Opinion ID: 1427665
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Equal Privileges and Immunities and Equal Protection

Text: Petitioners' equal privileges and immunities and equal protection arguments also lack merit. The short answer to petitioners' Article I, section 20, argument is that the alleged classification is not based on personal or social characteristics of the asserted class. See Hale v. Port of Portland, 308 Or. 508, 783 P.2d 506 (1989). The legislature determined that the public interest in a responsible and expeditious prison siting process demands that persons who want to challenge the ultimate selection of a prison site have participated in that process by submitting site conditions. This requirement is rationally connected to a legitimate governmental interest and as such does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. See Hale v. Portland, supra, 308 Or. at 526, 783 P.2d 506.