Rick Allen: “I served as a city counselor in Portland for 6 years and as mayor of the city of Portland. I was also an attorney. So I…”

“I served as a city counselor in Portland for 6 years and as mayor of the city of Portland. I was also an attorney. So I have a perspective, I think, on this issue that I want to share with other Members. First of all, in cities like mine, we have perfectly appropriate and sound local zoning practices. I would argue that most communities, a great many communities in this area, do very well. Second, I would say this. Although if you look around the country there is a variation between how quickly you can move through State court and how quickly you can move through Federal court, at least in my State it is more time consuming, more expensive to go to Federal court, more complicated. I would just say to Members of this House, we have heard over and over again the urging of Members of this House to push more responsibility back to the State and local governments. We have also heard concerns about the Federal courts. What are we doing with this bill? We are pushing local land use disputes into the Federal courts so they can be dealt with there. That is why the National Governors' Association, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors are all in opposition to this bill.”