects the rise in the cost of living over the past year, which rose 5.4 percent.

Analysts predict that Oregon will have the second-highest minimum wage in the nation, second only to Washington state.

Washington's minimum wage is currently $7.95 per hour and is expected to rise later in 2009, an adjustment to the higher cost of living.

Michael Leachman, policy analyst for the Oregon Center for Public Policy, says that this increase in pay may not be enough to compensate for rising prices at the grocery store or pump, estimating that food had risen 7.5 percent and gasoline some 36 percent during August 2007-2008, the period the institution bases its data on.

He adds that the ones who will benefit most from the raise are low-income workers (the poorest 20 percent of Oregonians), who spend an estimated 20 percent of their income on food and gasoline. In contrast, the wealthiest 20 percent of Oregonians spend less than 15 percent on such necessities.

Recycling has potential to increase with a new law that allows consumers to bring empty water and flavored water containers back to any retailer, not only the retailer at which the bottles were purchased. This is an expansion of the current law, allowing recycling of soda and beer cans, with water bottles also being eligible for the five cent refund.

Bottled water and flavored water prices will increase by five cents a bottle as a result. Proponents say that the new law provides greater recycling incentives, therefore reducing litter and unnecessary landfill usage by increasing recycling.