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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The Oregon Legislature convened on January 17 for our 82nd session, which will continue through the end of June. Now in my fourth term serving House District 5, I’m committed to addressing the critical issues facing our community, including pandemic recovery, catastrophic wildfire, social inequities, and a severe housing shortage.
I am honored to serve as Chair of the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment, shepherding policies to promote energy efficiency, energy affordability and environmental justice. In addition, I am a member of the House Committee On Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water; House Committee On Revenue; Joint Committee On Legislative Policy and Research, and Joint Committee On Tax Expenditures. I will also continue my role on the House Democratic Leadership Team as Assistant House Majority Leader.
The newsletter below describes my priorities for the session. As always, never hesitate to reach out to me with your ideas, concerns and needs. I remain deeply grateful to be your voice for Southern Oregon.
Best,
State Representative
Oregon House District 5 - Southern Jackson County
We're back in person and busy as beavers for the 82nd Legislative Session. This Capitol Beaver Family welcomes passers-by near the House wing of the building.
My legislative work in 2023 will focus primarily on these four core policy areas:
Climate tumult: As conditions on the ground continue to change, we need to take action to both mitigate and respond to climate impacts. My priorities will include legislation to: 1) Enact recommendations from the Resilient Buildings Task Force to pursue energy efficiency and decarbonization in existing and new buildings; 2) Support the development of renewable energy sources by addressing siting, funding and regulatory issues; 3) Address resilience in the face of climate disaster, ensuring that our electric grid remains stable during tumultuous weather events, and providing support to local communities to build emotional/community well-being to prepare for and respond to disaster.
Homelessness: I expect Governor Kotek to set the strategic direction for homelessness, but it needs to include: 1) Operational and expansion funding for Project Turnkey, the state's landmark program to repurpose older motels in order to establish shelters and transitional housing units in communities across the Oregon; 2) Funding for case managers to provide outreach and support to our houseless residents, with emphasis on families, seniors, veterans and youth; 3) Support for local navigation centers and campgrounds, including development of best practices to transition residents to permanent housing.
Affordable housing: The lack of housing spurs increases in rental and purchase prices; accelerates homelessness; drives workforce shortages; and undermines economic expansion. Our housing agenda must include: 1) Innovative housing production strategies, including investment in modular/manufacturing housing; 2) Funding to address capital gaps for workforce housing; 3) development of a housing finance agency and/or governor's housing council; 4) Investment in affordable housing preservation, including manufactured home parks.
Wildfire recovery: More than two years out, our community is still struggling to recover from the devastating Almeda wildfire. Wildfire mitigation, response and resilience are paramount in rural communities across Oregon. I am committed to policies and funding that will help us to reduce risk and respond to the destructive impacts of smoke and fire. In this session, I'll continue to pursue housing investments to make sure that every family that wants to return to our community is able to do so.
My legislative portfolio includes two bills inspired by opportunities I saw to improve the lives of Oregonians impacted by disasters:
HB 2812 – Wildfire Loss Tax Deduction
I started the research that resulted in House Bill 2812 shortly after the catastrophic Bootleg fire in 2021. While Bootleg didn’t affect our district, I had a constituent whose family ranch was destroyed in that blaze. When I tried to help her find resources, I was startled by the paucity of support available. As it turned out, these survivors couldn’t even deduct personal losses on their tax returns because the federal Tax Cuts and Job Act in 2018 limited deductions to losses incurred in federally declared emergencies. Like many disastrous events, Bootleg didn’t get federal designation. And since the state income tax code is connected to the federal code, when a federal deduction isn’t allowed, there is no state deduction either.
HB 2812 will fix this problem by instituting a state tax deduction in cases where we have a state-declared disaster. The federal change is scheduled to revert in 2025, but HB 2812 will fill the void until, and if, the federal deduction is changed. The bill covers the period from 2020 to 2026, so individuals who have experienced a loss in past years can file amended returns to take advantage of the deduction.
HB 2982 – Personal Property Insurance After a Total Loss
In the months following the Almeda fire, I heard from many District 5 residents who told me how difficult and re-traumatizing it was to fill out onerous inventory forms required by their insurance companies in order to receive personal property payments.
If you pay for coverage, you should have a fair chance of recovering most of your loss without enduring excessive insurance requirements. Accordingly, I wrote House Bill 2982.This bill will allow consumers to settle for 70% of their coverage without laboring over inventory forms and trying to remember every item in the home. Consumers who wish may still pursue the inventory approach to receive maximum coverage.
Please let me know if you would like to provide testimony to support this bill: Rep.PamMarsh@oregonlegislature.gov
It was a joyful morning in November at the groundbreaking for Royal Oaks manufactured home park on the site of the former park destroyed by the Almeda fire.
Wildfire recovery has been arduous and sometimes dispiriting. Still, I believe that 2023 is going to be the year that we start to see tangible evidence of our recovery from the 2020 wildfires that devastated so much of our community.
Here are some of the markers I look forward to in the months ahead:
- Completion and occupancy of the new Royal Oaks Manufactured Home Park, which was destroyed in the fire and reconstructed to bring 120 survivor households back to new homes.
- Construction of the new Phoenix Public Safety Building to house city administration, police and fire in a new efficient space.
- Revitalization of Talent Mobile Estates as a resident-owned manufactured home park with new homes for wildfire survivors.
- Completion of a capital campaign to enable Talent Maker City to build a new home of its own, creating a linchpin in downtown Talent.
- Groundbreaking and construction of New Spirit Village, which will provide innovative 3-D homes in a new, intimate Medford neighborhood near transit and shopping.
- Completion of 200 housing units at two different Medford sites, constructed by Jackson County Housing Authority with priority given to wildfire survivors.
- Completion of an outdoor classroom space at the Children's Museum of Southern Oregon that will expand capacity for desperately needed child care.
- Construction of Mosaic, a housing development that will use innovative modular construction to provide affordable and middle-income housing for 140 families, with priority to wildfire survivors.
- Completion of 72 rental units on Talent Avenue—a project resulting from the city's focused efforts to bring survivors back to the community.
Rebuilding the community takes way too long. But each person who returns home is cause for tremendous celebration. I'm looking forward to these celebrations in the year to come!
According to our state economist, Oregon is facing a 111,000-unit housing deficit. When our homeless population is added in, that deficit is closer to 140,000-160,00 homes. Our current production level of approximately 18,000 homes per year falls well short of what the state needs to begin to ameliorate the gap and to ensure that every resident has a place to call home.
The housing deficit has been exacerbated by wildfire loss. September 2020 wildfires destroyed 4000 homes across the Oregon landscape. Delay in housing replacement means that thousands of residents are still living in FEMA trailers, hotel rooms, or other temporary quarters while they hope for permanent housing.
We need to take bold, innovative action to spur housing production and to get good, energy efficient and affordable homes on the ground.
Thanks to the innovative ideas of several housing advocates who have share their time and knowledge, here are the housing legislative concepts I am advancing this year:
HB 2981 – Housing Production Investment
This bill creates three funds aimed at housing for people at 60-120% median income to address: 1) infrastructure, 2) land and predevelopment costs, and 3) construction loan guarantees. The bill will also establish a Factory-built Housing Production Capacity investment fund to provide seed or expansion funding in the form of grants or low interest loans to housing manufacturing facilities in key regions across the state. An investment of $20-25M will enable 4-6 facilities to begin or expand production capability. HB 2981 Info Sheet link
HB 3174 – Housing Capacity Investment
This proposal would increase the capacity of local governments to plan, review and permit units. Accelerated housing production goals will place significant pressure on the resources of local government. HB 3174 will provide grants to cities, counties, or partnerships to fund regional housing coordinators and local staff. HB 3174 Info Sheet link
HB 2980 – Revolving Loan Fund
This is a legislative concept that creates a $500M state revolving loan fund aimed at developing housing for moderate income residents. Cities and counties would be eligible to borrow (at 0%) money from the fund and lend it to private developers to fill gaps in a project budget. HB 2980 Info Sheet link
HB 2983 – Manufactured Home Park Funding
This legislation would allocate funding for the preservation of existing manufactured home parks and the development of new ones. New resident or nonprofit-owned parks can provide low- and moderate-income Oregonians with an opportunity for home ownership in safe and supportive neighborhoods. Parks can also be developed much more quickly than conventional neighborhoods. These projects don’t easily qualify for existing OHCS funding. HB 2983 will support current parks and promote new ones with dedicated funding.
HB 3151 – Manufactured Home Park Modernization
HB 3151 addresses policy updates impacting manufactured home parks, including clarification of the improvements that landlords may require of tenants; extension of the sunset for grants for legal assistance for low-income facility tenants and for existence of Manufactured and Marina Communities Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee; and expansion of permitted park locations on nonresidential land. The bill also expands the state manufactured dwelling park preservation loan program to allocate money to develop new parks.
HB 2984 – Commercial Property Conversion to Housing
This bill permits conversion of commercial buildings for housing that serves residents up to 120% of median income. Developers must agree to maintain affordability for a minimum of 15 years.
As Chair of the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment, I will be ushering a host of bills that will determine Oregon's energy future. Here are a couple that have generated interest:
HB 2618 – 100% Clean Energy For Big Tech
In 2021 the legislature passed HB 2021, setting the course on a path toward 100% clean electricity by 2040. Now, HB 2816 will require data centers and cryptocurrency miners located in Oregon to conform to the same clean energy goals.
Big data centers can use as much electricity as 80,000 homes. While many data center providers have taken steps to improve the sustainability of their facilities, others have not. According to Oregon Live, carbon emissions per megawatt hour have increased 543 percent since Amazon’s arrival in the Umatilla Electric Cooperative’s service territory in 2010. A recent Oregonian article reported that Amazon wants to power at least three of its Oregon data centers—and perhaps as many as seven—with natural gas fuel cells that regulators say would contribute even more to climate change than the grid electricity Amazon has been using.
We’re in a climate emergency that demands action. HB 2816 will ensure that big data centers that are using an excessive amount of energy are on a path toward a clean future.
HB 3166 – One Stop Shop for Oregon Energy Consumers
The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), coupled with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, could reduce buildings sector climate pollution by anywhere from 33-100 million metric tons, getting us to between 10 and 30 percent of our 2030 goal to cut emissions in half. The IRA uses a suite of financial incentives to encourage individuals and businesses to invest in clean, efficient alternatives for their homes and businesses, rather than mandating these changes. Early analysis shows the IRA’s building retrofit programs could drastically change the landscape of the building sector, allocating billions of dollars to energy efficiency and electrification.
We need to ensure that Oregonians who want to upgrade their homes and businesses have access to this money. We also need to align state incentives and other programs related to home upgrades and efficiency with new Federal incentives to maximize Oregon’s allocation and make best use of state funds.
HB 3166 will create one-stop navigation systems to help Oregonians (building owners, renters, builders and developers) access energy incentives and programs, with the goal of streamlining processes and ensuring that residents receive our share of the federal pot.
Prior to the pandemic, the Oregon Legislature recognized the need for broadband funding to address the growing digital divide between rural and urban areas, as well as in historically marginalized communities in every corner of the state. In the first special session of 2020, the Legislature passed SB 1603 and created the Oregon Broadband Fund, which predicted a maximum allocation of $5 million a year. This fund was designed to focus extremely scarce resources on households with no service or extremely slow service.
During the pandemic, Congress passed the bipartisan infrastructure act (IIJA) and funded the ARPA Capital Projects Fund to work toward closing the digital divide. Between the two funds alone, Oregon may be eligible to receive up to $700 million to improve broadband service and infrastructure across the state. These funds are intended to target unserved, underserved, and tribal communities and improve digital equity in historically marginalized communities across the state.
However, Oregon is at risk of losing out on these federal funds because of statutory limits on the Oregon Broadband Fund. Existing statute will also limit Oregon’s ability to spend those dollars effectively and efficiently.
To address this problem, I convened a workgroup comprised of a broad set of stakeholders, including representatives from the Oregon Broadband Office, front-line community leaders, and public and private sector representatives. Together, we developed a House Bill 3201 to bring Oregon statute into alignment with federal rules, guidance, and best practices by eliminating unnecessary restrictions on the Broadband Fund. HB 3201 will ensure that the state is in the best possible position to compete for federal funding.
I remain committed to ensuring that every Oregonian can access the connectivity we depend upon in so many aspects of our personal and professional lives.
The current view from my office on the fourth floor overlooks work-in-progress seismic upgrades underway at the Capitol.
Public engagement is imperative for developing policy that supports and benefits Oregonians across the state. Please note that the Capitol is undergoing an extensive construction project for seismic upgrades that has closed many areas of the building. However, in the aftermath of the pandemic, it's easier than ever to testify remotely at a public hearing, and without driving to Salem. To learn more about how you can search for and follow bills, watch committee hearings or floor testimony, and submit testimony remotely or in person, please use this Legislative Session Participation Guide, or reach out to my office for assistance.
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1405
District Phone: 541-282-4516
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-474, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.PamMarsh@oregonlegislature.gov
Website and e-Subscribe: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/marsh
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