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Hello Friends,
The Oregon Legislature’s primary responsibility is to provide a budget for state government and K-12. The state’s constitution mandates that it must be a balanced budget, meaning expenditures cannot exceed revenue. Last week the Ways and Means Committee Co-Chairs released their budget plan. They took a unique approach in that for the first time they developed a multi-biennial budget proposal.
Oregon continues to face a revenue shortfall for this biennium, and conditions are expected to worsen in the 2021-23 and 2023-25 biennia. These deficits threaten vital services for vulnerable Oregonians, education funding, the Oregon Health Plan and other state services.
The Ways and Means Co-Chair budget proposal is crafted to align spending to meet critical needs and provide long term budget stability. They prioritized K-12 education funding and the Oregon Health Plan and called for evaluation of all other expenditures based on short and long-term outcomes. The proposal also calls for maintaining a prudent level of resources to guard against program and service reductions in case of economic downturns.
Recognizing a revenue shortfall projection for the upcoming budget cycle, the proposed plan calls for a 5% General Fund reduction for 2019-21. The Oregon Health Plan will be funded without cuts to eligibility or benefits, and the State School Fund will see a $100 million dollar increase above the current service level (CSL). Additionally, more money for schools may come from new revenues passed by the Joint committee on Student Success.
The 2019-21 budget process will use CSL as the starting reference point for drafting agency budgets. The CSL is an estimate of how much it costs in the next biennium to continue the current level of services and programs. Ways and Means subcommittees will evaluate various reductions and additions to each agency’s programs.
The 2019-21 budget process is designed to develop a sustainable plan for state government, the public education system and other governmental and non-profit partners within current law and resource estimates. The goal is a budget plan to spend resources wisely to meet the needs of all Oregonians.
The Co-Chair budget also sets aside 2% of General Fund expenditures as an ending balance; 1% as required by statute for the Rainy Day Fund, and 1% as a reserve to protect against revenue declines and to assist with protection from unsustainable CSL growth.
This is just the starting point, and there is much work to be done and information to consider before approving the final balanced budget document. Senator Betsy Johnson Co-Chairs the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, and I very much appreciate her efforts on crafting this forward-thinking strategy to develop a balanced and sustainable budget.
Thanks for reading my newsletter
Representative Brad Witt
House District 31
email: Rep.BradWitt@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1431
address: 900 Court St NE, H-382, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/witt
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